Birth orderDoes being the eldest child make people very intellectual, agreeable, perfectionists? Are middle children still eagerly competing for parents' attention by rebelling against the rules? Are all the latest born spoiled and selfish favorites? Birth order, a highly controversial topic, is defined as the dynamics of an individual's place in the family relative to that of their siblings. Birth order has been the subject of heated debate for over a hundred years; Some say it's the very foundation of each of our personalities, while others say the margin of error is simply too wide for these coincidences to make sense. Alfred Alder, the first to study birth order and the family dynamics that accompany it. , used the term “family constellation” to describe the personality patterns seen in families. Alder gave birth to the idea that the family position a child is born into truly manipulates his or her personality (Wood). The birth order theory seems neither to stand nor fall in the face of its critics, but why? The stereotypical older sibling is a people-pleasing perfectionist who is undoubtedly intelligent and can be trusted. Typically, the firstborn is the most dominant of all the children simply because he feels dominant over his younger counterparts. Numerous studies have proven that the eldest is undoubtedly the model child. Take for example this Norwegian study which found that the oldest children were the smartest of all, with an IQ difference of three points between them and their next oldest siblings. This point gap isn't entirely surprising, as firstborns are expected to not only get top grades, but also set an example and keep their siblings in the middle of the paper. theory that shapes our lives before we're even out of the womb, they can't put every family down to statistics. The fact is that families are too complex, too messy, and too full of emotions, moods, and competitiveness. These dense, tangled vines of family dynamics are better understood by those who think about them than by observers through the laboratory window. Works Cited Kluger, Jeffrey. “The Power of Birth Order.” Time Magazine October 2007: n. page. Internet. March 1, 2011. Murphy, Samantha. “The Effects of Birth Order on Personality.” Np 2005. Web.01 March 2011.Neal, Rome. “Personality traits linked to birth order. » The First Show – CBS News. Np June 11, 2002. Web. Tierney, John. “The Myth of the Firstborn,” Science Magazine, December 1983: 16. PrintWood, Danielle. “How Birth Order Affects Personality.” 2006. Internet. March 1 2011.