Friendship pervades the human social landscape and is a hallmark of human behaviour. Its bonds are so important that disrupting them leads to a multitude of health problems, both physical and mental. However, it’s only recently that friendship is getting serious scientific respect. Researchers from disciplines as diverse as neurobiology, psychology, anthropology, economics and animal behaviour are recognising parallels between animals’ interactions and people’s habits at dinner parties. They are asking far more rigorous questions about the motivations behind social behaviour.

Just what constitutes friendship? If you think we are friends, but I think we are acquaintances, which are we? The variety of possible answers is one reason friendship went unexamined for so long. Scientists gravitated to the study of individuals because it meant fewer statistical headaches and more available data.

The new science of friendship is beginning to paint a clearer picture of how and why we make friends, researchers hope to use that information in a variety of ways. But of course, the most straightforward result of this work is the deeper appreciation of just how important friends are in our lives. One researcher has said, “Other individuals are the source of some of our greatest joys. And now we know that they do not just make us happy they help keep us alive.”

GFS Perth has been enabling Friendship for almost 140 years. Check our socials or Events Calendar. #FriendshipRevolution