Born to Rebel; Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives

New York: Pantheon, 1996. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Dave Cutler. xviii, 653, [1] pages. Inscribed by the author on the fep--To John and Suzie, in deep appreciation for your friendship over the years and for John's invaluable intellectual assistance in bringing Born to Rebel to fruition. Frank, October 1996. Includes Introduction; Birth Order and Revolutionary Personality; as well as All in the Family; Social and Political Thought; Synthesis; and 11 appendices. Also includes List of Illustrations; List of Figures; List of Tables; Acknowledgments, Notes, Bibliography, and Index. 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. Born to Rebel's pathbreaking insights promise to revolutionize the nature of psychological, sociological, and historical inquiry. Frank Jones Sulloway (born February 2, 1947) is an American psychologist. Sulloway studied at Harvard College and later earned a Ph.D. in the history of science at Harvard. He is best known for his claim that birth order exerts large effects on personality, and the subsequent debates about this issue. In his 1996 book Born to Rebel, Frank Sulloway suggested that birth order had powerful effects on the Big Five personality traits. He argued that firstborns were much more conscientious and socially dominant, less agreeable, and less open to new ideas compared to laterborns. 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--Frederick Douglass, John Brown and Harriet Tubman--were all later-borns.