Sorry T. Swift, Science Says You Can Only Have 5 BFFs
How big is your squad? If it’s as deep as Taylor Swift’s, you might have some cuts to perform — because science says so.
A study by the MIT Technology Review has revealed that having only five besties at a time is possible. The report looked at a theory by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, who spotted in the ’90s that there was a relationship between the size of people’s brains and how many friends they have. Basically the bigger your brain, the bigger your social circle.
This is determined by the size of one’s neocortex. Humans, like apes, are allegedly limited in our friend-gathering based on how large this is. So, essentially, Dunbar believes humans can only handle five BFFs, 10 close pals, 35 acquaintances, and 100 sort-of-knows on Facebook.
By analyzing six billion phone calls made by 35 million people from 2007 (way back before iPhones took over the world), the MIT authors determined that the frequency of calls between two people is a measure of how strong or weak a relationship is. They came to a similar conclusion as Dunbar, finding that participants generally can only maintain connections with about four best friends, 11 close pals, 30 acquaintances, and almost 129 other sort-of-knows.
Wonder which one of Taylor’s crew is gonna be culled first?
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