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# Robin Dunbar
- URL: https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/guests/robin-dunbar/
- Published: 2026-08-03T15:02:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-10T11:48:51.000Z
- Description: Oxford evolutionary psychologist and originator of Dunbar's number, the 150-person limit of human social networks.
- Author: Elliott King
- Tags: guest, Robin Dunbar

**Evolutionary Psychologist, University of Oxford**

Robin Dunbar is an evolutionary psychologist and Oxford professor, best known for Dunbar's number: the finding that human social networks max out at roughly 150 friends and family, arranged in circles of intimacy with rising costs towards the centre. His research spans the seven pillars of friendship, the social function of gossip, and the bonding technologies, from laughter to song, that hold human groups together.

On The BEYOND Podcast he talked with host and producer Aleksandra King through the hard limits of friendship, why gossip is grooming rather than vice, the dangers of online romance, ghosting and digital overwhelm, toxic people and psychopaths, and the ultimate social hack of singing and eating together.

## Credentials

- Evolutionary psychologist and Oxford professor
- Originator of Dunbar's number, the 150-person social limit
- Author of landmark research on friendship, gossip and social bonding

## Their episode

*Gossip, Trust & the Hidden Rules of Human Connection*, on The BEYOND Podcast with Aleksandra King.

[Listen to the episode](https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/gossip-trust-the-hidden-rules-of-human-connection/)