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Dunbar RIM. Structure and function in human and primate social networks: implications for diffusion, network stability and health. Proc Math Phys Eng Sci 2020; 476:20200446. [PMID: 32922160 PMCID: PMC7482201 DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2020.0446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Accepted: 07/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The human social world is orders of magnitude smaller than our highly urbanized world might lead us to suppose. In addition, human social networks have a very distinct fractal structure similar to that observed in other primates. In part, this reflects a cognitive constraint, and in part a time constraint, on the capacity for interaction. Structured networks of this kind have a significant effect on the rates of transmission of both disease and information. Because the cognitive mechanism underpinning network structure is based on trust, internal and external threats that undermine trust or constrain interaction inevitably result in the fragmentation and restructuring of networks. In contexts where network sizes are smaller, this is likely to have significant impacts on psychological and physical health risks.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. I. M. Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, New Radcliffe Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford OX1 6GG, UK
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Webber E, Dunbar R. The fractal structure of communities of practice: Implications for business organization. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0232204. [PMID: 32348329 PMCID: PMC7190158 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2019] [Accepted: 04/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Communities of practice (COP) are informal (sometimes formal) groupings of professionals with shared interests that form to facilitate the exchange of expertise and shared learning or to function as professional support networks. We analyse a dataset on the size of COPs and show that their distribution has a fractal structure similar to that found in huntergatherer social organisation and the structure of human personal social networks. Small communities up to about 40 in size can be managed democratically, but all larger communities require a leadership team structure. We show that frequency of interaction declines as size increases, as is the case in personal social networks. This suggests that professional work-oriented organisations may be subject to the same kinds of constraint imposed on human social organisation by the social brain. We discuss the implications for business management structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Webber
- Tacit London Ltd, Loughton, England, United Kingdom
| | - Robin Dunbar
- Magdalen College, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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Firth J, Torous J, Stubbs B, Firth JA, Steiner GZ, Smith L, Alvarez-Jimenez M, Gleeson J, Vancampfort D, Armitage CJ, Sarris J. The "online brain": how the Internet may be changing our cognition. World Psychiatry 2019; 18:119-129. [PMID: 31059635 PMCID: PMC6502424 DOI: 10.1002/wps.20617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 123] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The impact of the Internet across multiple aspects of modern society is clear. However, the influence that it may have on our brain structure and functioning remains a central topic of investigation. Here we draw on recent psychological, psychiatric and neuroimaging findings to examine several key hypotheses on how the Internet may be changing our cognition. Specifically, we explore how unique features of the online world may be influencing: a) attentional capacities, as the constantly evolving stream of online information encourages our divided attention across multiple media sources, at the expense of sustained concentration; b) memory processes, as this vast and ubiquitous source of online information begins to shift the way we retrieve, store, and even value knowledge; and c) social cognition, as the ability for online social settings to resemble and evoke real-world social processes creates a new interplay between the Internet and our social lives, including our self-concepts and self-esteem. Overall, the available evidence indicates that the Internet can produce both acute and sustained alterations in each of these areas of cognition, which may be reflected in changes in the brain. However, an emerging priority for future research is to determine the effects of extensive online media usage on cognitive development in youth, and examine how this may differ from cognitive outcomes and brain impact of uses of Internet in the elderly. We conclude by proposing how Internet research could be integrated into broader research settings to study how this unprecedented new facet of society can affect our cognition and the brain across the life course.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Firth
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Westmead, Australia
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - John Torous
- Division of Digital Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Brendon Stubbs
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
- Physiotherapy Department, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Josh A Firth
- Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Merton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Genevieve Z Steiner
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Westmead, Australia
- Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
| | - Lee Smith
- Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
| | - Mario Alvarez-Jimenez
- Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
- Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - John Gleeson
- Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
- School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Davy Vancampfort
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- University Psychiatric Center, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Christopher J Armitage
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK
- NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, Manchester, UK
| | - Jerome Sarris
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Westmead, Australia
- Professorial Unit, The Melbourne Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia
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Dunbar RIM. The Anatomy of Friendship. Trends Cogn Sci 2018; 22:32-51. [PMID: 29273112 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 118] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2017] [Revised: 10/16/2017] [Accepted: 10/18/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Friendship is the single most important factor influencing our health, well-being, and happiness. Creating and maintaining friendships is, however, extremely costly, in terms of both the time that has to be invested and the cognitive mechanisms that underpin them. Nonetheless, personal social networks exhibit many constancies, notably in their size and their hierarchical structuring. Understanding the processes that give rise to these patterns and their evolutionary origins requires a multidisciplinary approach that combines social and neuropsychology as well as evolutionary biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- R I M Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, New Richards Building, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LG, UK.
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Abstract
We examine community longevity as a function of group size in three historical, small scale agricultural samples. Community sizes of 50, 150 and 500 are disproportionately more common than other sizes; they also have greater longevity. These values mirror the natural layerings in hunter-gatherer societies and contemporary personal networks. In addition, a religious ideology seems to play an important role in allowing larger communities to maintain greater cohesion for longer than a strictly secular ideology does. The differences in optimal community size may reflect the demands of different ecologies, economies and social contexts, but, as yet, we have no explanation as to why these numbers seem to function socially so much more effectively than other values.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin I M Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Department of Computer Sciences, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | - Richard Sosis
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-2176, USA
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