Who invented the birth order theory?

_Elsa_

Tiffi continues her googling. Her phone rings and it’s Elsa calling.

“Hi Tiffi, what have you been up to lately?” asks Elsa.

Tiffi shares with her the conversation that she heard in the community and now she’s googling to find out more about birth order. Elsa suggests that she look up Alfred Adler because he was the founder of the birth order theory. Tiffi thanks her for the name and promises to get together with her real soon.

‘Alfred Adler (1870–1937), an Austrian psychiatrist, and a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, was one of the first theorists to suggest that birth order influences personality. He argued that birth order can leave an indelible impression on an individual's style of life, which is one's habitual way of dealing with the tasks of friendship, love, and work. According to Adler, firstborns are "dethroned" when a second child comes along, and this loss of perceived privilege and primacy may have a lasting influence on them. Middle children may feel ignored or overlooked, causing them to develop the so-called middle child syndrome. Younger and only children may be pampered and spoiled, which was suggested to affect their later personalities. All of this assumes what Adler believed to be a typical family situation, e.g., a nuclear family living apart from the extended family, without the children being orphaned, with average spacing between births, without twins and other multiples, and with surviving children not having severe physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities.’ (Source)

Tiffi looks for a video online that will help her understand this theory a bit better. HOW BIRTH ORDER CAN SHAPE YOUR PERSONALITY, seems to have more than 2 million views so she decides to watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcXTGFrKx5A

Tiffi gets up to fill her glass with juice when her phone rings. It’s her sister calling! What perfect timing!

“Hey Kimmy, you’re not going to believe what I am doing right now,” says Tiffi. “I just got home from the community and I overheard some people talking about birth order. They were sharing information on being the first born, middle child, youngest child and only child. That got me thinking about you and me so I’m online now googling to find out if we fit into those patterns that they talk about. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

Hugs and kisses.

Let’s continue - Birth Order Theory: Insights Into Your Personality

Start at the beginning – Tiffi learns all about birth order