Alfred Adler, who developed the theory of “inferiority complex”, was a middle
child. He could see, all along, how the non-numero-unos were geared to
inferiority complexes. Someone said sibling issues have been around since about
page 3 of Genesis, but it was Adler’s work that spurred a groundswell of PhDs
and pop psychology books exploring birth order effects. If you forget “hogging
the big room and first dibs on hand-me-downs” (as one put it), is it an
?advantage first-borns? game?
Despite his birth order, Adler?s heart went to the first-borns, for he
thought they never could fully recover from the shock of ?dethroning? that they
experience upon the arrival of the junior. Added to this is a problem of social
consequences. Separate studies in Italy show that males with a number of older
brothers are more likely to be gay and, more importantly, they seem to have been
exposed to more androgens (male sex hormones) before birth.
Health-prognosis is a different story, though exposure to risk of diseases
is one area where the first-borns “draw the short straw”. An Australian study
suggests that living with lots of grotty siblings reduces your risk of
developing multiple sclerosis (MS) by 88 percent. Researchers say that, ?thanks
to the dubious personal hygiene? of the younger ones), older kids get exposed to
childhood bugs quite often, which tweak their immune systems so as to
efficiently fight infections such glandular fever, which is caused by Ebstein
Barr Virus and is strongly associated with MS.
What a massive 15-year long study in Norway suggests is not just that
first-borns (like those with no siblings) do better at school. They outsmart
their younger siblings by the equivalent of having had an extra year of
schooling. Explanations to this run along the lines that the older child acts as
a teacher to the younger kids, and learns useful skills in handling information.
One can reel off more in the same vein: lowering of parental expectations and
levels of income, for instance.
But something breaks, and predictions fail, when you try to stretch this
line of thought very far. Standard personality tests don?t reveal any striking
difference between the performance of first-borns and later-borns. So, better
don?t size up someone’s personality based on their position in their family. And
?first-borns are no more likely to be aggressive/domineering/narrow-minded, and
last-borns don’t fall neatly into the rebel cluster?. But it won?t be the same,
if members rate each other’s personalities in a family.
SNEAK PREVIEW
FIVE MINUTES, PLEASE!
Many butterflies can flit among the flowers only for about a month. But
butterflies are Methuselahs compared to the really short-lived insects that live
at a fast and furious pace. Females don’t have very long to find a mate,
copulate, and lay their eggs before they die. Now, what is the shortest known
natural lifespan for an adult insect? Five minutes? Thirty minutes? Three Hours?
One day? There are Mayflies that live for a day, but female sand-burrowing
Mayflies (Dolania americana) typically live for less than 5 minutes as adults.
The males mature a few minutes ahead of the females, so they’re ready to mate
the second the females arrive.
CLEARING EARS ON A FLIGHT
The fast lifts in the Taipei Financial Center in Taiwan ascend at a scorching 61
kph. The cabs are pressurized, so that, despite the speed, most passengers don’t
have to equalize the pressure in their ears by doing this: inhale, close your
mouth, pinch your nostrils shut, gently attempt to blow air through your nose.
It was named for Italian anatomist Antonio Valsalva who described the technique
about 300 years ago. Modern divers use the Valsalva Maneuver to equalize the
pressure in their ears underwater, and it is one of the best known ways to clear
your ears on a flight.
QUIZ No.210
1. What did the fictional character Charlie Mopps do?
– Invented beer
– Created moppets
– Imprisoned witches
– Gambled all night
1. Invented beer.
2. Who called his child patients “little professors”?
– Hans Asperger
– Alexander Fleming
– Florence Nightingale
– Herman J. Muller
2. Hans Asperger
3. Which movie intentionally shows signs in Nazi Germany’s shop windows as
written in Esperanto?
– ‘Schindler’s List’
– ‘The Great Dictator’
– ‘Saving Private Ryan’
– ‘The Great Escape’
3. ‘The Great Dictator’
4. Some say that Princess Diana had nine men in her life. Which singer is
included?
– Elton John
– Briam Adams
– Paul McCartney
– Fergus McCormick
4. Brian Adams
5. Who conceived Third World War as one between Microsoft and its enemies?
– Ken Auletta
– Mitchell Baker
– William H. Gates III
– Noam Chomsky
5. Ken Auletta (in ‘World War 3.0 : Microsoft and Its Enemies’).