Research paper final
Many people consider their personalities as what makes them individuals. They do not look at how their personalities can be similar to others around them. While thinking about how a personality can make a person unique, one should also look at the qualities in which a personality can so easily match someone else’s. One aspect that might help a person see personality similarities with another individual is the order the people are born. Sparrow explains to us in his documents that birth order has been thought of as an informal indicator in child’s behavior and development.
Whether you are the eldest child or the baby of the family, any people see characteristics of themselves similar to others with the same birth order. As Murphy states in his online article, “Research shows that a person’s birth order has a direct link with his or her personality. This is a direct quote stating that a person’s birth order is, in fact, related to how they act and their personality. “Most research on a child’s birth order does have a direct relationship with his or her personality” (Murphy). There are many different stereotypes when it comes to birth order and personality.
Some of these stereotypes consist of the youngest child receiving the most freedom ND babying, the middle child receiving less attention, the eldest child usually has the most responsibility placed on them, and the only child often spends much of his or her time around adults. Typical stereotypes are generally universal throughout the scientific community, whether the scientist supports the stereotype or not (McDonald par. 2). A scientist cannot control a person’s idea, so they cannot change stereotypes that are generally seen to be true. “The first child is usually the child with the most attention directed at him or he’ (Murphy).
In most cases, “A first born child is in a revered but somewhat official position in his or her family. They are often burdened by exceedingly high parental expectations, particularly if they are boys” (Gross). Boys usually have high expectations because they are expected to be the next highest authority figure besides both of their parents. Boys are thought of to be strong and manly, and they want to live up to this expectation. Most researchers have found this to be true. In his online article, Murphy explains that the most common traits seen in first born children are energetic, logical, ambitious, enterprising, and scholarly.
There are two typical types of first born children, compliant and aggressive” (Murphy n. Page. ). Most first born children have also been found to have aggressive traits. Some of these traits include being natural leaders, a perfectionist, driven, conventional and assertive. As well as having mutual aggressive traits, they also tend to have compliant traits such as people pleaser, crave approval, care givers, reliable, and cooperative. “For example, if a child tends to be responsible and is the oldest child, the trait Will be developed to a greater extent than if they were the youngest” (Murphy).
This saying that the birth order of a child will enhance the characteristics of that child’s personality depending on the order that child was born. “Birth order doesn’t guarantee your child will exhibit certain characteristics but it does accentuate traits that your child may already possess” (McIntyre). Newscasters and television talk show hosts tend to be first born or only born children. Some examples of these include Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, Ted Kopje, and Opera Winfred (Neal par. 5). Being the first born child in my family, I have found similar personality traits in myself.
I e myself being a leader and a care giver. This natural leading personality has helped me become a captain on both my softball and volleyball teams. I also see myself as a leader in group projects and activities. Middle children are often the most difficult to both read and raise. “Second born children are often born into a competitive atmosphere, due to the pressure exerted by the eldest” (Gross). This statement is describing the competitiveness usually brought about by middle children. They usually feel like they have to live up to their older brother or sister in order to get their parent’s approval.
For example, “middle children often feel like their older brother gets all the glory while their younger sister escapes all the discipline” (Neal par. 5). There are two types of personalities that are usually found among middle children. These two types are both very different. One can be seen as a more introverted type of personality and one can be seen as more of an extroverted personality. The personality that is more introverted shows characteristics with the child being more of a “loner, quiet, shy, impatient, and uptight’ (Murphy).
The more “extroverted personality shows characteristics of Ewing outgoing, friendly, loud, laid back, and patient” (Murphy). “[Middle Children] are guaranteed to be opposite of their older siblings, but that difference can manifest in a variety of ways” (Neal par. 5). Having a younger, middle sibling, I have noticed these traits in her. She feels like she always has to work for attention, but will not admit she wants it. She was not usually given the attention that my brother and I have received and she could not always rely on my parents, so she was always more independent.
Growing up with the idea that she had to work for attention, she showed off the resonantly traits of being outgoing and friendly. She would always make friends faster than me or my brother would, and she has the tendency to meet new people everywhere she goes. This leads her to being more an extroverted child. “Last born children are often considered the baby of the family, and live up to this role. At times it is difficult for the last born child to find his or her place in the family, as the first and middle child have already left huge footprints to follow in, and have carved their own niche into the family’ (Murphy).
The last born children are considered to be the family’s little baby. The mother realizes that this is her last child, so usually self- conscientiously favors him. The youngest child in the family sometimes has a hard time of fitting in. They feel like they have to live up to their older brothers and sisters and overcome any achievements that their older siblings might have made. Murphy explains to us that “Last born children tend to be the easiest to define when it comes to the correlation between birth order and personality, this is mostly due to the face that there is only one main type of last born. He also explains that some traits that last born children have in moon are risk takers, idealists, good sense of humor, hardworking, immature, attention seeking, secretive, and sensitive. “While locations may be charming, they also have the potential to be manipulative, spoiled or babied to the point of helplessness” (Neal par. 8). Last born children are usually kind and nice to the point where they can control how others think of them. They use their spoiled and babied personality to persuade others in order to get their way. “Babies of the family are social and outgoing; they are the most irresponsible of all birth orders.
They just want to have a good time” (Neal par. 7) I see a lot of these qualities in my youngest brother. He is always considered to be the baby Of the family. He usually does not worry about having to clean up after himself or helping out around the house, knowing that my mother will not yell at him the way she would yell at me or my sister. He can be controlling and manipulative, but is so sensitive about it that one would not know he is trying to get his own way. “Only children are often referred to as ‘First Born in Triplicate,’ this is due to the fact that these hillier are extreme versions of first born children” (Murphy).
Only children usually have very similar character traits to first born children. Some similarities between only children and first born children would be perfectionists and responsible (Murphy n. Page. ). Only children also have traits of their own. “Some of these traits include that they mature faster, get along with older people, self-centered, are attention seekers, use adult language, prefer adult company, and have difficulty sharing” (Murphy). I have noticed some Of these traits in my friends that are only children. They seem to always tauter faster and have more common sense than the rest of our group of friends.
Always growing up with children in my house, I have not had any experience with an only child in my family. Talking to my friends, they have said that “they feel that they interact well with adults and feels as if they were more social as a child because they didn’t have children at home” (Hughes). Even though birth order is proven to have a direct link with a person’s personality, there can be some exceptions. “The first girl might be treated like an eldest, even if she if the third sibling in her family. Just as the first boy might be treated differently, even though he may not be the first born” (Sparrow).
The father usually takes pride in having his first son, so he spoils him and has high expectations for him. Another exception birth order has on personality is the distance in age the children are apart. “Some variables can affect the above descriptions. For instance, if there are several years between the first and second child, the second child will have some characteristics of a first born. Or, if the first born is a girl and the second a boy, the son will have mom first born characteristics because he is the family’s first offspring’ (Neal par. 9).
A child that is much younger than his or her older sibling will often show characteristics of the first born. Even though some findings have shown that while birth order does seem to affect the way siblings interact with each other in the home, it ultimately has little impact on personality and self-expression outside the home (Sparrow). A siblings birth order personality may not affect the way child behaves while with their friends or out in public the same way that it would if they were around their siblings. Siblings act can differently in their own home than they do with other non-related people.
The way their parents treat them also plays a huge role in their personalities. “Why does birth order affect personality: The reason is because parents aren’t perfect, so each child’s environment, largely depending upon their birth order, is different” (McIntyre). Parents do not raise their first child the exact same way that they raise their last child. Parents learn to be more lenient with their children and give them more freedom. The first child usually “paves the way’ in life and the parents learn to let it go.
But while this new evidence suggests that parents do in fact make a difference, and even that eldest children might have a slight advantage in this department” (Sparrow). When it comes to any personal experiences with birth order, feel that growing up with two siblings have given me the understanding of how they act inside the home. Watching my parents raise every child in my family, I have realized that no child was raised the same way. If the eldest child were to get in trouble for something, the parents would respond with a typical response and the child would get grounded.
If the youngest child were to do the same thing down the road, the parents may not go as harsh on the younger child, because they have already dealt with a problem like this and learned that it didn’t ruin the older child’s life. Knowing how a birth order affects the personality, many people are able to find more similarities with others Of the same birth order. While personality still makes one person unique, It is interesting to see how well a person can connect to others with the same birth order as them; considering that they can have similar personality traits.
