Moving on to a consideration of the youngest child in a family of three, Adler contends that though this child never knows what it is to be the only focal point of his or her parent's affections, he or she will come to experience parental attention and affection which is never displaced by the arrival of another child. This means that for the youngest child, the experience is often one of sustained emotional connection to the parents which may not otherwise be felt by the other two children. As Adler contends, this may have the consequence of actually retarding development of the youngest child, who may either be so emotionally or materially spoiled as to constantly lean on parental generosity as a crutch during adult life. (Boeree, 1)
Adler denotes that the middle child is thus the one likeliest to achieve personal success, emotional independence and social flourishing. This is because the middle child will never have experienced the singularity and subsequent sense of rejection felt by the oldest child, denoting that the middle child may not harbor the insecurities produced by this experience of rejection. Likewise, the middle child is less likely to have experienced the type of unending emotional connection achieved by the youngest child. The result is that the middle child will achieve a personality which is less comprised by the needs induced by his or her upbringing. Adler warns that as a consequence, this child may experience a sense of separation from the remainder of the family such that he or she behaves in a rebellious fashion or feels a sense of intentional exclusion from the emotional core of the family. (Boeree, 1)
As noted, one of the core conflicts in...
Once I went to school, I became more comfortable around other children my age. Still, all through school I remember my peers saying I talked like an adult and knew many words they had never heard of. This was not deliberate because I preferred to fit in with my peers, but, as Adler points out (in Stein), an only child will often talk more like an adult because he
" e) Develops abilities the first child doesn't exhibit. f) if the first child is successful, they may feel uncertain of themself and their abilities. g) May be rebellious. h) Often doesn't like their position. i) Feels "squeezed," if a third child is born. j) May push down other siblings (Birth, 5). Laterborns tend to use low-power strategies, such as whining, pleading, humor, social intelligence, offers of reciprocal altruism, and, whenever
Birth Order and Juvenile Delinquency Psychologists have long studied the effects of birth order on a person's personality. Sigmund Freud, for example, believed that "the position of a child in the family order is a factor of extreme importance in determining the shape of his later life" (cited in Sulloway 1996: 468n). The rest of social sciences, however, have been slower to accept such a sociobiological approach, preferring instead to explain social
Birth Order on Such Factors as Personality Several people are aware of the expression "birth order" but they have not comprehended what it really connotes, hence allow us to begin with a fundamental description. (Understanding Birth Order: Part I: An Overview) Birth order is a theory that has been deliberated since the last so many years and it is believed to contribute in the manner in which individuals act. A
While there is a lot of controversy surrounding Bandura's theories, the psychologist claims that people should be more interested in the social utility of his theories rather than wasting their time challenging their exactness (Bandura). The debates relating to Bandura's theories can be associated to the divergences between groups of behavioral theorists and groups of humanistic and cognitive theorists. The former support the belief that the individual is mainly influenced
Psychology Theories of personality focus on inner traits of individuals, which may or may not be viewed as static. The most important schools of personality psychology include Psychodynamic Theory, Freud's Theory of Personality, Humanistic Theory, B.F. Skinner's Theory of Personality, Social Learning Theory, and Evolutionary Personality Theory. While all these theories share in common their goal to explain, analyze, and understand human behavior in terms of personality explanations, there are important
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