December Gifting Issue
My Small, But Valuable Circle of Friends
BY HEATHER REID
s I go through my
Christmas card list, I
stop on my small
circle of my closest friends for a moment. I wonder if it is unusual to have what seems like such a small quantitative number of people who I consider my very favorites.
My concerns are assuaged by Dunbar’s Number, a theory developed by Robin Dunbar, a professor of evolutionary psychology, who writes that humans cannot maintain more than 150 friendships — or five close friendships — at any given time.
Dunbar's Number is illustrated as a series of concentric circles, with each outer layer including everybody in the inner layer. Each layer is three times the size of the layer directly preceding it, illustrating the number of acquaintances in each 'layer,' from intimates to close friends, best friends, and so forth, moving to Known Names on the outside layer.
I think of the incredible few people I consider part of my literal ‘inner circle.’ We met at various times and places along the timeline of my life, and each holds a special place in my heart.
A
Photo Credit Tanya Trukyr