Birth Order, Conscientiousness, And Openness Of Experience

The order people are born in, whether oldest, middle or youngest, can have a major effect on their personality. The dynamics of birth order have long been debated in the scientific community. Some researchers are hesitant to assign and label specific traits to each family positon. However, most agree that birth order influences and factors into the adults we become. Birth order affects people in ways they are unaware of. It can form personalities and affect behaviors. Also, as a result of birth order, relationships and perspectives on life can be rather different between family members despite siblings having been raised together. Alfred Adler, a psychologist, believed that a child's position in the family greatly determines the child's personality

According to Alfred Adler, the birth order of the children in a family will largely affect how they age and the personalities which they will form. First borns enter the family as the only child. They revel in the love and full attention from their parents, that is, until the second baby comes along. Suddenly, first borns are dethroned and lose the undivided attention they are used to receiving. As a result, they tend to develop a strong sense of responsibility and protectiveness over their siblings at an early age, which often leads to them becoming authoritative adults. Moreover, when there are multiple children in the family, parents will set high

Though, birth order illuminates a majority of our personality traits and decisions such as, career and romantic relationships. Parents get wrapped up in the ‘firstborn haze’ and overlook how much pressure they put on older siblings. By creating a pressure to be the best and ‘in control’ the older sibling takes on the leadership role and often becomes more aligned with doing better in school than younger siblings. Determination and intelligence correspond with higher level of career, and that is just what the older sibling strives for. In fact, “100% of astronauts who’ve gone into space were either eldest children or eldest sons” (State). Relationships work better if partners differ from each other and aren’t in the same birth order. The competition can be detrimental and problematic. Alfred Adler’s birth order theory provides us with useful information to reflect our decisions and explain how you think about things. By becoming aware of it we can become more familiar with ourselves and get out of the all too familiar comfort

Though there are specific temperaments and personality traits commonly found in each birthplace, it does not signify that each characteristic perfectly fits a single child or adult in that order. Many variables interfere with the general traits found in each birthplace and can easily change the personalities of that specific order. A complete change in birth order characteristics can also result from these specific interferences. Both circumstances in the outside and inside world take effect and are called the variables of birth order. These variables are very important to keep in mind while looking at this subject. Dr. Kevin Leman, an internationally renowned psychologist, and New York Times Bestselling Author, lists some of the major variables found in many children and adults in his book The Birth Order Book. The spacing of up to five years or more, gender, physical and mental disabilities or difference, deaths in the family, and also spacing will interfere and alter the personality traits found in each birth placement. This list of variables can continue on, but looking at these can provide insight to those dealing with doubts towards their specific birth order or where they may fit

The object of this experiment was to determine whether or not birth order actually affected personalities and to see if oldest/youngest stereotypes were true. Oldest children are said to be bossy and rule followers while youngest tend to be ambitious and outgoing. To find out whether or not these assumptions were true, ten people were asked a series of questions about oldest and youngest children and what it was like growing up.

Many people believe that sibling in the same family often have personalities, abilities, preferences that differ depending on their birth order. Moreover, some people feel that the birth order also affects the health, intelligence and personality characteristics of children. Many studies have been conducted to investigate this secret and scientists have discovered some interesting correlations, but also there are many controversial. Many external factors revolve around this theme such as the age of the people in the family, age distance, the total number of children, the sex of each child, environmental nurture and economic conditions social.

Something I learned about birth order is that many people have different personality because of birth order. Discussing with my group we agree that the first born child is the most responsible . In my group no one was the first born child but we do have our big brother/sister and we all agree that they are responsible and their personality is more matured. On the other hand , some of us didn't agree about the middle child of how they are rebellious and are the black sheep of the family ;but we do agree that the middle child wants attention and whatever to get that little attention from their parents. Also, they are creative to do things as projects and many more. I do rely to this because I'm the middle child and I dislike it because

Adler was one of the first theorists to suggest that birth order plays a part in personality traits. These character traits develop from development issues; birth order being one of them. The first born or the oldest child becomes “dethroned” when another sibling is born. The first born have a strong need to regain approval from adults and they have a need to be right. The second oldest tends to be the exact opposite of the first born. They tend to be competitive and aggressive, possibly because of “avis complex” (always trying to overcome the first born). The middle child tends to believe that life is unfair because they do not receive the benefits of being the oldest or the youngest. They are good listeners and problems solvers. The youngest child is often babied. They tend to receive the most attention. This results in them being socially aware. Lastly, the only child has a lot in common with the first born. They have a strong awareness of right and wrong. They also prefer small groups and alone

The purpose of the study was to provide support that birth order affects one’s personality, and to challenge theorists who argue that the home environment has no lasting effect on behavior outside of the home .Data was collected by a survey of 900 undergraduates, in which their own birth order order, their best friend’s birth order and the birth orders of their parents were collected.Both romantic and platonic relationships were studied. The study concluded that firstborns, middle children, youngest children, and only children alike, are all more likely to associate with their own kind (eg. firstborns with firstborns). The study also found that family size may account for a linkage between birth order and personality. They concluded that the smaller the family, the less competition each child has for resources, the more successful the children will

Bleske-Rechek & Kelley (2014) have noticed that past research on the link between birth order and personality seems to be biased in that data has been collected by only self-raters, which forces the single member to compare other members of family in relation to themselves. Bleske-Rechek & Kelley argue that birth order effects on personality operate within the family-rearing environment, thus individual differences in personalities between firstborn and laterborn siblings must be measured in responses to the environment according to each member.

Birth order is defined as being the chronological order of sibling births in a family. There is five ways to classify birth order: first, second, middle, last, and only children. Treatment plays a large role into how strong the birth order effect is. If out of four sons, a daughter is born, even if she is a middle child she will be treated at a first born, because she is the only girl. Age gap is also a major factor affecting birth order. Large age gaps result in birth order starting over (Birth Order, pg. 1-3). Referring to birth order, Dr. Hartstein, a psychologist says, “It’s been researched since the 1920s, and they really have found that over time the things that they have found stay the same and are proven to be honest and true representations of people (1).” A child’s growth and personality are greatly affected by birth order and the effects will be carried into adulthood (Birth Order, pg.1).

It is hypothesized that aspects of a firstborn personality will result in the firstborn being more self-confident, independent, conscientious, and more of a leader whereas the later-born is the opposite: very sociable, a follower, less conscientious and more social. The hypothesis was not supported, in that the results do not show all the aspects of personalities that were expected. Categories such as: self-confidence sociability and leadership are as expected, but conscientiousness is a surprise. The firstborn is instead less conscientious than the later-born. An extraneous variable that could have affected the results include how the individual is raised. One way of overcoming participant variables could be to test both or all siblings as well

Two siblings raised in the same home with the same parents will each have different environments that they grow up in that helps mold what personality traits they each will have. The order in which they are born also affects their traits. It affects their personalities and they take on roles in the family depending on how big the family is. The most commonly recognized personalities are: first-born, middle child, last-born, and only child. There are also variances in personalities for children that are adopted, born after the previous child has died or the mother miscarried, and step-child. The first child is always know as the leader, second the rebellious one, the last

For the purpose of this précis an account of the research completed by Julia Rohrer and her team will be discussed. To begin with, this study examines how birth order impacts personality and intellect in humans. Rohrer investigates the main problem based on the question “Does a person’s position among siblings have a lasting impact on that person’s life course?” This quasi longitudinal study is based the independent variable on families and where the child order lies form

Research revolving around the effect of birth order on personality is simple to find, given the multitude of papers on the subject. Despite this birth order literature is considered ambiguous and teaming with conflict. Due to the ease of access to these controversial birth order theories, first time, second time, third time, etc. parents can be influenced by these theories, and thus influence their children. Rarely is there a study that researches the effect of these birth order beliefs on children and their progression into adulthood. Nicholas Herrera, R. Zajonc, Grayzyna Wieczorkowska, and Bogdan Cichomski, address this concept in their empirical study, Beliefs About Birth Rank and Their Reflection in Reality.