Birth Order and Personality Traits - Essay Example

Birth Order Birth Order Birth order refers to rank of siblings by their age. Birth order has been gaining momentum in the field of Psychology. Psychologists and historians, including Frank Sulloway have had their arguments about the idea of birth order and personality. However, several controversies about birth order’s effect on personality development still exist. Some individuals believe that birth strongly influences personality but most psychologists argue against this opinion. This perspective has led to establishment of contemporary approaches regarding the personality traits in which birth order plays a massive role. These traits include agreeable, neuroticism, extraversion, openness and conscientiousness. According to Sulloway, birth order has a strong influence on the major personality traits. He claims that firstborns are less agreeable, less open to new thoughts, more socially overriding and more conscientious as compared to the lastborns. Sulloway believes that firstborns have the ability to influence several things in their families given that their parents provided them with the chance to make a notable impact in the family before the others. This means that they have the ability to dominate a social setting especially if the members present are their younger siblings. They have that perception that what they say is more superior and deserves respect hence carry out their operation with a sense of command. Firstborns rarely agree with what their juniors propose; they prefer their presumption be adopted. This aspect generates the idea that firstborns have a superiority complex. Lastborns tend to open up to new ideas and are more likely to agree with various suggestions. This could be because they grew up while getting various views about life from their siblings and family members. Often, lastborns are subjected to a scenario where they are supposed to follow the footsteps of their firstborns and other siblings. Because the society expects the firstborns to act as role models to their siblings, they tend to be more conscientious about all they do. They fear messing around because it paints a bad picture and makes them lose respect from their juniors. Darwinian conflicts include parent-offspring conflict, sexual selection, sibling-sibling conflict, differential parental investment and preference of older sibling because of infant transience. Sulloway portrays massive admiration for Darwin’s approach to birth order. He indicates that every child in the family has to establish a niche and try to secure a potential beneficial relationship with the family members. In sexual selection, children tend to compete over their mates. Each individual will want to relate well with each other but will also want to emerge the most favorable and outstanding over the others. For instance, a family with three boys, each of them will want to be seen as the best male out of the group. Parents tend to have unequal attention towards their children. Some will receive more attention while others become almost insignificant. The parents might not really realize natural occurrence that is why the lastborns receive more attention since the parents claim they are protecting them from intimidation from the older siblings. Parent-offspring conflict arises especially among the lastborns who tend to be rebellious. Even middle born children are rebellions but since they do not expect to receive higher attention as compared to the first and lastborns, they carry out their operations almost independently. Parents normally agree with the firstborns hence the conflicts between them is minimal. Another conflict is that between siblings. The fight for attention from the parents may create tension and unending conflicts among siblings. Again, when the siblings are in the process of establishing their niche and placement in the family, a conflict always arises, the firstborn will always want to be respected because of the dominant and the ability to influence. The lastborns will be seeking to be treated in a fragile manner thus always want to be close to their parents. Because everyone demands attention, it becomes almost impossible to agree on a common ground. From Darwinian conflicts, Sulloway’s form of reasoning is agreeable given that when the parents concur with the firstborns in almost everything they do, they are allowing them to be socially dominant hence influences their personality. The attention they receive together with the ability not to enter in conflicts with the parents offers them an upper hand and a motivation in life. Therefore, family dynamics play a great role in developing personality of an individual basing on the birth order. Sulloway’s meta-analysis argues for birth order differences in human personality. He focuses on science, religion and politics to establish how personality development among the first and lastborns differ. It is evident that firstborns are more likely than the lastborns to uphold tradition and go for conservative posts. On the contrary, lastborns are rebels who tend to adopt new things in life. Sulloway argues that lastborns have a potential of adopting Darwinian evolutionary concept as opposed to firstborns. Thus, lastborns are flexible to change and welcome new ideas while firstborns take time to incorporate transformation in their lives. A significant conclusion is that lastborns are risk takers. I agree with the specific personality differences reported by Sulloway. The report illustrates that personality trait of agreeableness portrays the firstborns as antagonist and retaliator while later born encounters stronger grown-up siblings. Firstborns normally feel the attention they received earlier shifts towards the lastborns hence they tend to look down upon them. Rarely do they agree with the lastborns. Neuroticism personality trait demonstrates that firstborns are jealous and possess emotional eruption. They carry these attributes as a tactic so that they can attain more privileges than their younger siblings do. Jealousy arises when the lastborns receive more resources than they do. A family may purchase certain things for the lastborn just because they are present in the market, the firstborn will feel envious. Openness is also a personality trait that shows a distinct difference between first and lastborns. Firstborns have a tendency of sacrificing for the sake of others. Lastborns remain rebellious, daring and exploratory as well as minimize their respect towards their parents. For instance, when the parent is engaged in their work, often, the firstborns will sacrifice their social time to stand for their parents, a perspective the later born rarely do. Firstborns display high degree of respect towards their parents as opposed to the way lastborns do. Extraversion indicates that firstborns are assertive and dominant. Whatever they say, they mean it. This trait could justify why most people in authoritative positions are firstborns. Further, conscientiousness demonstrates that firstborns respect authority because they want to maintain their status while lastborns rebel because they aspire to change their position. In a family set up, firstborns will always remain loyal to their parents and seniors because they want to be accorded that value of being a role model. Lastborns rebel because they do not want to be seen as minors; they also want their contributions to be valued. Sulloway’s interpretations to the differences established concerning personality trait are valid. According to the article, “Individual determinant of brand affect: the role of personality traits of extraversion and openness to experience” by Matzler, Bidmon and Sonja (2006), individual differences influence the disparity in consumer wants. The article is focused on establishing the influences the personality traits: extraversion and openness have on the customer’s choice, satisfaction and loyalty in the market. The study focuses on mobile users and shoe buyers concerning the personality traits. It is clear that openness has a direct influence on brand product and loyalty while extraversion trait illustrates an indirect effect. Open-minded individuals are likely to conform to changes in a given product because they prefer variety. The authors infer that openness and extraversion personality traits make a significant role in the field of marketing. The conclusion of this article supports Sulloway’s arguments that birth order influences personality trait. Agreeableness in children is explored in the journal “Correlates and implications for agreeableness in children” by Sneed (2002). The research centers on agreeableness in relations to other creations revolving around the social set up of children. The study focused on 3rd through sixth graders with a sample size of 30 girls and 46 boys where each child filed a self-report on agreeableness. The author’s intention was to establish where each child falls by utilizing a score sheet. Individuals who scored highly on the agreeableness were termed as trusting, forgiving, helpful, straightforward and softhearted. Similarly, those who scored poor were termed as rude, vengeful, manipulative, ruthless and uncooperative. The article is critical in that children’s level of agreeableness determines their socialization and plays a magnificent role in their behavioral styles. The article concurs with Sulloway’s arguments that agreeableness is a trait influenced by birth order. It means that firstborns may score poorly as compared to lastborns. Conscientiousness being one of the major personality traits is applicable in the job industry. According to the journal “Effects of job satisfaction and Conscientiousness on Extra-Role Behaviors” by Bowling (2010), different people respond differently to the aspect of undertaking an extra role. The study was compiled using data obtained from workers in various occupations. Snowballing method was utilized to arrive at unbiased results. Some of the extra work given emphasis was assisting a coworker complete an overwhelming task, give directions and aid in training new employees. Evidently, the journal concludes that some individuals who are satisfied with their job are likely to offer this extra work openly since they have respect to authority. Essentially, the article supports Sulloway’s arguments that on birth order influence on personality trait that firstborns have high respect to authority because of the need to maintain their status. References Bowling, N. A. (2010). Effects of job satisfaction and conscientiousness on extra-role behaviors. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(1), 119-130. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10869-009-9134-0 Matzler, K., Bidmon, S., & Sonja G. (2006). Individual determinants of brand affect: The role of the personality traits of extraversion and openness to experience. The Journal of Product and Brand Management, 15(7), 427-434. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10610420610712801 Sneed, C. D. (2002). Correlates and implications for agreeableness in children. The Journal of Psychology, 136(1), 59-67. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213825959?accountid=45049 Read More