He is best known[according to whom?] 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.[5] However, critics such as Fred Townsend,
Toni Falbo, and
Judith Rich Harris, argue against Sulloway's theories. A full issue of Politics and the Life Sciences, dated September, 2000 but not published until 2004[6] due to legal threats from Sulloway, contains carefully and rigorously researched criticisms of Sulloway's theories and data. Subsequent large independent multi-cohort studies have revealed approximately zero-effect of birth order on personality.[7]
His grandfather was the tennis player and attorney
Frank Sulloway (1883–1981).[8]
Darwin and His Bears: How Darwin Bear and His Galápagos Islands Friends Inspired a Scientific Revolution. Blast Books. 2021.
ISBN978-0922233519.
References
^"IPSR Directory: Faculty". ipsr.berkeley.edu. Institute of Personality and Social Research. Archived from
the original on 2010-06-14. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
^"Born Rebels". PaulaGordon.com. The Paula Gordon Show. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
^Sulloway, F.J. (2001). Birth Order, Sibling Competition, and Human Behavior. In Paul S. Davies and Harmon R. Holcomb, (Eds.), Conceptual Challenges in Evolutionary Psychology: Innovative Research Strategies. Dordrecht and Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pages 39–83.
"Full text"(PDF). (325 KB)
^Harris, Judith Rich (2006), No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality (pages 107–112)