Personality difference between you and your siblings

Research Journal 1
Have you ever thought about the personality difference between you and your siblings?
Have you ever imaged what would happen if you and one of your siblings switched birth order?
Will your personality stay the same? “Birth order is a fact, a given, of the child’s existence, a
location in a social structure. This location, Alder felt, leaves an imprint which is often
recognizable even in adult life; it affects adult personality” (Shulman and Mosak). Adler also
held the opinion that birth order provided a reference point for locating not only the child in
relation to siblings but also adults, which includes the child-parent relationship and the
relationship with the public society. I totally agree with those opinions.
Adler thinks even though children are born in the same family, they are not born into the
same environment, especially the psychological environment. Instead of the real birth order, the
psychological situation is the key issue that influences the personalities (Shulman and Mosak).
Shulman and Mosak share many opinions on the birth order influence; however, they do
have some different views. Shulman holds the opinion that only children who never had a rival
may be pampered and never learn to share. First-born children prefer to be the first and foremost;
second children start late and have to catch up. Middle children are surrounded by competitors
and may feel squeezed; youngest children are never dethroned by children born after them.
However, Mosak just breaks his discussion into these categories: eldest child, middle child,Last Name 2
youngest child, and only child. He also brought variable questions related to birth order, and
suggested that we take as many variables as possible into account when we are doing our
research. For example, the second child can be the youngest one in a family with two children,
the middle child in a family with three children, and an older child in a large family (Shulman
and Mosak).
I would prefer Mosak’s opinion. We can’t summarize the typical personality of certain
children before we take into account many more variables. However, after we have considered
these factors, we may be allowed to state that birth order does affect our personality in certain
ways.
Works Cited
Shulman, Bernard H., and Harold H. Mosak. "Birth Order and Ordinal Position: Two Adlerian
Views." Journal of Individual Psychology 33.1 (1977): 114. Academic Search Complete
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