Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist, theorized that humans could have no more than 150 meaningful relationships, a measure that became known as the Dunbar Number.
In his original research, Dunbar studied monkeys and apes and determined that the size of the neocortex, the part of the brain responsible for conscious thought, correlated with the groups they lived among. The neocortex in humans is even larger, so he extrapolated that their ideal group size was, on average, 150.
So relevant is the Dunbar Number that in 2007, when the Swedish tax agency was restructuring, a strategist for the agency proposed that each of the new offices have about 100 to 150 employees.
However, new research on the subject has found that no maximum number of friendships could be established with any precision.
Trust me, you can beat the Dunbar Number; it just takes effort and commitment.
Can you have more than 150 friends?
