Episode
#47: Robin Dunbar - The Chemistry of Connection
- Podcast
- How Humans Work Podcast
- Published
- May 20, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 2519
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://howhumanswork.us/episode-47-robin-dunbar-part-1
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Summary
Episode Summary The equally erudite and jovial Robin Dunbar joins Jef Szi and the How Humans Work Podcast for the first of a two part conversation about limits and leaps of social patterns in primates and humans. An Oxford University professor of evolutionary psychology and someone with a facile grasp of multiple sciences and histories, Professor Dunbar offers us a fascinating account of the social roots of human nature. In part 1—The Chemistry of Connection—we dive deeply into the endorphin system and the how it functions to stabilize social bonds in groups. We come to see freshly how critical a role endorphins play in our day to day reality. Drawing on his rich understanding of touch, primates, and the wildly comprehensive health benefits endorphins, Dunbar illustrates the connections between chemistry, evolution, and the roots of social blueprint—translating it into the very familiar ‘raw feels’ of relationships that inform how we see, think, and feel about the world. In particular, Robin clarifies how and why social grooming assists us in dealing with unique social stresses that accompany a group survival strategy that primate species have. Further, Robin mirthfully shows us the unique elements of the human social tool kit, which activates social glue of endorphins without the time intensive work of touch. Indeed, the social tool kit of humans relies on the beautiful elements of laughter, dancing, singing, feasting, storytelling, and rituals to foster social cohesion. The Chemistry of Connection helps us in on our search for to understand what Social Cohesion is and how we can more successfully find it. Thank you Robin, it was a brilliant blessing to learn so much about human nature and our human story with you! ***** About: Robin Dunbar: Professor Dunbar is Emerit…