The Influence Of Birth Order On Personality

2494 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Birth Order Effects on Personality and Achievement Within Families

The Influence of Birth Order on Personality

Contents
Introduction 1
Method 3
Results 4
Discussion 5

Introduction

Numerous studies have shown correlation between birth rate and personality. Birth rate can be defined as the ratio of total live births to that of the total population, in a specific community during a certain period of time. It is usually expressed in numbers of live birth over 1000 population in a year. Birth order is believed to have a lasting effect on psychological development. On the other hand, personality refers to a set of behaviors and mental characteristics possessed by an individual that makes him/her unique, in another words, it’s the distinctive qualities of an individual, and it is made up of the way we think, …show more content…

In each of this 5 broad category, there are more personality traits that describe an individual. It is said that individual in the same birth order will have similar traits with others, for instance, the eldest child of the family would be a natural born leader or will be a responsible person. Past studies have claimed that these assumptions are true, but other findings have showed that these assumptions may be vary.

A study done by A. P. MacDonald Jr. in West Virginia University about Birth Rate and Personality in 1969, investigated for birth order differences in 2 sample of undergraduate students, the first sample of students in the first investigation were 786 students from the university, with 339 males & 447 females, the sample contained 86 only child (36 males & 50 females), 294 first born (145 males & 149 female), 406 later born (158 males & 248 females). After collecting the sample, subjects were ask for short personal history which include birth order, and were measured …show more content…

The results were, later born from 2-child families were more external than larger size families and first born and only child from 2-child families; only child and first born were more socially responsible than later born; only child and later born were less rigid than first born; and only female subjects manifested higher need for approval compare to

Show More
Related

  • Sodastream Executive Summary

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    that are shown will be due to differences in family dynamics and economic status. The target

    Read More

  • Does Birth Order Affect Personality Development?

    1544 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are many theories about how an individuals’ personality develop or how different characteristics and traits are formed in people. Psychiatrist Alfred Adler was the first person to suggest that the order a person was born in had a profound effect on the development of his/her personality. He called his idea the Birth Order Theory. Adler’s work on this theory cover the oldest child, commonly referred to as the first-born, as well as, the middle, youngest, and only children. The work of other experts in the field have expanded on his theory to include multiplies (twins, triplets, etc.), step-siblings, siblings with disabilities, and siblings with more than a five years gap. So according to the Birth Order Theory, how does a person’s order of birth contribute to their personality, and what are the commonly shared characteristics in each birth position? Are there other factors that can contribute or influence an individual’s personality development in relation to the Birth Order Theory that needs to be considered? If so, than how accurate is the theory really? I will attempt to answer these question.

    Read More

  • Defensive Personality Studied through Personality Psychology Trait Theories

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...n individual. The result can also be the same, though there is a variability among personalities. Both Kohlberg and Erikson have strong theories about how personalities are formed in early ages with direct focus on the parents.

    Read More

  • Big Vs Big Size Families Essay

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    Children in large families are always forced to share. Children in smaller families believe that they are the center of attention because their parents have only one or two kids to support. Only children are often anti-social because they haven’t always been exposed to other children. Children who are not exposed to other children will become loners.

    Read More

  • Birth Order Theory Essay

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    ‘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

    Read More

  • The Effect of Birth Order on Who We Are

    1555 Words  | 4 Pages

    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."

    Read More

  • Biological Factors Can Predict Personality

    1903 Words  | 4 Pages

    A layman would define personality as an individual’s characteristics in terms of how they think and behave. Many theorists, however, interprets personality differently resulting in various personality theories. Personality is determined by traits which are behaviours displayed by a person in most given situations. How a person reacts to common circumstances may also be used to foresee future behaviours. Traits are then categorized into types that allow easier comparisons to be made between each individual’s attributes. The focus of this paper would be on the biological aspects of personality whereby traits are thought to be inheritable through genetics and associated with the central nervous system. Behavioural genetics are research that makes use of results from studies done on family, twins and adoptions. The findings of how both genes and environment influences personality from the studies will be discussed. Some researchers found possible issues with the representativeness of such studies. The outline of Eysenck’s biological model of personality and arousal, Gray’s BAS/BIS theory and Cloninger’s biological model of personality will further explain the biological effect on personality.

    Read More

  • Birth Order Influence Personality

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The Big Five Traits

    1850 Words  | 4 Pages

    A person’s personality has been the subject of psychological scrutiny for many years. Psychologists have drawn up several theories in an attempt to accurately predict and determine one’s personality. Foremost amongst these, is the “Big Five Trait Theory” which stemmed from Raymond B. Cattell’s theory.

    Read More

  • Traits Theories

    2008 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...ng the minimum threshold of human traits that can constitute a behavior. Future researches are also eminent to happen to disclose how long can certain observed traits be accepted as a trait. This has been so because traits theories have received incredible criticism especially on their ability to predict a certain behavior. However, it cannot be underscored that traits theories have a commendable degree of objectivity. Another area that opens room for studies in the traits theory is why individuals have different personality features. The current scholarly works only focuses on studying the behavior pattern where as nobody is involved in the business of determining the root cause of these patterns. Empirical tests are used to do the studies. However, there has been a close observation that sometimes a person behaves totally different from what the assessment show.

    Read More

  • Biological Approach To Personality

    2791 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Advantages And Disadvantages Of Personality Theories

    950 Words  | 2 Pages

    When we are born, over time we grow up and develop a personality. For each person, our personalities differentiate between one another which presents a wide variety of individuals. According to psychology, there are different factors that make up who we are. Today, I will be talking about the four major theories of personality (Psychodynamic, five-factor model, humanistic, and social-cognitive).

    Read More

  • Personality Changes Throughout Lifespan Essay

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personality is the study of an individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving over time and across situations and it is what distinguishes one individual from another. In the past changes in personality were thought to have only occurred in the developmental stages of childhood and solidifies in adolescence. After the teenage years it was thought to be set like plaster or the change seen to be inconsequential or absent( Srivastava, John, Gosling, and Potter, 2003). However, recent studies have suggested that changes in personality traits continue to occur throughout an individual’s lifespan due to multiple reasons.

    Read More

  • Conscientiousness Personality Traits

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    Studies have also shown that maturation may have an impact on the five traits. As people age,

    Read More

  • Self Reflection and Personality Traits

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personality is the expression of a person’s traits according to ones feelings, mentality and behavior. It involves understanding individuals’ traits such as withdrawal and willpower and how various parts of an individual link together to form personality. Personality expresses itself from within an individual and is comparatively regular throughout in an individual’s life. Different people have different personalities dependent on factors such as environment and genetic composition. Our personality is dependent on the success or failure of our development in the eight stages of life. This is proposed by Erik Erikson. Success in the development stages lead to virtues while the failure leads to malignancies.

    Read More

More about The Influence Of Birth Order On Personality

Open Document