What Do We Think About Birth Order?
Location
Guzman Lecture Hall, Dominican University of California
Start Date
4-20-2017 12:30 PM
End Date
4-20-2017 1:30 PM
Student Type
Undergraduate
Faculty Mentor(s)
Veronica Fruiht, Ph.D.
Presentation Format
Poster Presentation
Abstract/Description
Stereotypical beliefs people have of personality traits that are expected from children in relation to their birth order has become a popular area of study. Parents can be consciously or unconsciously swayed to form impressions of their children based on birth order personality attributes formed by society and family. How parents act towards their children can impact a child’s cognitive and behavioral development (Eckstein & Kaufman, 2012). Using Adler’s psychological perspective theory, the present study hypothesized that there is a relationship between people’s perception of birth order traits and self-reported personality. Participants were 53 young adults, primarily recruited on a university campus. Participants filled out the Mini-IPIP, a measure of Big 5 personality dimensions to capture self-reported personality traits. They were asked their birth order and then instructed to take the TIPI, an alternative measure of personality, on which traits they would expect to see from a person that has the same birth order as them. Results are expected to demonstrate that there is a relationship between perceptions of birth order traits and self-reported personality. This is important because it suggest that Adler’s psychological perspective theory could be a more reliable measure to use when studying the effects of birth order on personality compared to Sulloway’s evolutionary theory (Eckstein et al., 2010). Findings also add validity to Adler’s claim that the type of role a child adopts and the development of characteristics are a result of its interactions with family and society. This study demonstrates that it is crucial for researchers to keep in mind that the family structure is the system from which specific birth order personality traits can develop and that parents should be aware of forming impressions of their children based on stereotypical societal beliefs.
What Do We Think About Birth Order?
Guzman Lecture Hall, Dominican University of California
Stereotypical beliefs people have of personality traits that are expected from children in relation to their birth order has become a popular area of study. Parents can be consciously or unconsciously swayed to form impressions of their children based on birth order personality attributes formed by society and family. How parents act towards their children can impact a child’s cognitive and behavioral development (Eckstein & Kaufman, 2012). Using Adler’s psychological perspective theory, the present study hypothesized that there is a relationship between people’s perception of birth order traits and self-reported personality. Participants were 53 young adults, primarily recruited on a university campus. Participants filled out the Mini-IPIP, a measure of Big 5 personality dimensions to capture self-reported personality traits. They were asked their birth order and then instructed to take the TIPI, an alternative measure of personality, on which traits they would expect to see from a person that has the same birth order as them. Results are expected to demonstrate that there is a relationship between perceptions of birth order traits and self-reported personality. This is important because it suggest that Adler’s psychological perspective theory could be a more reliable measure to use when studying the effects of birth order on personality compared to Sulloway’s evolutionary theory (Eckstein et al., 2010). Findings also add validity to Adler’s claim that the type of role a child adopts and the development of characteristics are a result of its interactions with family and society. This study demonstrates that it is crucial for researchers to keep in mind that the family structure is the system from which specific birth order personality traits can develop and that parents should be aware of forming impressions of their children based on stereotypical societal beliefs.