Is Monogamy Linked to Brain Size?

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/02/18/Robin_Dunbar_How_Many_Friends_Does_One_Person_Need

Calling monogamy an "especially taxing" cognitive practice, evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar links large brain size to romantic pairings among mammals. "Maintaining pair bonds," says Dunbar, "is very hard work."

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We are the product of our evolutionary history, and that history colors our experience of everyday life -- from the number of friends we have to how religious we are. Renowned evolutionary anthropologist Professor Robin Dunbar visits the RSA to explain how the very distant past underpins all of our current behaviors, and how we can best utilize that knowledge.

Did you know that you have just 150 friends, acquaintances and relatives? And that this is a natural size for villages all over the world? Now known as "Dunbar's Number," it defines the feasible boundaries of our social lives. Dunbar's investigations show us that we inherited the social side of our brains from our mother, and the emotional side from our father; why many women see the world in four or even five different colors, but men only ever have the conventional red, green and blue; and why facial symmetry has everything to do with voter choices in elections. - RSA

Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar is a British anthropologist and evolutionary biologist, specializing in primate behavior. He is best known for formulating Dunbar's number, roughly 150, a measurement of the "cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships".

Professor Dunbar is a director of the British Academy Centenary Research Project (BACRP) "From Lucy to Language: The Archaeology of the Social Brain" and is involved in the planned BACRP "Identifying the Universal Religious Repertoire".

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• psychology
• neurology
• primates
• brains
• evolution
• humans
• mating
• pair
• bonds
• groups
• cortex
• size
• biology
• relationships
• fora.tv
• foratv
• fora
• tv
• robin
• dunbar
• RSA

[bigtarrose]

Polygamy is linked to penis size.

[SexyRaww]

intelligent people understand the deep meaning rooted in monogamy. A polygamous lifestyle is superficial, meaningless and a cycle to the death. These polygamous people realize in their 60s what monogamous people realized at a young age.

[WarblesOnALot]

@RethysTalent

@ForaTv G'day...

 And, as it happens I, too, was measured to have a 156 I.Q., and I'm Celibate... But, I was a Seducer Of Young Things, way back, when Wheels had flat sides all the way around them..., thus, I aquired Shit-Magnet Effect, & prefer not to inflict the next Dysfunctional Promiscuous Dingbat, on myself... Search 'The Long Run - Abridged' , to learn the General Principles. Enjoy it. It rhymes. Ciao !

[RethysTarrent]

And to those commenting that the neanderthals had bigger brains than we do today, this is true. But it is also true that their brain structures were nowhere near as complex as our own. There is more to the brain than the number of cells it contains.

[RethysTarrent]

I am polyamorous and have an IQ of 156. Any assumption that brain size influences the CHOICES that we make in lifestyle are outright false. Furthermore he isn't talking specifically about mating, he is talking about the forming of friendships and communities, which IS linked empirically to brain size. If you still can't get it try un-linking science from your socio-theocratic-political portion of your mind and watch the video again...

[fkkkkkenig]

@deathtotheism he didn't say monogamy is from brain size. he said there's a correlation. correlation does not imply causation.

[deathtotheism]

This is a bunch of bullshit. Monogamy is born from social pressure not brain size.

[L4ch74n]

@bigtarrose That would be polyamory, haha

[thestreetsempty]

A for effort.

[sinasfles]

@bogdancomm Look at the skulls :P

[bogdancomm]

@sinasfles yet... the Neanderthals had a bigger brain than the modern humans have today... ;)