The Social Brain – The Psychology Behind Successful Groups | How To Academy

Thu, 2 March 2023

6:30 pm - 7:30 pm GMT

The Social Brain – The Psychology Behind Successful Groups

Oxford's Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey & Robin Dunbar

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Humans may be social creatures by nature, but we struggle to work together. Join three experts from Oxford and learn how to make group-work more productive and satisfying.

We all know how easy it is for a group dynamic to turn sour. Trust can prove elusive. Resentments build quickly. Standing out becomes more important than working towards a common goal. Even the greatest bands and the most dynamic start-ups of all time have been plagued by group division.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. In this groundbreaking talk, world-leading experts in evolutionary psychology and strategic leadership come together to offer a primer on how to get the best out of our teams.

With years of expertise, they will show how an understanding of our ‘social brain’ can help us build productive, successful relationships. Together, they will explain how group dynamics work and what size group is most suited to the task at hand. They will offer practical hints on how to diffuse tensions and encourage cohesion. Furthermore, they will demonstrate the vital importance of balancing a sense of unity with the need to encourage different outlooks and strengths.

Join us for what will be both a fascinating analysis of how our brains function in group environments and a brilliantly practical guide to creating collaborative, high-performing teams.

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Tracey Camilleri

Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School

Tracey Camilleri is an Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and the co-founder, along with Samantha Rockey, of Thompson Harrison, an organisation and leadership development consultancy. Earlier in her career she worked in consultancy at Bain & Co., banking, publishing and as an entrepreneur.

Samantha Rockey

Associate Fellow at the Saïd Business School

Samantha Rockey is an Associate Fellow at the Saïd Business School and was formerly the Global Head of Leadership Development at the FTSE top-10 company SABMiller, now part of AB InBev.

Robin Dunbar

Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford

Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford and an elected Fellow of the British Academy. He is best known for the social brain hypothesis, the gossip theory of language evolution and Dunbar’s Number (the limit of 150 on the number of relationships that we can manage). His books include Human Evolution, Thinking Big and Friends.