British anthropologist and āmathematician of relationshipsā Robin Dunbar insists in his new book āFriends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationshipsā that people can only maintain a certain number of friends at one time. Not only that, he believes that having too many friends can be just as bad as having none at all.Ā
According to Dunbarās research: 150 is the āmagic numberā when it comes to quantity of friends a person needs for success. These 150 people are described as āregularā friends, such as people you see at things like weddings or reunions, but donāt necessarily see all that often. But within that group there are other, more important friends. He says people need 50 āgood" friends, described as those youād invite to a birthday party but necessarily dinner at your house. Then there are the 12 to 15 āsupportiveā friends people need; these are friends whoād be very upset if you died.
Finally, and probably most importantly, folks need five āintimateā friends, who are friends that are so close to you theyād give you a kidney if you needed it.
Dunbarās theory suggests thereās only a certain amount of āemotional capitalā people can invest in others, and having too many people in your social circle, would cause people to stretch themselves too thin and burnout.