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Personality and temperament differences
Introduction on birth order
Reflection on birth order
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Birth order is a commonly discussed topic inside the realms of psychological research. Many studies have been organized to show the differentiation of personality concerning birth order. Characteristics of a personality, absent of birth order, play a monumental role in how a person reacts to social influence. A principle examination will occur concerning the view of the first-born child in comparison to the later born child for the purpose of illustrating how their susceptibility differs from one another. A related yet separated analysis will be done encompassing the characteristics of personalities of the first-born individual, as well as the later born individual focusing on the Big Five Personality Dimensions. An observation on the characteristics of an individuals’ personality suggests the causality in why they behave in the way that they do. Studies have shown that first-born individuals are more extraverted, conscientious, and neurotic than later born individuals (Herrera & Zajonc, 2003). First-born children tend to be more extraverted (Sulloway, 1999) and are more likely to boss and dominate their younger (Sulloway, 1999). The first-born subject pool is also more conscientious compared to subsequently birthed siblings. The pool is often more successful in academics, organized, responsible, and determined (Sulloway, 1999). The head of the present generations gene pool will sometimes look for the approval of their parents by acting as a “stand-in” parent toward their younger siblings (Sulloway, 1999). They have a tendency to be parent-identified, conscientious, and respectful of authority (Sulloway, 1999). Lastly, the group is shown to be more neurotic than the later born individual, in the sense of being temperamental and a... ... middle of paper ... ...g and Clinical Psychology, 36(2), 171-176. doi: 10.1037/h0030717 McGurk, H., & Lewis, M. (1972). Birth order: A phenomenon in search of an explanation. Developmental Psychology, 7(3), 366. doi: 10.1037/h0020037 Sampson, E. E. (1962). Birth order, need achievement, and conformity. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 64(2), 155-159. doi: 10.1037/h0045120 Schachter, S. (1964). Birth order and sociometric choice. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 68(4), 453-456. doi: 10.1037/h0044836 Staples, F. R., & Walters, R. H. (1961). Anxiety, birth order, and susceptibility to social influence. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 62(3), 716-719. doi: 10.1037/h0048183 Sulloway, F. J. (1999). Birth order. In Encyclopedia of Creativity, 1, 189-202. Warren, J. R. (1966). Birth order and social behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 65(1), 38-49. doi: 10.1037/h0022739
Grigorenko, Elena L., et al. "Bringing a Developmental Perspective to Anxiety Genetics." Development and psychopathology 24.4 (2012): 1179-93. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
‘Birth order theory can help explain why children raised in the same family environment with a strong genetic relationship can have such different personalities’ (Drysdale, 2011). The birth order theory says that ‘first-borns are leaders, the drivers and the responsible type. They love to feel in control and feel uncomfortable with surprises or feeling out of their depth. They are conservative in their outlook’ (Grose, 2013). The personality theory says that last-borns are majorly different to first-borns in their characteristics and traits. It states that last-borns are ‘the
Does birth order really affect who we are? Sigmund Freud was the first psychotherapist to say, " a child's position in the sequence of brother and sisters is of very great significance for one course of his later life." The type of person that we become stems from many things including birth order position, gender and the genders of the other siblings. Although personality is affected by many different factors, such as heredity, family size, the spacing and the gender of other siblings, education and upbringing, birth order plays a very important role and gives many clues as to why people are the was they are. Dr. Alfred Adler, a renowned psychiatrist, wrote that a person's position in the family leaves an undeniable "stamp" on his or her "style of living."
Since I am interested in birth order, and the differences between my brother and I, I chose to read an article entitled What Parents Learn From Experience: The First Child as a First Draft? Shawn D. Whiteman wrote this article, with corresponding research by Susan M. McHale, and Ann C. Crouter. This particular article explains the differences in parenting between two children within the same family that are about two years apart in age. The words describe what many parents learn the first time around with their first-born child, and how their parenting styles change with the second child. Parents tend to be more easy going with the second child, and therefore discipline is seen less towards the younger child compared to the older child. Also, this article explains that most parents are less worried about the older child when they are out of the house, compared to the younger child one. Younger children tend to be checked up on more then the older kids, but older children tend to have less opportunities then the younger ones do.
Many factors can shape a persons a personality, it could be their environment, peers, family, siblings, but one wouldn’t think that their birth order can too. The last factor will be the one topic I will be getting into more depth in this essay. Either being born first or last it will have a huge impact on your personality (Parents magazine 2006). The first to introduce the theory of the impact birth order has on personality was psychologist Alfred Adler in the early 20th century. This started a new interest in many on this research (Lesley Ogden 2013). His theory suggest the common personality traits each first, middle, and last borns have. Let me start off with the first born of the family and work my way down. The first born is the child the family “practices” on you could say. First time parents have no experience on parenting, and they want to try their best on raising a good child which causes them to be stricter. This causes them to put more pressure on the first borns to do better at everything they do. Which can make them become perfectionists and high achievers. But they want to be noticed and praised by their parents when they do well. This too however develops them to become leaders, especially if they have siblings their parents want them to set an example for (Brooks 1984). Independence, reliability, and respect for authority are other traits that this group may has. They are highly intelligent and get high qualifications in school. They can also be serious and very mature for their age. Because of this nature, this group tends to get along really well with their elders. The pressure of carrying responsibilities (and at times even being forced upon) at an early age can bring negative factors. For the reason that it c...
Eno, C. (2010). The Influence of Primed Social Roles on Gender Differences in Conformity (Doctoral dissertation). http://acumen.lib.ua.edu/content/u0015/0000001/0000398/u0015_0000001_0000398.pdf
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 1961;63: 575-82.). “According the prediction,
Growing up with siblings or the absence of siblings can be a major factor in determining academic success. Being the oldest, middle or youngest child does not necessarily determine academic success concretely without exception, but serves as a predictor of future academic success. School achievement is gauged by how far one goes in his or her education, starting from grade school, all the way up to graduate school. Before getting into the developmental stages across the life span and in the interest of time, I will only be discussing birth order in terms of the oldest child, middle child, youngest child and only child because configurations of five or more children occur only in 10% of the families with children. The average family in the U.S. has three (Toman, 1976). Also, I will be dividing the developmental stages into 3 stages: childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
Asch, S. (1956). Studies of Independence and Conformity: A Minority of One Against a Unanimous Majority. Psychological Monographs, 70.
Human beings undergo different stages of development. During the development, people experience various constraints and detriments depending on their gender, race, social status, among other factors. The society plays an incredible role in human development. Everyone deals with eth society in different ways; through education, work, communication, or socializing. Therefore, social influence is inevitable. Scholars go as far as singling out social status being a lifelong limiting factor of human development (Bartholomae, & Petrosky, 2003).
Personality involves a blend of characteristics that make one unique. In reviewing personality, we consider the influence of the interactions that one is engaged in, the nature or the environment of one's upbringing and genetics. The characteristic traits may change over time while some of them becoming a lasting part of a person’s personality. In this essay will analyze the theories that relate to the character and the various stages that children undergo during development. We will use the same theories and developmental stages in analysis my progress from childhood up to date.
Adler believed that firstborns express outstanding intellectual achievement, which has been proven multiple times in research case studies. Belmont and Marolla found that first-borns frequently outstripped their younger siblings intellectually in the case of 400,000 Dutch men who turned 19 years old between 1963 and 1966 (Ryckman, 2013). Another research has shown that firstborns are actually overrepresented among college and graduate students, university faculty, and science professions. Zajonc believed the superior intellectual achievement by older siblings was a result of the tutor effect, because firstborns are likely to be both learners and teachers and thus the elder child experiences more intellectual growth (Mikheeva, 2015). In contrast, Adler believed that only children would become pampered since they were the sole focus of their parents, and would desire to be the center of attention at all times. However, current research has disproved this stating that only children are more like firstborns but are more cooperative and sociable. Falbo and Cooper believe this could be a result of only children having more one-on-one time with their mothers. Another possibility for only children being more sociable and cooperative, according to Lewis and Feiring, is that those children engage in more parent-child conversations, often with a greater exchange of
The Biological approach to personality places emphasis on the genetic influences related to the development of an individual’s personality. Some may believe that children and their parents can have very similar personalities, for example a young boy having his father’s anger (Stelmack, 1990). Though this approach has often been questioned by psychologists, it is not disregarded all together. Some believe that genetics do have a role in an individual’s personality development; however environments, as well as personal experiences all work in forming personality.
There are many social influences which have an effect or lasting effect on the behavior of an individual. Within many group scenarios, conformity and obedience play a large role in how people tend to think and behave, especially if they get carried away. Obedience refers to compliance to an authority figure or with others in a group. On the other hand, conformity refers to an individual changing their thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors to accommodate with the standards of a group or their peers. Both of which are pure examples of how human behavior changes based on certain social situations. Obedience and conformity both occur during situations of social facilitation, social loafing, and groupthink.
Skolnik, D. (2009, October). Does birth order matter? Bonnier Corporation, 21(9), 129. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?Id=GALE|A168775255&v=2.1&u=tplmain&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=e6be36df8a769ea278291a6a42635096