Forget having hundreds of Facebook contacts, our brains can only cope with FOUR true friends

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  • The researchers analysed six billion phone calls made by 35 million people 
  • They screened out business and casual calls by using reciprocated calls
  • Researchers then categorised the relationships based on frequency 
  • Overall there were just four different layers of intimacy based on how many times people called each other

We only really have four close friends because our brains cannot handle any more than that, a study has found.
Humans are only designed to be close to a few people and everyone else is put into layers of decreasing intimacy.
Having a large group of good friends would require a bigger brain and more brain power - which we simply don't have.

We only really have four close friends because our brains cannot handle any more than that, a study has found. Humans are only designed to be close to a few people and everyone else is put into layers of decreasing intimacy. Stock image pictured

We only really have four close friends because our brains cannot handle any more than that, a study has found. Humans are only designed to be close to a few people and everyone else is put into layers of decreasing intimacy. Stock image pictured
The study flies in the face of all that we are told in an age of social networking where it is normal to have hundreds of 'friends' on Facebook.
But many of them are just fleeting acquaintances with whom we have no lasting bond.
The researchers from Oxford University analysed six billion mobile phone calls made by 35 million people during 2007, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review reported.
They screened out business and casual calls by only using people who made reciprocated calls.

'DUNBAR LAYERS' OF FRIENDS

Our brains have a 'cognitive limit' that cannot cope with more friends, a theory Professor Dunbar first speculated on in the 1990s.
Back then he suggested that we could have a maximum of 150 friends after seeing a link between primate brain size and the social groups they formed.
The bigger the brain the larger the social group, meaning that humans should have far larger circles of friends than apes.
He created the theory he called 'Dunbar layers' which have been proved to be accurate by his new research.
The latest study was carried out at around the time Facebook began to spread around the world and after Apple launched the first iPhone.
But Professor Dunbar said his other research suggested a similar effect was apparent with social networks.
Such an ability would serve us well in the digital age as, according to Facebook, the average user now has 338 friends - and 15 per cent of users have more than 500.
The researchers then categorised the relationships based on how frequently the individuals called each other; the more people called each other, the closer they were.
Overall there were four different layers of intimacy based on how many times people called each other.
In the innermost layer there were 4.1 people and in the second layer there were 11.0, a cumulative total which included the first.
The third layer was also cumulative and was 29.8 people, as was the fourth at 128.9.
The study said that there was some variation for introverts and extroverts, but basically we are all the same.
The research was led by Robin Dunbar, a professor of evolutionary psychology at Oxford University.
He said that we spent 40 per cent of our time with the people in our most intimate circle and 20 per cent with the next closest.
Those in the inner circle are those we turn to in times of grief or emotional or financial stress.
The next group are known as the 'sympathy group', meaning if they died tomorrow we would be upset.
Professor Dunbar said that the layering 'seems to be an extremely robust feature of social organisation'.
He said: 'Part of this is due to time constraints and how we choose to spend out time and our emotional capital.
'The layers seem to be a very common way of doing it'.

The researchers analysed six billion mobile phone calls made by 35 million people. They then categorised the relationships based on how frequently the individuals called each other; the more people called each other, the closer they were. Overall there were four layers of intimacy with 4.1 people in the innermost layer

The researchers analysed six billion mobile phone calls made by 35 million people. They then categorised the relationships based on how frequently the individuals called each other; the more people called each other, the closer they were. Overall there were four layers of intimacy with 4.1 people in the innermost layer

The reason was that our brains have a 'cognitive limit' and that they cannot cope with more friends, a theory that Professor Dunbar first speculated on in the 1990s.
Back then he suggested that we could have a maximum of 150 friends after seeing a link between primate brain size and the social groups they formed.
The bigger the brain the larger the social group, meaning that humans should have far larger circles of friends than apes.
He created the theory he called 'Dunbar layers' which have been proved to be accurate by his new research.
The latest study was carried out in 2007 which was around the time Facebook began to spread around the world and after Apple had launched the first iPhone.
But Professor Dunbar said that his other research suggested that a similar effect was apparent with social networks.
Such an ability would serve us well in the digital age as, according to Facebook, the average user now has 338 friends - and 15 per cent of users have more than 500.

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