Dunbar's number (148) & U.S. Presidents

[NinjaSurfer]

I've heard that the human brain can simultaneously maintain no more than 148 friendships-- Dunbar's number.

I'm always amazed at the people skills of the US presidents

They have to remember SOOOO many names, faces, and people

Bill Clinton was a pro at this

I wonder what kind of psychological impact this has on the brain.

If the president knew every US senator by name, there's 100 people already

Then there's the thousands upon thousands of other people he must know and recognize

Sure he's probably got a lot help from his team; but I can't even fathom having to keep track of that many people

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

You can train your brain to specialize in various activities. It is malleable rather than static.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I've heard that the human brain can simultaneously maintain no more than 148 friendships-- Dunbar's number.

That you've heard something, of course, doesn't make it true.

I'm always amazed at the people skills of the US presidents

They have to remember SOOOO many names, faces, and people

Bill Clinton was a pro at this

I wonder what kind of psychological impact this has on the brain.

If the president knew every US senator by name, there's 100 people already

Then there's the thousands upon thousands of other people he must know and recognize

Sure he's probably got a lot help from his team; but I can't even fathom having to keep track of that many people

Yep. Some people are really good at that sort of thing. I'm not one of them. I think Bill is an ENFP; if so, that might explain some of that.

 

[Intellect]

I've heard that the human brain can simultaneously maintain no more than 148 friendships-- Dunbar's number.

I'm always amazed at the people skills of the US presidents

I believe that Dunbar's number indicates a limit on the amount of friendships that are actively maintained not the number of total people in your life.

While a world leader will definitely need to juggle a lot of relationships (and continually build new ones), I doubt they're actively involved in more than 150 active relationships at any given time. I'm sure many of the people a president interacts with on a daily basis are acquaintances and nothing more than surface level contacts.

Also, as Proxy said: you can definitely specialize. The human brain is built to adapt.