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Personality & Birth Order
Lauren Waldrop
Ms. Laning
Union Grove Middle
2012-2013
Table of Contents PAGE NUMBERS?
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
The purpose of the project, Personality & Birth Order is to show people why they are so
different in personality to their siblings. Being a child of three, I am interested in the vast
differences between siblings’ personalities and if birth order is a correlation to that. The goal of
this project is to see if birth order and personality have any correlation. My hypothesis in this
project is that if you survey different groups of people with siblings or an only child that you will
find that most of them will have the same characteristics as other people that are in the same
birth order such as only, first, middle, and youngest child.
Materials and Methods
My materials list included a computer with Microsoft Word and internet access, a survey
online called The Big 5 Personality Test, paper, a printer, a composition notebook (log book),
and a writing utensil. There were many procedures for the Personality & Birth Order project.
Number one was to gather 7 groups of sibling containing people ages 8-16. Second was to get
one of the groups of siblings together every other day (about 2 days). Third was to have each of
the siblings separately take the Big 5 Personality Test online with 45 questions that involves
rating themselves 1-5. Fourth, if there is not a computer available at the moment have preprinted copies of the test and copy the answers on the website test later. Next, if the answers
were written on paper save them in a folder. Sixth was to copy, paste, and save the results page
from the Big 5 Personality Test for the person on Microsoft Word. Seventh was to repeat steps
2-6 for all the groups of siblings. Eighth was to compare and contrast the results of all the
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siblings in a group to others in the same birth order including only, first, middle, and youngest
children. Next was to also compare the results to Alfred Adler’s (the Austrian psychiatrist who
came up with the theory) personality and birth order theories. Lastly was to draw conclusions
and compare them to the hypothesis.
Results
The results of the Personality & Birth Order project varied, and were rated by percentile.
There were 4 different groups of birth orders including youngest, middle, oldest, and only. The
results also contained 5 different personalities which were openness to experience,
conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The youngest children’s results
of those who were surveyed were the same in the majority (3/5) of the personalities which were
conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness. The middle children’s results contained the
similar personalities of openness to experience, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. Third, the
oldest children’s personalities were alike in 3/5 which is the majority, and also included
openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. Lastly, the only children were
exactly alike with all five personalities matching up to both of them. *Below are the results
showing each group of birth order’s personality percentiles.
Youngest Children- Personality Percentiles
Laney
Micah
Christian
Hunt
Cosette
Openness to
Experience
80
35
24
4
35
Conscientiousness
52
58
35
41
30
Extraversion
53
79
79
83
64
4
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
50
27
57
8
32
11
77
43
22
32
Middle Children- Personality Percentiles
Alexander
Lauren
Grace
Luke
Openness to
Experience
4
59
59
0
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
87
79
4
50
37
55
55
9
Conscientiousness Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
5
74
30
10
79
63
50
44
50
63
90
14
32
84
55
Conscientiousness Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
52
83
93
79
22
32
86
86
25
30
Extraversion
18
18
70
37
Oldest Children- Personality Percentiles
Openness to
Experience
59
16
76
4
24
Tate
Mick
Regan
Laken
Corinn
1
91
89
93
59
Only Children- Personality Percentages
Openness to
Experience
59
35
Natalie
Bailee
91
64
Discussion
There was prior research done with personality and birth order by an Austrian
psychiatrist named Alfred Adler in the early 1900s between 1904 and 1910. He worked with
Sigmund Freud who was considered the father of the theory though Adler came up with the
majority of them. In all the groups the results of all the personalities were compared to the
creator of this theory, Alfred Adler. In this research, each of the different personalities in the
results for youngest, middle, oldest, and only children that matched up were indeed the same
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personalities that Adler described for each of them in his theory. In the experiment/survey one
of the most major errors that could’ve been made was if someone, during the survey, was to have
put in an untrue or logical answer, or if they were to have ranked themselves the opposite of
what the question/description was asking on accident. In this case, the results for the personality
that goes with the question could have been miscalculated. The Personality & Birth Order
project’s results were consistent. If I were to repeat this project, I would try to experiment with
one type of birth order at a time. If not, I would have all the subjects take the surveys on printed
copies of the survey because it was easier to analyze their results. Since the project is completed
it leads me to wonder what else can affect your personality and how.
Conclusions
In my result I found that all of the different birth order groups’ personalities were similar
in a majority of ways. Also, in each group the similar personalities were the same ones that
Alfred Adler had predicted. Birth order did have a relationship with personality in how it
affected it. In youngest children the percentiles for the personalities were all in the same range
area, and three out of the five personalities were similar. The middle and oldest children also
had three of the five personalities match up for all the tested people because all the similar
personalities had percentiles that were the same in range. The most exciting of all was the results
of the only children whose personalities were a total of five out of five! The five personalities
that were being tested was openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion,
agreeableness, and neuroticism. In the end, the hypothesis was correct and the Personality &
Birth Order project was a success.
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Bibliography
"AllPsych Online." AllPsych Online. N.p., 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
<http://allpsych.com/personality/adler.html>.
Cosner, Lauren. "Alfred Adler." Alfred Adler. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
<http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/alfredadler.html>.
"Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition." Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition.
N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. <http://www.school.eb.com/>.
Junkins, Laurie. "NakedHealth." The Influence of Birth Order » by Avvo.com. Av Vo, 16 May 2012.
Web. 18 Sept. 2012. <http://nakedhealth.avvo.com/children/the-influence-of-birth-order/>.
LeJune, Christy. "Personalities." Personal interview. 30 Aug. 2012.
"Personality." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/personality?s=ts>.
"Personality." Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition. 10th ed. Springfield, MA:
Merriam-Webster, 1994. Print.
Talley, Jen. "NakedHealth." How Does Birth Order Shape Your Personality? » by Avvo.com. Av Vo,
17 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. <http://nakedhealth.avvo.com/psychology/how-does-birthorder-shape-your-personality/>.
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