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Explain theories of personality
Personality theory is best descibed as what
Perspectives of personality theory
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Birth Order and Personality Many people’s personality can be viewed as something they have constructed themselves. However, numerous studies have proven that personalities may not solely be a personal choice, but a result of birth order. There have been many theories surrounding children of different birth order, specifically eldest, middle, and last child. For example, as stated by (), firstborns with younger siblings are more likely to be leaders because they want to emulate and be in favour with their parents. Although there are many variations of families, the most researched groups are the ones mentioned above. Does birth order really have an effect on the type of personality one has? Or is that just a coincidence and does not require
...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.
‘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."
There are many things that can alter the personality of an individual; some of these are voluntarily inflicted, while others are uncontrollable. Among the uncontrollable altercations, birth order is perhaps the largest influence on a person's disposition. Personality is influenced by the "place" a person has in their family as well as the family situation. It is important whether an individual is an only child, first born, second born, third born, a boy among girls, or a girl among boys, and so on.
The patterns of birth order have been seen for centuries, although it was not studied exclusively until around the 1980s. There are many factors that play into a persons personality, such as their genetics, the way they are raised, and their environment. Birth order looks at a persons place in their family—if they are the oldest, middle, or youngest child—and provides commonalities between them and others in the same location in other families. While there are many variations, the general traits do apply. Research shows that the first born is typically a leader in the family and in other areas of life. The youngest child is usually light hearted and social. The one that is hardest to put a type to is the middle child. He or she will frequently try to blaze their own path, straying from the one that their older sibling made. I believe that birth order plays a part in a person’s personality, but that the way they were raised is also a very important variable. A child’s birth order, along with the way they were raised, is a major factor in the way they interact within their family and other groups.
“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?
The study of birth order began over a century ago with Sir Francis Galton. A nineteenth century British anthropologist, geographer and statistician--- who believed that human species was ultimately improvable. In his research, he concluded that first born and only born children become well known scientists (Kluger, 2011). His findings resulted from the the fact that the nation still followed Primogeniture, when the first born son inherits the family’s fortunes. In today’s society, several families still put most, or all of, their first born son on a pedestal compared to their other children. Shortly after Galton’s discovery, Alfred Alder and Frank Sulloway came along and decided to take a deeper look into the relationship between a child’s birth order and their personality.
Before I start explaining what birth order does I want clarify exactly what it is. When I said birth order I know at least one person, probably more thought of something similar to astrology. In some ways they are similar. They both group personalities and have a basis in science, but that’s where the similarity stops. Birth order does not predict the future. Also, while birth orders facts are almost identical anywhere you look, I have found horoscopes where the methods used are so different that one source can say today’s you lucky day while another source for that same day may say that you will be brutally murdered by a dark stranger.
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.
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
What makes children born into the same family turn our so differently as adults? What is the turning point for some children to become productive citizens and some children to not amount to anything and be a burden to society. Psychologists have discussed nature verses nurture for years. Can heredity, genetics or environment influence an individual to be total opposites while being raised in the same home? Is it heredity, genetics, environment or something different? Is it a combination of the three? Psychologists vary in opinion with this matter. Heredity is the passing of characteristics to children from their parents. This is the method by which a cell from offspring or organism obtains or qualifies as being predisposed to the elements of its parent cell or organism. Heredity is the inherited characteristics on personality, development, and understanding.
Hartshorne, Joshua K. “How Birth Order Affects Your Personality”. Scientificamerican, 22 June 2002. Web. 30 April 2014.
A website called “Daily Mail” titled “Is Personality Determined by Nature or Nurture?” was spot on. Author Nicola Rowe talked about a study that resembled my initial outlook on the subject. Minus a few minor details I agreed. Apparently “scientists found foster parents have a greater impact on personality than directly inherited genes from parents. Researchers at University of Hamburg used Zebra Finches to study how personality is transferred between offspring and
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.
Sulloway, F. J. (September 1997). Birth order and personality. Harvard Mental Health Letter, 14, 5-7