Relationship Between Birth Order And Personality

“Most people have an intuitive knowledge that birth order somehow has an impact on development, but they underestimate how far reaching and just how significant that impact is.” Birth order describes not only what order a child is born into a family but also has an effect on an individual's personality, social skills, and success in life. If you are a first born child, does that mean you are a perfectionist, tend to be a natural leader, and are more successful than your younger siblings? Does being born last make you less able to compete in life?

After reading “That Elusive Birth Order Effect and What it Means for You” by Susan Krauss Whitbourne and “How Birth Order Effects Your Personality” by Joshua K. Hartshorne, I have come to the conclusion that both authors view birth order differently. Whitbourne was against the idea that birth order affects a person’s life. She does not believe that myths about birth order should be accepted as fact. Hartshorne, on the other hand, was for the idea that birth order affects a person’s life.

Does birth order affect personality? Can the chronological order of which you and your siblings are born determine your fate and shape you as an adult? As many factors as there are that mold us into who we are and how we are, it's hard to believe that birth order could be one of those significant factors. Alfred Adler, founder of individual psychology, was the first to theorize and discuss how birth order affects one's personality development. Adler argued that birth order can leave an ingrained impression on one's lifestyle which is reflected on the way the person handles friendships, work, and love. Adler believed that his theory could help people understand why they are the way are so that they could improve their life as Adler put emphasis

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.

The first journal article I found is called “Birth Order Impacts: Real or imagined? A Review of Literature Past and Present” and this article is very interesting because it details how research has proven that this in fact it is true. “Even Charles Darwin, the revolutionary biologist who proposed the theory of evolution based in natural selection, took a stance that birth order must impact how an organism travels through life” (Govek, 2012). The author also states very good points of research that has been done with infant temperament. “Starting as early as infant temperament, researchers have posed that a child’s later personality can be determined. Where birth order is concerned, it can have an impact on personality, as it has an impact on

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

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).

For centuries, one of the most curious stereotypes that have compelled most people is the role birth order has on their personalities and lives. Is birth order necessarily important? Does it honestly affect our personalities? Birth order has been controversial issue since biblical times for example Cain and Abel and Jacob and Esau. Psychologists have a lot of assumptions about how that individual behaves and responds to life whenever a person is a first born, middle child, youngest child, or only child. The questions remains, what difference does birth order make, and how true is it that birth order can even have an impact? Theorist has looked at the various studies regarding birth order most of which have used the example of the Adlerian concept of birth order to suggest intelligence and personality type the following paper will work to better understand if birth order makes a significant difference in the outcome of an individual’s life. Leman believes the key to sibling personality discrepancies lies in birth order and how the parents treat their children due to it. However, there are numerous psychologists responsible for the stereotypes of birth order, and how it contributes to various personality types in the study.

Moreover, the way they have been treated throughout their childhood can affect their personality dramatically. Birth order relates their difference in age, physical size, and status which can contribute to personality. Birth order is related to the roles and jobs available to offspring within the family. On average, first-borns tend to become leaders and hard-working. Later-borns are more agreeable, non-comforting, outgoing, and socially confident.There are many examples of how birth order can affect your personality. One example is, one day, my sister saw some item that she truly wanted on the internet. My mom kept saying no to her. My sister kept complaining and whining saying she really wanted it. Me being the person that doesn’t ask for anything, asks my mom to get something on the internet.

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

As there have been many research conducted in order verify Adler’s theory. In modern times, this had led to conflicting results. With various methodologies used, such as controlled experiments, studies, literature reviews, the findings all spread across the board. Some researchers such as Angst and Ernst believed that birth order does not impact personalities traits. Through extensive reviews and after conducting their own experiment, deemed that there is no correlation between the two topics. Others have disagreed and support Adler’s claim that birth order influences an individual’s personality. Frank Sulloway claims that birth order directly affects the Big Five Personality traits such as conscientiousness, openness, neuroticism, agreeableness and extraversion. Many researchers attribute personalities to various other social factors other than birth order such as family dynamic, socioeconomic issues, cultures

I let my thoughts scatter one by one through my mind as I waited for my Psychology teacher to arrive to class to lecture us. My Psychology teacher walked in and passed the notes out for today. My eyes rolled over the piece of paper with no interest until the bold, fine print at the top caught my attention which was the title. The title was, “Birth Order and Personality Traits.” The notes interested me because I wanted to know how being born first influenced my personality since I am a firstborn. I chose the topic of how birth order affected first-born’s personality traits and what are the parents’ expectations from a firstborn child because I want to learn more about how birth order plays a role and how it applies to me personally. Furthermore,

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

The debate between whether there is a correlation between familial birth order and specific personality traits, such as intelligence, success, and social skills, has been discussed and argues since 1874, where Francis Galton started to first look at the subject. The birth order’s impact on the individual is a subject that still is questionable on whether it exist or not to this day. There are plenty of studies that argue for and against this correlation, but the real question is which is right? Through this study I will look to try and reassure a reassure a correlation between birth order and personalities traits, through examining the main focus question, how does birth order influence the personality and learning styles of an individual?

There were three distinct points made in contrast to birth order affecting personality. Age, sibship size, and family design. Age was a contributing factor in terms of long standing