Social Network Theory

: Through human evolution, it has been found maintaining relationships in social network is important to health and well-being (Berkman, 1984), therefore, many theories and studies have been conducted into human social networks. Dunbar (1991) utilised the known facts of the size of human neocortex and the relationship in group size and neocortices of primates, to predict a cognitive group size for humans, where one's social network should consist of 150 people. This was supported by hunger-gather societies (Dunbar 1993) and small world experiments (Kilworth et al 1984). In addition, our network consists of a hierarchical inclusive series of circles which increase in size but decrease in intensity. The circles have a natural ratio of 3 (Dunbar,

For instance, Dunbar (1991) observed primate's group size and social bonds, which led to the development of the social brain hypothesis. It states the social network size is limited by one's ability to manage social situations at a cognitive level (Barret et al., 2003; the website). It may be due to the number of volume of neocortical neurons limiting one's information processing capacity, thus limiting the number of social relationships they can monitor simultaneously (Dunbar, 1992). Furthermore, social cognitive competences, such as the ability to handle multi-level intentionality tasks (stiller, Dunbar 2007) affect relationships

Synchrony has helped overcome the limit of time because it has been found synchronisation of movements, such as in dance or sports acts as an alternative to grooming, because it releases endorphins (Tarr et al, 2015) , which is a neurochemical involved in bonding.

Discussion: Even though there are ways to overcome the limit, the limit upon our social networks is still present. For instance, many research has contradicted SNSs’ ability to overcome the constraints that limit social network sizes. It was found heavy online users do not have lager social networks in real life, then casual online users (Dunbar, 2016). Therefore, social media is not used to increase the size of our social circles but rather to prevent friendships from decaying, due mostly to the absence of face-to-face contact.

Kilworth 1979

Conclusion: There is a limit but through evolution development and the development of technology we can prevent the decay of relationships and form larger social networks, however are closely bonded with a few. Dunbar's number still applies but some advances have been