This is the Guardian.

Hi, Madeline here.

We're on our summer break at Science Weekly.

So for the next four episodes we're going to be

bringing you some of our favorites from the year so far. Back in March a

conversation in the office about sibling dynamics led to a question,

does birth order actually have any impact on our personalities?

We decided to find out by talking to a personality psychologist who has studied exactly this,

and what we found out might surprise you. I hope you enjoy the episode.

You will have heard the cliches. The classic one would be that the first born ones are beautiful.

They would show up early, they would do like all the hard work and the later bonds are usually thought of as more creative.

Perhaps the stereotypical dynamics play out in your own family.

Your brother, caught in the middle, is a total people pleaser.

Your older sister, lumped with looking after the younger ones, is way more conscientious and organized and the baby

having been pushed around by the older siblings has developed a good sense of

humour. I usually get the impression that most people feel like they got the short end of

the stick. So I think it's a bit of like sense-making but also making up maybe for perceived

past injustices.

It certainly feels right, doesn't it?

But what does the science say?

Does birth order really determine our personalities?

Are first born serious and driven while the last are easy-going attention seekers?

...