June 26, 2007
SPOKEN LIKE A LITTLE SISTER:
Out of Order: Are firstborns really smarter than their siblings? (Emily Bazelon, June 26, 2007, Slate)
Last year, I dismissed the relationship between birth order and intelligence, relying on such experts as University of Oklahoma psychology professor Joseph Lee Rodgers, who called the finding a "methodological illusion." While that view was not the consensus, it was far better supported than the bedeviling claim that older siblings have higher IQs. Now there's a new study from Norway, reported in two parts in Science and Intelligence, that makes the illusion seem real. According to the New York Times and the Boston Globe, and just about all the other press coverage, the Norwegian research does more than that. It settles the question: Firstborns are smarter.Posted by Orrin Judd at June 26, 2007 4:56 PMI hate this idea.
Comments
Norwegian research?
Approved by both the NYT and the Boston Globe?
Heh....
Posted by: Barry Meislin at June 27, 2007 1:31 AMMaybe it's true in Norway.
Posted by: erp at June 27, 2007 9:06 AMSpeaking from personal experience, I can say that when you're the oldest you inevitably have to bear some small part of the burden of looking after your younger siblings. Also, if they screw up they'll come to you for advice first. You have to use your head a bit more.
Also, one sibling will generally be a problem child, but it's almost never the first-born.
(Although on the flip side, the younger siblings have to watch what they say a little more closely, because we can beat them up.)
Posted by: Matt Murphy at June 27, 2007 6:46 PM