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Psychology
UK
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Psychology

D-Index
142
Citations
81822
World Ranking
110
National Ranking
20

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Psychology in United Kingdom Leader Award

Overview

Robin I. M. Dunbar is affiliated with the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Their primary research focuses on psychology and social sciences, with a significant number of publications in related subfields including social psychology, statistical and nonlinear physics, sociology and political science, experimental and cognitive psychology, and cognitive neuroscience.

The scientist's work spans several main topics, including primate behavior and ecology, neuroendocrine regulation and behavior, opinion dynamics and social influence, evolutionary game theory and cooperation, complex network analysis techniques, evolutionary psychology and human behavior, and animal behavior and reproduction.

Recent publications include:

  • The Neurobiology of Social Distance, 2020, Trends in Cognitive Sciences
  • The default network of the human brain is associated with perceived social isolation, 2020, Nature Communications
  • Microbial transmission in animal social networks and the social microbiome, 2020, Nature Ecology & Evolution
  • The role of the microbiome in the neurobiology of social behaviour, 2020, Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
  • Structure and function in human and primate social networks: implications for diffusion, network stability and health, 2020, Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences

The scientist frequently publishes in venues such as bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), arXiv (Cornell University), Scientific Reports, Faculty Opinions - Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature, and Frontiers in Psychology.

Co-authorship collaborations include work with Susanne Shultz, Eiluned Pearce, Danilo Bzdok, Riadh Abed, and Laura P. Schaposnik.

Robin I. M. Dunbar has contributed to book publications through Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press, including titles such as Evolutionary Psychiatry (2022) and Evolution (2020).

Best Publications

  • The social brain hypothesis

    Robin I. M. Dunbar

  • Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans

    R. I. M. Dunbar

  • Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates

    R.I.M. Dunbar

  • Evolution in the Social Brain

    R. I. M. Dunbar;Susanne Shultz

  • Primate social systems

    Robin I. M. Dunbar

  • The Social Brain: Mind, Language, and Society in Evolutionary Perspective

    R.I.M. Dunbar

  • Social network size in humans.

    R. A. Hill;R. I. M. Dunbar

  • Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language

    R. I. M. Dunbar

  • Gossip in Evolutionary Perspective

    R. I. M. Dunbar

  • Fission-fusion dynamics: new research frameworks

    Filippo Aureli;Colleen M Schaffner;Christophe Boesch;Simon K Bearder

  • Human Evolutionary Psychology

    Louise Barrett;Robin Dunbar;John Lycett

  • Neocortex Size, Group Size, and the Evolution of Language

    Leslie C. Aiello;R. I. M. Dunbar

  • The social role of touch in humans and primates: behavioural function and neurobiological mechanisms.

    R.I.M. Dunbar

  • The social brain hypothesis and its implications for social evolution.

    R.I.M. Dunbar

  • Primate Conservation Biology

    Guy Cowlishaw;Robin I. M. Dunbar

  • Functional significance of social grooming in primates.

    R.I.M. Dunbar

  • Machiavellian intelligence. Social expertise and the evolution of intellect in monkeys, apes, and humans

    Unknown

  • Discrete hierarchical organization of social group sizes

    W.-X. Zhou;D. Sornette;R. A. Hill;R. I. M. Dunbar

  • Intergroup aggression in chimpanzees and humans

    Joseph H. Manson;Richard W. Wrangham;James L. Boone;Bernard Chapais

  • The Human Story

    Robin Dunbar

  • Dominance rank and mating success in male primates

    Guy Cowlishaw;R.I.M. Dunbar

  • How Many Friends Does One Person Need?: Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks

    R. I. M. Dunbar

  • Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology

    Louise Barrett;Robin Dunbar

  • Evolution of the Social Brain

    Robin Dunbar

Frequent Co-Authors

Lauri Nummenmaa
Lauri Nummenmaa Turku University Hospital
Josep Call
Josep Call University of St Andrews
Thomas V. Pollet
Thomas V. Pollet Northumbria University
Riitta Hari
Riitta Hari Aalto University
Mark van Vugt
Mark van Vugt Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Anthony C. Little
Anthony C. Little University of Bath
Daniel Nettle
Daniel Nettle Newcastle University
Richard P. Bentall
Richard P. Bentall University of Sheffield
Andrew Whiten
Andrew Whiten University of St Andrews
Roscoe Stanyon
Roscoe Stanyon University of Florence

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