INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH WORK

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank ALLAH Almighty to bless us with the ability and strength to

conduct this research work.

The projects that the students are made to work at in IoBM have always been a source

to gain insight into the practical applications of what is taught throughout the academic

course. This is one of those projects because it helped us understand the application of

the concepts that we study in our psychology subject.

This project has only been possible under the guidance of our instructor Ma’am NADIA AYUB. Without her guidance this research work would not have been possible.

We owe thanks to our seniors or class fellows at IoBM who have helped us in

conducting the survey for this research project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS1

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S.NO CONTENT Page No(s)

01. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 02. INTRODUCTION 4-6 03. METHODOLOGY 7 A. SAMPLE

B. MEASURE

C. PROCEDURE

D. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

04. RESULTS 8-905. DISCUSSION 10-1506. CONCLUSION 16-1707. REFERENCES 1808. APPENDIX

A. APPENDIX A (QUESTIONNAIRE) 19 B. APPENDIX B (GRAPHS) 20

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Executive Summary

This research work is based on the assessment of knowledge of Birth Order and Personality Type. Purpose of this study is to know that how birth order affects individual’s personality and how a child is treated by parents and other siblings and how that child feels about it. In order to carry out this research work, we used the Survey method which included the data collection with the help of questionnaires and then its evaluation. The data was collected from the graduating students of IoBM, including all freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors, aged between (17-23) years. Among them, 33 (55%) were the male candidates and 27(45%) were the female candidates. With the sample of 60 people, 20 (33.33%) fell in the category of eldest child, 22(33.33%) were in the middle, 16(26.66%) were the youngest and 2(3.33%) were the only child in their family. The questionnaire consisted of 16 questions to evaluate two personality types’ i.e.; Extroversion and Neuroticism. The obtained results showed that the candidates who fall in the category of only child, eldest child and youngest child in their family are more extroverted as compared to those who are in the middle, which suffer from Neuroticism. From these findings, it is concluded that the birth order has significant effect on the child’s growth and personality.

Introduction

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Birth order is defined as a person’s rank by age among his or her siblings. Alfred Alder (1870-1937) was a pioneer in the study of birth order. His research suggested that the position a child had by the order of birth significantly affected the child’s growth and personality. Research in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century shows even greater influence contributing to intelligence, career choice, and to a certain degree, success in adulthood.

Being born first, last, or somewhere, in the middle of itself is not significance. What matters is how that birth order affects and how a child is treated by parents and others siblings and how that child feels about it. Other factors also influence child’s socialization and the parents’ expectations. According to Alfred Alder research:

First born children have been found to be responsible, assertive, task oriented, perfectionist and support of the authority. Studies have also linked first born children with higher academic achievement and possibly higher intelligence score when compare to later born children. This may be due to more exposure to adult language and greater interaction with parents.

Second born and middle children often report feelings inferior to older children because they do not possess advance abilities like their siblings. Sometimes, they are very competitive with their first born sibling because they have had their elder sibling example to follow.

Last born children are generally considered to be the family baby throughout their lives. Because of nurturing from many older family members and the examples of their siblings, last born from large families tend to develop strong social and coping skills and may even be able to reach some milestones. As a group, they have been found to be the most successful socially and to have the highest self esteem of all the birth position.

Only children may demonstrate characteristics of first born and last born. Only children are achievement-oriented and most likely to attain academic success and attend college. They may also be creative.

Personality is defined as the pattern of feelings, thought, and activities that distinguish one person from another. Personality researchers Smith, Goldberg, McCrae and Costa have purpose that there are five basic dimensions of personality traits.

1- Extra version: This trait includes characteristics such as excitability, sociality, talkativeness, assertiveness and high amounts of emotional expressiveness.

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2- Agreeableness: This personality dimension include attribute such as trust, Altruism, kindness, affection, another prosaically behaviors.

3- Conscientiousness: Common feature of this dimension include high level of thoughtfulness with good impulse control and goal-directed behavior.

4- Neuroticism: Individuals high in this trait tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irribility, and sadness.

5- Openess: This trait features characteristics such as imagination and insight, and those in this trait also trend have a broad range of interest.

Your Big Five Personality Traits affect your health, relationships, goals,

achievements, professional success, and even your spiritual life. Your whole life

is affected both positively and negatively by your Big Five Personality Traits!

Purpose of this study is to know that how birth order affects two out of these big

five personality traits i.e. Extroversion and Neuroticism.

The suggestion has often been made that individuals differ by the order of their

births. Frank J. Sulloway argues that birth order is correlated with personality

traits. He claims that firstborns are more conscientious, more socially dominant,

less agreeable, and less open to new ideas compared to laterborns.

However, Sulloway’s case has been called into question. One criticism is that his

data confound family size with birth order. Subsequent analyses have shown

that birth order effects are only found in studies where the subjects’ personality

traits are rated by family members (such as siblings or parents) or by

acquaintances familiar with the subjects’ birth order. Large scale studies using

random samples and self-report personality tests like the NEO PI-R have found

no significant effect of birth order on personality.

Extraversion is characterized by positive emotions, urgency, and the tendency

to seek out stimulation and the company of others. The trait is marked by

pronounced engagement with the external world. Extraverts enjoy being with

people, and are often perceived as full of energy. They tend to be enthusiastic,

action-oriented individuals who are likely to say "Yes!" or "Let's go!" to

opportunities for excitement. In groups they like to talk, assert themselves, and

draw attention to themselves.

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Neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger,

anxiety, or depression. It is sometimes called emotional instability. Those who

score high in neuroticism are emotionally reactive and vulnerable to stress.

They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor

frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional reactions tend to

persist for unusually long periods of time, which means they are often in a bad

mood. These problems in emotional regulation can diminish the ability of a

person scoring high on neuroticism to think clearly, make decisions, and cope

effectively with stress.

At the other end of the scale, individuals who score low in neuroticism are less

easily upset and are less emotionally reactive. They tend to be calm, emotionally

stable, and free from persistent negative feelings. Freedom from negative

feelings does not mean that low scorers experience a lot of positive feelings.

Frequency of positive emotions is a component of the Extraversion domain.

Methodology

Sample:

The survey was conducted on the sample of 60 people, including 33 male candidates and 27 female candidates falling in the age group of 17-21 years and having the under graduating educational level inside IoBM.

Measure:

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A questionnaire for this survey consisted of 16 characteristics based on self-analysis of one’s own personality as how one views his/her own self. The candidates were required to circle their responses to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with that statement.

Procedure:

The research included the formulation of questionnaire for the assessment of knowledge of Birth Order and Personality types and then its distribution among the sample to obtain their responses. A consent form was also attached with each questionnaire to make the candidates aware of the purpose of this research study and provide necessary background information as well as making them sure that the information they provide will remain confidentially. The obtained data was then analyzed.

Statistical Analysis:

The obtained results showed that out of 60 people, 63.33% (i.e. 3.33% only child, 26.66% youngest and 33.33% eldest) were more extroverted and the remaining 26.66% (36.67%, who are in the middle) suffered from Neuroticism.

Demographic Information

AGE GENDER EDUCATION

17-19 20-23 Male Female Freshman

Sophomore

Junior Senior

63.33% 36.67% 55% 45% 53.33% 23.33% 10% 13.33%

Table 1:It illustrates the demographics of the people (in percentage) on which research was conducted.

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Birth Order

Table 2: It represents the position and no. of male and female siblings (in percentage) of the selected sample.

MALE SIBLINGS FEMALE SIBLINGS POSITION0=16.67% 0=21.67% Oldest child=33.33%1=48.33% 1=46.67% In the middle

child=36.67%2=13.33% 2=20% Youngest child=26.66%3=13.33% 3=10% Only child=3.33%4=3.33% 4=1.66%

Result

The table given below is the evaluation of the personality type and shows the responses of the candidates (in percentage) as how they view themselves.

Q. No

Items Disagree strongly

Disagree a little

Neutral Agree a little

Agree Strongly

1 Is talkative 5% 16.36% 21.36% 28.33%

28.33%

2 Is emotionally stable, not easily upset

5% 20% 30% 28.33%

16.66%

3 Is depressed, blue 28.33% 25% 35% 11.67%

0%

4 Has an assertive personality

3.33% 10% 36.66% 36.66%

13.33%

5 Is reserved 11.66% 18.33% 33.33% 23.33 13.33%

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%6 Can be moody 1.66% 15% 21.67% 26.66

%35%

7 Is relaxed, handles stress well

6.66% 16.67% 31.66% 28.33%

16.66%

8 Is someone shy, inhibited 16.66% 23.33% 26.66% 26.67%

6.66%

9 Is full of energy 1.66% 6.66% 16.67% 48.33%

26.66%

10 Remains calm in tense 3.33% 23.33% 30% 26.67%

16.67%

11 Is outgoing, social able 3.33% 13.33% 21.66% 28.33%

33.33%

12 Can be tense 10% 15% 30% 36.66%

8.33%

13 Generates a lot of enthusiasm

0% 13.33% 26.6% 45% 15%

14 Gets nervous easily 11.66% 26.67% 23.33% 23.67%

15%

15 Worries a lot 13.33% 20% 23.33% 21.66%

21.67%

16 Tends to be quiet 15% 21.67% 33.33% 20% 10%

Discussion

Sir Francis Galton was the first scientist to recognize what is now known as the Lexical Hypothesis. This is the idea that the most salient and socially relevant personality differences in people’s lives will eventually become encoded into language. The hypothesis further suggests that by sampling language, it is possible to derive a comprehensive taxonomy of human personality traits.

In 1936, Gordon Allport and H. S. Odbert put this hypothesis into practice.[31]

They worked through two of the most comprehensive dictionaries of the English language available at the time and extracted 17,953 personality-describing words. They then reduced this gigantic list to 4,504 adjectives which they believed were descriptive of observable and relatively permanent traits.

Raymond Cattell obtained the Allport-Odbert list in the 1940s; added terms obtained from psychological research, and then eliminated synonyms to reduce the total to 171.[32] He then asked subjects to rate people whom they knew by the adjectives on the list and analyzed their ratings. Cattell identified 35 major clusters of personality traits which he referred to as the "personality sphere."

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He and his associates then constructed personality tests for these traits. The data they obtained from these tests were analyzed with the emerging technology of computers combined with the statistical method of factor analysis. This resulted in sixteen major personality factors, which led to the development of the 16PF Personality Questionnaire.

In 1961, two Air Force researchers, Ernest Tupes and Raymond Christal analyzed personality data from eight large samples. Using Cattell's trait measures, they found five recurring factors.[33] This work was replicated by Warren Norman, who also found that five major factors were sufficient to account for a large set of personality data. Norman named these factors Surgency, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Culture.Raymond Cattell viewed these developments as an attack on his 16PF model and never agreed with the growing Five Factor consensus. He refers to "...the five factor heresy" which he considers "...is partly directed against the 16PF test". Responding to Goldberg's article in the American Psychologist, 'The Structure of Phenotypic Personality Traits', Cattell stated, "No experienced factor’s could agree with Dr Goldberg's enthusiasm for the five factor personality theory". This determined rejection of the FFM challenge to his 16 factor model is presented in an article published towards the end of his life and entitled 'The fallacy of five factors in the personality sphere', Cattell, R. B. (1995), The Psychologist, The British Psychological Society, May Issue pp 207–208.

For the next two decades, the changing zeitgeist made publication of personality research difficult. In his 1968 book Personality and Assessment, Walter Mischel asserted that personality tests could not predict behavior with a correlation of more than 0.3. Social psychologists like Mischel argued that attitudes and behavior were not stable, but varied with the situation. Predicting behavior by personality tests was considered to be impossible. Radical situationists in the 1970s went so far as to argue that personality is merely a perceived construct that people impose on others in order to maintain an illusion of consistency in the world.

Emerging methodologies challenged this point of view during the 1980s. Instead of trying to predict single instances of behavior, which was unreliable, researchers found that they could predict patterns of behavior by aggregating large numbers of observations. As a result correlations between personality and behavior increased substantially, and it was clear that “personality” did in fact exist. Personality and social psychologists now generally agree that both personal and situational variables are needed to account for human behavior. Trait theories became justified, and there was a resurgence of interest in this area.

By 1980, the pioneering research by Tupes, Christal, and Norman had been largely forgotten by psychologists. Lewis Goldberg started his own lexical project, independently found the five factors once again, and gradually brought them back to the attention of psychologists.[35] He later coined the term "Big Five" as a label for the factors. In a 1981

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symposium in Honolulu, four prominent researchers, Lewis Goldberg, Naomi Takemoto-Chock, Andrew Comrey, and John M. Digman, reviewed the available personality tests of the day. They concluded that the tests which held the most promise measured a subset of five common factors, just as Norman had discovered in 1963. This event was followed by widespread acceptance of the five factor model among personality researchers during the 1980s. In 1984 Peter Saville and his team included the five-factor “Pentagon” model with the original OPQ. Pentagon was closely followed by the NEO five-factor personality inventory, published by Costa and McCrae in 1985.

One of the most significant advances of the five-factor model was the establishment of a common taxonomy that demonstrates order in a previously scattered and disorganized field. What separates the five-factor model of personality from all others is that it is not based on the theory of any one particular psychologist, but rather on language, the natural system that people use to communicate their understanding of one another.

A number of meta-analyses have confirmed the predictive value of the Big Five across a wide range of behaviors. Saulsman and Page examined the relationships between the Big Five personality dimensions and each of the 10 personality disorder categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Across 15 independent samples, the researchers found that each disorder displayed a unique and predictable five-factor profile. The most prominent and consistent personality predictors underlying the

disorders were positive associations with Neuroticism and negative associations with Agreeableness.[36]

In the area of job performance, Barrick and Mount reviewed 117 studies utilizing 162 samples with 23,994 participants. They found that conscientiousness showed consistent relations with all performance criteria for all occupational groups. Extraversion was a valid predictor for occupations involving social interaction (e.g. management and sales). Furthermore, extraversion and openness to experience were valid predictors of training proficiency criteria.

Birth order theory and research indicate that there is a greater probability that:First born children will support the status quo as represented by their parents and relative to later born siblings, and tend to be more extroverted i.e. confident, assertive, authoritarian, dominant, inflexible, conformist, politically conservative, task-oriented, conscientious and disciplined, concerned about and fearful of losing position and rank defensive about errors and mistakes.

Evolutionary Theory

Siblings compete for emotional, physical and intellectual resources from parents. Depending on sibling position, different niches are available, leading to different patterns of adaptation and different personalities.

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Childhood adaptation to a niche in the family is an important determinant of adult personality and therefore, is an important predictor of thought and behavior in the workplace.

Famous First Born: Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft:Ballmer is the hard--driving operational manager who has implemented much of Bill Gate's vision. Described variously as ebullient, focused, funny, passionate, sincere, and dynamic.Damaged his vocal chords by cheering too loudly at a Microsoft sales meeting a meeting.• Steve’s sister, a social worker in the Seattle area is two years younger. Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon:"I was raised in a traditional, humble Asian environment". There was focus on achievement and education".

"Power is the privilege to influence," Jung says. "It's "an unbelievable responsibility to influence decisions, shareholder value, and most important to me, people's careers and livelihoods”.Her brother, three years younger, runs a San Francisco software development company.

Only children are often similar to first born children, and tend to be: Motivated to conform to parental expectations, achievement oriented and good students, more inclined to do work themselves rather than to delegate.Age gaps between siblings of more than 6 years lead each sibling to have only child attributes.Famous only child:Jack Welch, Former CEO of, General Electric:Welch was able to make the tough decisions necessary to build GE into a successful, ““boundary less” innovator.

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A highly disciplined worker, Welch has said “despite not being the smartest, I did have the focus to get the work done”.“Many of my basic management beliefs: competing hard to win, facing reality, setting stretch goals, and relentlessly following up, can be traced to my mother.”

Middle children cannot employ the strategies used by either first born or youngest siblings and relative to other siblings, tend to be more: diplomatic and politically skilled, good at negotiation, peacemaking, and compromise, relatively closer to friends than to family.

Famous Middle BornKenneth I. Chenault, CEO of, American Express:Balances an unrelenting achievement drive with friendliness and an open door policy. Classmates often chose Chenault to represent them often in negotiations with school administrators because of his diplomatic skills. Ken is the second born of three brothers and one sister.

Carleton "Carly" Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett PackardFiorina leveraged her diplomatic skills to build leveraged coalitions and consensus, for example, in the highly contentious merger between HP and Compaq. Her leadership mantra: “It is neither the strongest nor the smartest of the species who survive, but those who are most adaptable to change" .Has one older sister and one younger brother.

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Special Circumstances:

Other variables, such as:• Gender• Culture• Socioeconomic factors• Family size• Attributes of parents

• Divorce, additional marriages, and half- or step- siblings…may lead to deviations from the general patterns of Birth Order and personality characteristics in the workplace. Therefore, the imp impact of BirthOrder on personality is not a fail-safe predictor and should not be used in human resource decisions. Also, since birth order involves family background and can be related to socioeconomic status, ethnic group membership, or religious affiliation, companies should be very cautious about inquiring about the sibling structures of job candidates if they decide to do so at all.As an example of an exception to the usual birth order pattern, second born children can take on first born attributes if: There is a high degree of conflict between the first born and parents or if the first born is: Disabled and Shy.

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Conclusion

Since birth order can have such a significant influence since on personality, it can also help illuminate thinking and behavior in the workplace. However, because there are so many other variables that influence personality, and because birth order is part of one because one’s family background and can be related to religion and ethnicity, birth order should not be used as a criterion in selection or promotions. Birth order is more valuable for inspiring questions about personality and style than for providing answers.

Much research has been conducted on the Big Five. This has resulted in both criticisms and support for the model. Critics argue that there are limitations to the scope of Big Five as an explanatory or predictive theory. It is argued that the Big Five does not explain all of human personality. The methodology used to identify the dimensional structure of personality traits, factor analysis, is often challenged for not having a universally-recognized basis for choosing among solutions with different numbers of factors. Another frequent criticism is that the Big Five is not theory-driven. It is merely a data-driven investigation of certain descriptors that tend to cluster together under factor analysis.

One common criticism is that the Big Five does not explain all of human personality. Some psychologists have dissented from the model precisely because they feel it neglects other domains of personality, such as Religiosity, Manipulative ness/Machiavellianism, Honesty, Thriftiness, Conservativeness, Masculinity/Femininity, Snobbishness, Sense of humor, Identity, Self-concept, and Motivation. Correlations have been found between some of these variables and the Big Five, such as the inverse relationship between political conservatism and Openness, although variation in these traits is not well explained by the Five Factors themselves. McAdams has called the Big Five a "psychology of the stranger," because they refer to traits that are relatively easy to observe in a stranger; other aspects of personality that are more privately held or more context-dependent are excluded from the Big Five.

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In many studies, the five factors are not fully orthogonal to one another; that is, the five factors are not independent. Negative correlations often appear between Neuroticism and Extraversion, for instance, indicating that those who are more prone to experiencing negative emotions tend to be less talkative and outgoing. Orthogonally is viewed as desirable by some researchers because it minimizes redundancy between the dimensions. This is particularly important when the goal of a study is to provide a comprehensive description of personality with as few variables as possible.

A frequent criticism is that the Big Five is not based on any underlying theory; it is merely an empirical finding that certain descriptors cluster together under factor analysis. While this

does not mean that these five factors don't exist, the underlying causes behind them are unknown. Sensation seeking and cheerfulness are not linked to Extraversion because of an underlying theory; this relationship is an empirical finding to be explained. Several overarching theoretical models have been proposed to cover all of the Big Five, such as Five-Factor Theory and Social Investment Theory. Temperament Theory may prove to provide a theoretical foundation for the Big Five, and provide a longitudinal (life-span) model in which the Big Five could be grounded.

Another area of investigation is to make a more complete model of personality. The Big Five personality traits are empirical observations, not a theory; the observations of personality research remain to be explained. Costa and McCrae have built what they call the Five Factor Theory of Personality as an attempt to explain personality from the cradle to the grave. They don't follow the lexical hypothesis, though, but favor a theory-driven approach inspired by the same sources as the sources of the Big Five.

These new additions "suggest that the structure of personality traits may be more differentiated in childhood than in adulthood" which would explain the recent research in this particular area.

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References

Http://psychology.about.com /old/personality development/a/bigfive.htm

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3447200087-html

www.dattnerconsulting.com

Ben Dattner, Ph.D., ben@dattnerconsulting.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraversion_and_introversion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits

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APPENDIX A (QUESTIONNAIRE)Demographic Information:

1. Age: a. (17-19) b. (20-23)2. Gender: a. male b. female3. Education year:

a. Freshman b. Sophomore c. Junior d. Senior

Questions for birth order:1. How many male siblings do you have?

0 1 2 3 4or more

2. How many female siblings do you have?0 1 2 3 4or more

3. Are you:Oldest child In the middle Youngest Child Only Child

Instructions:Here are number of characteristics that may or may not apply to you, for example, do you agree that you re someone who is emotionally stable not easily upset? Please circle the number to your response to indicate the extant to which you are agree or disagree with that statement.I see myself as someone who:

1. Is talkative

2. Is emotionally stable, not easily upset

3. Is depressed, blue

4. Has an assertive personality

5. Is reserved

6. Can be moody

7. Is relaxed, handles stress well

8. Is someone shy, inhibited

9. Is full of energy

10. Remains calm in tense

11. Is outgoing, social able

12. Can be tense

13. Generates a lot of enthusiasm

18

AgreeStrongly

Agree a little

NeutralDisagreeA little

DisagreeStrongly

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

43210

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14. Gets nervous easily

15. Worries a lot

16. Tends to be quiet

APPENDIX B (GRAPH)

Only child

Youngest

In the middle

Eldest

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