Blog Post 4 - SIERRA

One concept that I found particularly interesting from this week's readings was Dunbar's concept of the social brain and social grooming. Dunbar theorized that the size of the neocortex in a primate's brain correlates with the size of their social group. Based on this theory, human social groups should consist of 150 people as this is the largest group size where everyone can know everyone and order can be maintained through peer pressure alone (Dunbar, as cited in Standage, 2013). Within this large social group, primates form smaller subgroups through social grooming. This theory is still very relevant today as the exchange of social information and gossip is a regular pastime that many people engage in either to strengthen social bonds or further their own personal agendas. Often when we are told a piece of secretive information followed by the phrase "don't tell anyone", we are even more compelled to share this information with others. By telling someone a secret or spreading gossip we were not supposed to share, we form deeper connections with others and feel a sense of loyalty and closeness. This theory also applies to social media followers. For example, on most platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and twitter, it is not abnormal to have thousands of followers or follow people you don't personally know. However, social grooming and the formation of subgroups are possible through certain functions on these platforms such as direct messaging, commenting, tagging, creating private stories, etc.

Comments

  1. Sydney FriedNovember 15, 2022 at 6:53 PM

    Hi Sierra,
    I think you did an excellent job of explaining Dunbar’s theory. I also spoke about his theory for my blog post this week, as I find the approach interesting as well. The way Dunbar breaks up his group sizing into 5 close friends, 15 good friends, 50 friends and 150 meaningful relationships, spoke to me. When I think about it, I honestly do only have 5 exceptionally close friends and 15 good friends. On SnapChat, I often have many people viewing my story and am left confused as I don’t recognize the names questioning why I even added them in the first place, the same as Instagram. I really liked your point on how social media has added the formation of subgroups through private stories and close friends. I actually have two private stories on Snapchat. One with 30 people and another with about 9 just for those with whom I am extremely close with. With that being said, would you consider yourself also to have five close friends and 15 good friends?

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