Are you the oldest, middle, or youngest in your family?

[travolta]

I was watching a series of Harvard philosophy lectures and the topic of birth order was raised. Professor Sandel noted that psychologists have found that first-borns tend to be more driven and successful. He then asked the class how many were first-borns and 90% of the students raised their hands; Sandel himself is also a first born.

I did a little reading on the subject, here is a basic overview:

First born are perfectionists, reliable, conscientious, list makers, well-organized, natural leaders, critical, and serious. These qualities are typically attributed to mom or dad unconsciously placing the firstborn into a leader role

Middle child tends to be a mediator, diplomatic, avoids conflict, loyal to peers, has many friends, and is independent.

Last-born typically are manipulative, charming, blames others, attention seekers, natural salesperson, engaging, affectionate, etc.

Sounds like some serious broscience

 

[Libertas]

First born are perfectionists, reliable, conscientious, list makers, well-organized, natural leaders, critical, and serious. These qualities are typically attributed to mom or dad unconsciously placing the firstborn into a leader role

Last-born typically are manipulative, charming, blames others, attention seekers, natural salesperson, engaging, affectionate, etc.

Describes me (first born) and my younger brother pretty well.

I don't really attribute this to us being first or last born though.

 

[Cr33pin]

Last-born typically are manipulative, charming, blames others, attention seekers, natural salesperson, engaging, affectionate, etc.

 

[Radio One]

Last-born, am neither a natural salesperson (though have become more persuasive as I've gotten older) nor do I blame others- I blame myself more than anything or anyone. I show half the qualities of the last-born and half of the first-born.

Strangely enough, my older brothers have some of the qualities of the last-born... but nothing more. We didn't grow up with both parents so I'd guess a lot of this goes out the window in that scenario.

 

[RockHard]

Last-born typically are manipulative, charming, blames others, attention seekers, natural salesperson, engaging, affectionate, etc.

The rap on last borns are that they're more attention seeking. I'm the youngest but I was a serious introvert until my late 30s - basically until I discovered game. OTOH, my whole family are introverts so I come by it honestly.

Like Roosh said, this is excellent cold read stuff. I definitely use the stereotypes: "You're so bossy, you must be the oldest child", "you're so attention-hungry, are you the youngest child?"

 

[coverdoc]

Born smack dab in the middle. Actually think it's pretty accurate in a broad apply to all type sense.