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Literature Review on Birth Order Effects on Personality and Achievement within Families
Literature Review on Birth Order Effects on Personality and Achievement within Families
Birth order and its characteristics
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In the article “The Achiever, the Peacemaker and the Life of the Party: How Birth Order Affects Personality.” The author, Dr. Gail Gross seems to suggest that the order we are born in affects our personality, our achievements in life, and even such things as our careers. I on the other hand am a strong disbeliever of this mind set and the idea of putting everyone into these categories which are used to define them. In my personal life I have seen no proof of the patterns that the “birth order” say are consistent with whether you are the eldest, middle or youngest child in your family. In today’s day and age society is obsessed with putting everyone into these “categories” or “boxes” to define themselves, because there is something so appealing with fitting in with the “normal” or the “expected” of you. The thing is though, these things don’t really explain you or completely fit you. You are your own human being, capable of your own thoughts, your own opinions and quite frankly, how people perceive you. I believe if you want to be seen a certain way, you will. Say your whole life you have been told “Your astrology sign is a Virgo, they act like this." If you are told that you …show more content…
My brother and I just go to show that you can not put people into definitive categories, you can not expect or predict someone to be a certain way, because everyone is different and those differences make us who we are. We can not be defined by where we lie in the birth order because of the fact that even if our parents have patterns on how they treat there children depending on whether they were the first or the fifth child, it is not definite that those things will lead to you having these set in stone personality features an my brother and I just go to show that your personality and what you do with your life is nature not
In the reading of Chapters three through six in the book Why Parties Matter: Political Competition and Democracy in the American South by John H Aldrich and John D Griffin, the authors focus on explaining the political competition and major political parties in the American south through four different time periods. The four time periods are the Jacksonian Era, the Post-Reconstruction Era, the Jim Crow South and the Southern Republicanism. Each chapter began with a historical background and context that painted a picture of major events that were impacting and shaping the major political party or parties within the country. The background and context was not only greatly appreciated as a historical refresher, but was one of the strong points of the chapters, in my opinion. The historical setting and impacts were important keys in explaining how the south kept a single party for much of its history. They then analyze the presence and actions of the party in the south at the time. They looked at things like party organization, elected officials and competition in the areas.
The achievers, the gamblers and visionaries, and the undefined, this is how Jeffery Kluger describes the oldest, youngest, and middle child in his article “The Power of Birth Order” (409). The birth order is a phenomenon, studied by many scientists, that has been impacting the way siblings think and act for years. The birth order classifies the oldest child, who is the achiever; the middle child, who is a hybrid of the oldest and youngest; and last but not least, the youngest child, who is the adventurer of the family. The fact that the birth order affects the personalities of siblings is becoming more and more evident and the classifications of the firstborn, middle child, and youngest child have been proved to be very accurate.
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.
George Orwell’s 1984 makes very efficient use of the Overcoming the Monster plot style. Orwell is able to convey his concerns about the future through his portrayal of the party and Big Brother. He also makes excellent use of subplots to contribute to the overall idea of the novel.
‘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
Adler’s birth order plays a significant part in how we perceive our lives. Birth order is defined as “is not a deterministic concept but does increase an individual’s probability of having certain set of experiences” (Corey, 2013, p. 108). When we are born there is an automatic label that is placed upon us. We are the oldest or youngest or somewhere in between. Society fosters the idea of birth order and treats us accordingly.
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."
Three aspects of my personality are avoidant, high on conscientiousness and a high need for achievement. These personality characteristics were studied using different theories, the attachment theory, Big Five, and the motivational theory. Together, these aspects make me who I am. I am someone who is driven, hard working, disciplined, and has a hard time trusting and letting other people into my personal life. Everyone has their different personality traits which make them unique, and that’s the beauty of humans. No one is exactly like anyone
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...
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.
The distinctive characteristics and qualities of any one person is one way to define personality. According to Feist & Feist (2009) personality is described as a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior. These traits are the precursor of behavior as per individuality, and that of behavior that is consistent throughout life. Although a person can argue the fact that traits is a disposition of genetic predisposition of certain characteristics, the pattern in which these are characterized are different. Each person’s anatomy, intelligence, and temperament are differently and each owns a unique personality, different from parents, grandparents, and any other individual on this planet. Personality theorists’ however may not concur.
Hartshorne, Joshua K. “How Birth Order Affects Your Personality”. Scientificamerican, 22 June 2002. Web. 30 April 2014.
Personally, I consider myself as an adoring, kind-hearted and determined person. I’m respectful and caring to everyone around me. I pursue my goals to the end and I never rest until I accomplish them. I 'm confident that my companions would depict me as a compassionate and kind individual. I believe others see me as a steadfast individual who is obliging of others. They would also consider me competitive since I am aggressive when in pursuit of a target. My coworkers think of me as a problem solver, because I am very logical. I am also humble and generous. I love to give back to those in need. My friends view me as a free spirit, creative and imaginative person. They also see me as being very sociable and outgoing. I’m huge
Sulloway, F. J. (September 1997). Birth order and personality. Harvard Mental Health Letter, 14, 5-7
This essay will aim to discuss what Aristotle proposes by the statement “man is by nature a political animal”. When looking at this question, the first thing to establish is the meaning of the word ‘political’. We must consider the fact that in the time of Aristotle the word ‘political’ was taken to mean something quite different, it was used to encompass a much wider description. In terms of the classical definition, the word political can be directly related back to the Greek word ‘polis’. The word polis can be translated into the ‘city-state’. To be political, was to involve oneself in the polis, which was the city-state. The polis is where the majority of, if not all, social activity took place and for that reason “ all social life in classical Greece was ‘political’ as it took place within the polis” (Mulgan, 1990). Aristotle maintains the idea that in order for a man to be political, he must take part in all aspects of society, not just certain political affairs.