Download to view a powerpoint on “The Pecking Order”

Birth order was
grouped according
to famous
psychologist Alfred
Adler’s categories of
oldest, middle,
youngest and only.
Adler changing a dressing on a child.
<http://pirun.ku.ac.th/~b4808102/AlfredAdler.jpg>
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Lew Goldberg’s Big Five Personality Traits modified by John and
Srivastava 1999.
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Extraversion- the participant’s outgoingness.
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Conscientiousness- how scrupulous and careful the participant is.
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Neuroticism- the participant’s anxiousness, obsessiveness and sensitivity.
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Agreeableness- the participant’s friendliness and willingness to comply
to others.

Openness- the level of honesty and vulnerability the participant gives to
others.
The Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale by Hendrick and
Hendrick 2006, a 23 item, five point Likert scale.
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Permissiveness- the participant’s tolerance of their own and other’s sexuality.
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Birth Control- the participant’s beliefs on birth control and who should take
Responsibility, male or female.
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Communion- the participant’s beliefs on sex as a communicative shared
interaction.
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Instrumentality- the participant’s beliefs on the purpose of sex.
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Safe Sex- the participant’s beliefs in practicing STD/STI protection.
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Self-comparison- how the participant views their sexual drive as compared to
their peers. Measured according to the two statements “I have
more sex than others my age” and “I have more present/past
sexual partners than others my age.”
Schmitt and Buss’s 2000 “Sexy Seven”.

Sexual Attractiveness- how sexually attractive and seductive the participant
believes themselves to be.
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Relationship Exclusivity- the participant’s willingness/attitudes about engaging
in a committed, exclusive relationship.
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Sexual Restraint- the participants believed ability to resist sexual temptation.
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Erotophilic Disposition- the participants sexuality in relation to their personality,
i.e. the participants level of guilt about sex, willingness
to talk about sex and attitudes toward sexual explicit
material.

Emotional Investment –the amount of emotional investment participants find
necessary for a sexual relationship.

Promiscuous behaviors were measure via a
participant’s sexual history using a modified
survey from Davis, Yarber, Bauserman, Schreer
and Davis’s 1998 “Handbook of Sexuallyrelated Measures”.
Theory of Planned Behavior
(Attitudes) + (Subjective Norms)  (Intentions) = (Behaviors)*
*Attitudes and subjective norms lead to intentions which create behaviors.
(Eagly & Chaiken, 1993).
(Birth Order)  (Attitudes) + (Subjective Norms)  (Intentions) = (Behaviors)**
** Birth order leads to attitudes and subjective norms, leading to intentions which create behaviors.
(Birth Order)  (Attitudes about Promiscuity) + (Subjective Norms about
Promiscuity)  (Promiscuous Intentions) = (Promiscuous Behaviors)***
***Birth order leads to attitudes about promiscuity and subjective norms about promiscuity, leading to promiscuous intentions which create promiscuous behaviors.
“The interpersonal meaning of
sexual promiscuity” Markey & Markey (2007)
“Extraverted and
antagonistic
individuals are
likely to be
sexually
promiscuous.”
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/30/article-0-05794E7D0000044D-526_468x321.jpg
Promiscuity
has a
negative
connotation.
“It seems plausible that
such dominant individuals
are sexually promiscuous
because they may not be
shy about seeking out
partners with whom they
can engage in these
behaviors.”
“Understanding the
combination(s) of
interpersonal qualities
that predict promiscuity
has implications for
health promotion and
intervention efforts.”
“Personality and riskier sexual
behavior: motivational mediators”
Ingledew & Ferguson
(2007)
“Personality traits [that]
Influence [an] individual’s
participation motives and
personality also directly
influences selfdetermination of safer
sexual behavior.”
Sexually experienced
compared to those with
none were more
extraverted and less
controlled in their
motivation for safer
sex.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1090612/Now-Britain-leading-world--promiscuity.html
“Agreeable [and
conscientious] individuals
feel more autonomous in
their motivation for safer
sex and as a result behave
less riskily. This… can be
explained by their greater
inclination to have sex for
reasons of intimacy.”
“It may be that extraverts,
being more hedonistic, seek
out sexual experience earlier
or it may be that extraverts,
being more gregarious, simply
encounter sexual
opportunities earlier.”
“The Identification of Birth Order Personality Attributes”
Nyman (1995)
9%
Oldest
Independent
Intelligent
Ambitious
Self-centered
Spoiled
Oldest
Middle
Youngest
Only
24%
49%
Middle
Sociable,
Thoughtful
Responsible
Insecure
Confused
Neglected
18%
Only
Youngest
Sociable
Thoughtful
Immature
Lazy
Spoiled
More than any other position
the most research can be found
on eldest children, perhaps
because they are over
represented among learned
groups in both college students
and faculty (Eckstein, 2000).
Independent
Dominant
Intelligent
Self-centered
Spolied
Close minded
Female
Male
31%
Survey
Population
69%
8%
5th Year
Seniors
Seniors
5%
21%
39%
Juniors
Sophomores
27%
Freshmen/First
Years
Research Questions:
“What personality traits
are shared within
people of the same
birth order?”
Overall no significant
correlations between
personality characteristics
and birth order were found.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/extravert/phdbreezy/1038123_people_series.jpg
Onlys however showed a
significantly higher level of
extraversion than all other
birth order categories
“How are personality traits predictive of individual’s
promiscuity attitudes and subjective norms?”
Conscientiousness
Communion
Self-comparison
Extraversion
Permissiveness
Neuroticism
Permissiveness
Permissiveness
Openness
“What promiscuity attitudes and subjective norms
lead to promiscuity behavioral intentions?”
sexual restraint
erotophilic disposition
relationship exclusivity
birth control
sexual attractiveness
emotional investment
sexual attractiveness
sexual attractiveness
Permissiveness
Communion
emotional investment
sexual restraint
sexual restraint
sexual restraint
erotophilic disposition
relationship exclusivity
sexual attractiveness
Safe sex
Self comparison
erotophilic disposition
sexual restraint
For more information:
Visit www.facebook.com
Join the group “Personality, Sexual
Attitudes, Sexual History! I need YOUR
opinions!”
Created by: Ariel Nieman
Works Cited
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