How birth order affects our personalities
BBC Ideas
 
How birth order affects our personalities fascinates many of us, and it's not just at Christmas time when we're arguing over why the elder sibling has to peel potatoes and why everyone's forgotten the middle child has no gravy with their lunch. Although you may not realise it, you've probably absorbed these stereotypes from birth order theory. Birth order theory is the idea that our position in our family affects our personality characteristics, our IQ, and even our life success and that these last long into adulthood.
出生顺序如何影响我们的性格，这个问题让我们中的许多人着迷，这不仅仅表现在圣诞节的时候，当我们争论为什么哥哥姐姐要削土豆皮，为什么每个人都忘记了中间的孩子午餐没有肉汁的时候。虽然你可能没有意识到，但你可能已经从出生顺序理论中吸收了这些刻板印象。出生顺序理论认为，我们在家庭中的地位会影响我们的个性特征、智商甚至人生成就，而且这些影响会一直持续到成年。

One of the most influential characters in this story was Alfred Adler - an Austrian physician and psychotherapist. He wanted to try and understand why children who were raised in the same family seem to have different personalities. Now at this point I should mention that Alfred Adler was actually a middle child - the second of seven children. In 1927, Adler theorised that birth order affected personality hugely because parents treated children differently according to whether they were the eldest or the youngest. He also believed that parents comparing siblings created a sense of inferiority. Since then, researchers have added to this list of birth order characteristics. Here are just some of them - they might ring a few bells.
这个故事中最具影响力的人物之一是奥地利医生和心理治疗师阿尔弗雷德·阿德勒(Alfred Adler)。他想弄明白为什么在同一个家庭长大的孩子似乎有着不同的性格。说到这里，我得提一下，阿尔弗雷德·阿德勒其实是个中间孩子，即七个孩子中的老二。1927 年，阿德勒建立了出生顺序对性格影响巨大的理论，因为父母会根据孩子是长子还是幼子来区别对待。他还认为，父母对兄弟姐妹的比较会产生自卑感。从那时起，研究人员就不断增加出生顺序特征的内容。以下是其中的一些——也许你会对它们有所印象。

For example, the older child - thought to be a people pleaser, responsible, reliable, cautious but perhaps bossy and controlling. The older child traditionally has been thought to be given a lot of parental attention so when the second sibling arrives they can often feel neglected or dethroned.  The middle child is thought to be often left out, ignored, so they tend to be the peacemaker. They tend to adapt their personality to fit in with perhaps what the older child has already taken away in that family niche. The youngest child is often thought of as being self-centred, manipulative, fun, entertaining and charming. The youngest child is often thought to have to work harder to get attention and to maintain independence and seem different from their siblings.
例如，大孩子——被认为是一个讨人喜欢、负责任、可靠、谨慎的人，但也可能是一个专横和控制欲强的人。传统上，人们认为大孩子会得到父母的大量关注，所以当第二个兄弟姐妹到来时，他们往往会感到被忽视或被取代。 中间的孩子通常被认为是被冷落、被忽视的，因此他们倾向于做和事佬。他们往往会调整自己的个性，以适应大孩子在家庭中已经占据的位置。最小的孩子通常被认为是以自我为中心、控制欲强、有趣和迷人的。最小的孩子往往被认为必须付出更多努力才能得到关注和保持独立，才能显得与兄弟姐妹不同。

And if you don't have siblings then don't feel left out because Adler had something to say about the personality characteristics of people without siblings. Only children are often thought to be self-centred, independent, looking for approval and mature. As they have no older or younger siblings they often take on the personality characteristics of either the eldest child or the youngest child.
如果你没有兄弟姐妹，也不要觉得自己被忽略了，因为阿德勒对没有兄弟姐妹的人的性格特点有自己的看法。独生子女通常被认为是以自我为中心、独立、寻求认同和成熟的。由于他们没有哥哥姐姐或弟弟妹妹，他们往往具有长子或幼子的个性特征。

In 1996, American psychologist Frank Sulloway theorised that these differences may be due to Darwin's theory of competition and survival. Within every family, every child has to compete for parental attention and investment in order to survive. So for example, the elder sibling taking on the responsible role of looking after the younger siblings so when the younger child comes along they have to develop a different way of being in that family and find their own niche for example, by being more adventurous. By doing this they reduce competition and enhance cooperation within the family - so chances of survival for everyone are increased.
1996年，美国心理学家弗兰克·苏洛威(Frank Sulloway)提出理论，认为这些差异可能是基于达尔文的竞争和生存理论。在每个家庭中，每个孩子都必须为了生存而竞争父母的关注和投入。例如，哥哥承担起照顾弟弟妹妹的责任，所以当弟弟妹妹出生时，他们不得不在家庭中发展一种不同的方式，并找到自己合适的位置，例如，更大胆。这样做可以减少家庭内部的竞争，加强合作，从而增加每个人的生存机会。

Over time, results of further studies have been inconsistent. Some have totally backed up Adler's theory, others have totally negated it. Some studies have shown there are differences but that these are not meaningful and others have shown that actually any differences found are due to study design. For example, how many siblings are in a family or the relative ages of siblings. So who knows? Birth order is a fascinating subject but pinning down exactly what impact it has, if any, is still a massive challenge.
随着时间的推移，进一步研究的结果并不一致。一些研究完全支持阿德勒的理论，另一些则完全否定了这一理论。有些研究表明存在差异，但这些差异并无意义；有些研究则表明，实际上发现的任何差异都是由研究设计造成的。例如，一个家庭中有多少兄弟姐妹或兄弟姐妹的相对年龄。谁知道呢？出生顺序是一个引人入胜的话题，但要确定它到底有什么影响（如果有的话），仍然是一个巨大的挑战。


🌟 视频版见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】