While the literature is a bit mixed on the significance of birth order, some theories were brought into play on a recent road trip returning to the path around the Falls.
Popular psychology suggests that order has an impact, but so many other variables also come into play. Isolating the influence of birth order can be difficult, but numerous researchers have given it a shot.
Psychologists identify the big five personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism as important elements of personality that can be measured. It has been suggested that birth order frequently influences these traits.
Author Frank Sulloway suggests that firstborns are more conscientious, more socially dominant, less agreeable and less open to new ideas compared to later-borns. There is some evidence that birth order affects intelligence. Birth order can be a factor with other individual traits.
An interesting statistic shows that the vast majority of astronauts are firstborns. It is not clear if that correlation is due to intelligence, desire for risk taking, sense of adventure, or interest in travel that might be higher in firstborns.
Higher frequency of firstborns can be found in members of Congress, surgeons in the health care field, and people who have earned MBAs. Some of these firstborn characteristics may be due to the fact that firstborns tend to be teachers or mentors of younger siblings.
To give a little credit to the other end of the family, Ben Dattner, a business consultant and professor of psychology, states that later-borns approach their work in a “high wire” fashion and are better at transformational change. They tend to favor riskier, more innovative and creative approaches to problem solving.
Some have suggested that the differences with firstborns can be attributed to the fact that they have more interaction with adults in the early stages of their lives, since they have no opportunity for interaction with older siblings.
Others have suggested that family size has more to do with many of these factors than birth order. In every family with children, there is a firstborn. In today’s American society with smaller families, firstborns make up a bigger percentage of the total population.
With that in mind, it would follow that teachers would find more firstborns in their classrooms today than might have been the case a generation or two ago. Perhaps the curriculum needs to focus on being an astronaut, congressman or surgeon to get them engaged.
Regardless of the implications of being a firstborn, this observer found himself in a combination of a firstborn grandfather, a thirdborn son, an almost 9-month-old firstborn grandson, and a chocolate lab of unknown birth order. The occasion on Monday morning of this week was a scheduled 1,100-mile return trip from New York City to the Midwest for the holidays.
Military strategists tell us that the bigger the army, the slower it moves. Confucius, Aesop, or Kipling may have said, “He travels the fastest who travels alone.”
This was to be an adventure. The son was well on the recovery road from an auto accident and could use a partner to help with the trip. This observer was happy to oblige. The flight out on Saturday was an adventure, due to a canceled flight and a snowstorm that would not faze Wisconsinites. When flying, our responsibility is not to judge, but to be patient. We had lots of opportunity to do that.
Traveling the highways rather than the skyways leaves one more in control, even if it takes more time. What a great opportunity for family bonding.
The bonding got off to a great start as the Packer/Cowboy game was nationally televised Sunday afternoon. That set the stage for Packers garb to be proudly worn on the entire trip. Packer fans tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves, or anyplace else green and gold items can be attached or worn.
As an interesting note, Packers apparel is readily available in many retail outlets on the East Coast. Perhaps there will be a need to do some restocking after Sunday night’s win.
As we set out on Monday morning, we expected to draw several comments about the Packers along the way, since there would need to be multiple stops. We would have many hours to verify the characteristics related to birth order. Babies and chocolate labs need to stop and get out to stretch every so often, regardless of their birth order.
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