Birth Order and Personality

"How being the firstborn, middle child, last-born, or only child may affect your behavior more than you think."

Chapter 2 briefly discusses Alfred Adler's views on birth order and the development of personality.  Should you choose to explore more about how birth order affects personality development, please complete the following:

• Read this article.  
• Summarize what you've read.
• Discuss whether you fit these assumptions, based on your own family structure.  For example, if you are a first born, do you have the characteristics of first born individuals according to this article?  How do your siblings compare to the stereotypes?
• How much do you think a child's personality development is a product of their biological birth order as opposed to environmental forces (i.e., the way their parents raise them)?

Personality Theories

Chapter 2 of your textbook outlines several theories of personality development (e.g., psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, and biological).  Among these perspectives, the book also discusses many of the contributors to the development of the theories.

Should you choose to learn about personality theories for course credit under blog comments, please complete the following:

• Choose 2 of the overarching theories presented in the chapter (e.g., psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, and biological) and provide an overview of each theory's perspective on personality development.
• Because there are several contributors to each theory, you may choose to focus on the work of one or more psychologists in each area.
• Which theory do you believe in?  Maybe you tend to agree with one theory over another, or maybe a combination or multiple theories. Please provide reasoning and/or examples explaining why you believe in the theory(ies).

Big 5 Personality Test

In class we will be discussing theories of personality and personality assessment.  One of the theories we will cover is the Five-Factor Model of Personality (aka The Big Five) posited by Robert McCrae and Paul Costa.  

Where do you fall along the Big Five dimensions?  Take an online personality test here to find out!  Should you choose to take the test for course credit for blog comments, please do the following:

• Take the personality test linked above.
• Explain each trait outlined in the Big Five.
• How did McCrae and Costa arrive at the 5 higher-order personality traits that make up the Big Five?
• What are some advantages/disadvantages of self-report inventories when assessing personality (Hint - use pp. 65-66 in your text).
• Provide your reaction to the results of your personality test.  Do you think your results accurately describe you?

For even more fun, you can fill this out about your roommates, friends, family members, or significant others. :)

23 Signs You're Secretly an Introvert

"Think you can spot an introvert in a crowd? Think again. Although the stereotypical introvert may be the one at the party who's hanging out alone by the food table fiddling with an iPhone, the 'social butterfly' can just as easily have an introverted personality."

What does it really mean to be an introvert?  An extrovert?  You probably have an idea of whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, but as this article via the Huffington Post explains, you may be unaware that you are indeed an introvert.  Check it out!

Should you choose to comment on this post for blog comment credit, please complete the following:

• Read the article attached above.
• Summarize what you've read.
• Did this article dispel any myths you once thought about introverts?
• How is the information presented in the article similar and/or different than the information presented in your textbook about introversion and extroversion?
• Do any of the "telltale" signs describe you?  If so, why and/or how?
• Did your idea of yourself as an introvert or extrovert change after reading this article?  Why or why not?
• Provide a general reaction to the article.  (This may or may not be covered already as you complete the bullets above).

And, as always: 
Your responses will ideally follow paragraph form as opposed to a listing of bullets for each of the sections listed above.  In other words, rather than first summarizing the article followed by providing examples from your everyday life, you can interweave this points to form a coherent paragraph.  

Remember, you should be writing these comments as if you were going to print them out and hand them in. Thus, spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. is important!  

TED Talks: Susan Cain - The Power of Introverts

Susan Cain is a renowned speaker and writer in the field of introversion.  With over 4.8 million views, her TED Talks video on the power of introverts has people talking.

Should you choose to respond to this post for course credit, please complete the following:

• Watch Susan's TED Talks video.  (It's about 19 minutes long).
• According to Susan Cain, how many people are considered introverted?
• How does she contrast shyness and introversion?
• When describing the introvert/extrovert spectrum, she proclaims that ambiverts have the "best of both words."  What does she mean by ambivert?
• Susan provides quite a few examples of how our world is created for extroverts rather than introverts. Describe at least 1 of these examples and provide your opinion about the matter.
• At the end of the video, she provides some advice - do you agree or disagree with her?  Please explain.
• What are your general thoughts about this video?  What did you learn?

Near the end of the video, Susan briefly talks about the book she published about introverts.  In case you are interested, this is the book that she is talking about.  I personally haven't read it yet (it's on my list), but it has rave reviews on Amazon!