A landmark work that illuminates the crucial influence of birth order on
personality and the far-reaching consequences of sibling
competition--not only within individual families but on society as a
whole.
At the heart of this pioneering inquiry is a fundamental insight into
human behavior: that the personalities of first-born children differ
from those of their younger siblings not because of cultural differences
but because common human instincts play themselves out differently in
the universal quest for parental favor. Frank Sulloway's most important
finding--that eldest children support the status quo and youngest
children rebel against it--provides the foundation for startling
analyses of the Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, and
Darwin's theory of evolution.
Concerning first borns--Did you know that:
First borns are more frequently defenders of the status quo, more
accepting of parental or conventional values.
In their support of authority they will use either brains or violence to
resolve conflict.
More first borns--Albert Einstein, Ivan Pavlov, Linus Pauling--are Nobel
Laureates.
First borns--like Stalin, Robespierre, and Carlos the Jackal--will not
shy away from tactics of terrorism.
Concerning later-borns--Did you know that:
Most later-borns more frequently turn over convention and champion
reform, revolution and upheaval.
Later-borns have been the catalysts of change supporting free speech,
free worship, civil rights and women's rights.
They are the creators of revolutionary ideas--Voltaire, Rousseau,
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson-- were all later-borns.
Those who pressed for the absolution of slavery--FrederickDouglass, John
Brown and Harriet Tubman--were all later-borns.
Born to Rebel is a path-breaking study, a solid confirmation of the
belief that a scientific, empirical basis exists for our understanding
of human behavior.
