Saved by Ian Vanagas
The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes
It turned out that if they were talking about the mindstate of someone not present, there were never more than three people involved in the conversation; if they were talking about the mindstate of a member of the conversation group, or some factual issue like where to go for lunch or the lecture they had just been to, then four was the limit.
Robin Dunbar • Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships
living in a group is solved by having a large enough brain to manage the stresses involved.
Robin Dunbar • Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships
the number of meaningful friends is surprisingly limited,
Robin Dunbar • Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships
But even gossip has its limits. Sociological research has shown that the maximum ‘natural’ size of a group bonded by gossip is about 150 individuals. Most people can neither intimately know, nor gossip effectively about, more than 150 human beings.