The purpose of this assignment is to (a) apply Alder’s ideas and conclusions about birth order and
personality development to your own life experiences, (b) evaluate Adler’s birth order ideas for accuracy,
and (c) find recent empirical studies that supports your evaluation (this is require you to search the UHD
library database to find peer-reviewed, empirical research studies to use in your paper).
Instructions
Your paper will consist of 5 sections:
1. Adler’s theory:
o Give a BRIEF summary of Alder’s birth order effects.
o What birth orders does he include in his theory?
o What are the main points in his theory regarding each of the different birth orders?
o What does he conclude about each of the birth orders and personality development?
2. Your birth order:
o BREIFLY describe your family (siblings, birth orders, years apart, etc., or state if you are
an only-child).
3. Adler and your experiences:
o How do Alder’s ideas relate to your sibling or only child experiences?
o How accurate is Alder? Give examples from your life and your siblings’ lives. (Note: Be
careful not to divulge too much personal information. Just include what you are
comfortable discussing.)
o Are there any discrepancies/differences between what Alder says and your experiences?
How so? Explain.
4. Adler and recent empirical research:
o What does recent research say about Alder’s birth order effects?
o Do recent research studies support Adler’s claims or not?
o How well do empirical findings fit in with Alder’s original ideas about birth order? In other
words, do they coincide with what he says? Why or why not?
o You need to cite at least THREE relevant, peer-reviewed journal articles.
5. Evaluation and conclusions:
o What is your evaluation of Adler’s theory?
o What are your general ideas about Alder’s birth order effects?
o Do you agree with Adler’s ideas about birth order and personality development? Why or
why not? Be sure to include relevant empirical research to support your views.
Formatting Guidelines
Your paper should be formatted according to the following guidelines:
 Use APA format (i.e., typed, 12-pt Times New Roman font, double-spacing, and 1-inch margins
all around)
 Use APA format for citations and references. See the APA Formatted Citations section on next
page for more information.
 Note: Since you will be talking about yourself and your family, this is one of the rare times you will
be able to use first person (e.g., “I,” “me,” “we,” etc.)
 Paper length: 3-4 pages (body only of paper only – title page, abstract, and reference page are
NOT included in the page count)