* To begin with, I must say I confused the first uploading assignment and failed to provide main ideas and supporting details in there. Instead, I submitted the full writing before, so this writing will be the elaborate version of the previous one. I feel sorry and apologize for that.
Main idea:
Forer's idea about birth order and personality may hold some truth in it, however, I strongly think it is not applicable in the reality
Supporting detail:
1) It's not based on scientific measures[1]; therefore, his writing is all about 'likelihood' or 'probability'
2) People's personality is affected by various kinds of variables, other than birth order
P24. First draft
I think what that the writer was trying to talk about is families in general. Even if he or she intended to talk about typical families in the States, I still think it difficult for me to notice that because I'm not an American citizen. Therefore, I think it reasonable to assume that the essay was about universal family. Now, I've set the precondition, so I'd like to make some comments about this article. In a nutshell, the writing sounds completely ridiculous, because it attempts to simplifies things and offer a binary stereotype (e.g. "the older is more parental and the younger is more dependent.").
First, let's have a look at the society we live in. In reality, as many people are, so does the characteristic of people vary. There might be many variables that decide the characteristic of a person, such as parent's discipline, peer pressure, school education, etc. In this article however, none of the possible causes were stated. The author was being prescriptive and merely differentiated and compared personalities of siblings, according to the birth order. No correlation between the birth order and personality was clarified, nor were empirical evidences suggested. It's hard to believe that the typical family will show the similar tendency that were suggested in the above writing.
In addition, if it were supported by scientific measures things would have been completely different; the author's opinion could have been more persuasive and I would be willing to say that the author's saying makes sense. For example, if the author chose many samples (families) arbitrarily and conducted a wide range of survey, his essay would have been much more scientific which stands for more credibility and trustworthiness. To put it in another word, only after the author's statement (or description) is based upon quantifiable and objective data can readers give credits or agree with it.
We can see siblings of whose characteristic corresponds that of the author's description and at the same time, we can also figure out whose personalities are completely different from the stereotype, suggested in the article. I'd like to suggest my own experience here. I have a younger sister, more dependent, more outgoing and social than I do. Few of my friends also have younger siblings and they have the same tendency of my sister. They are more proactive, parental and confident, where as their older brothers and sisters (my friends) show the opposite characteristics. However, usually my friends are not inward, timid and dependent on parents as described in the essay. I admit that many others will differ from my case, but I'm certain that many others as well will greatly differ from what the author was talking about. Thus, I think that I've covered the second question as well; the essay does not apply to my own family. For these abovementioned reasons, I'm assertively saying that the writing sounds completely inaccurate.
[1] E.g. arbitrarily choosing large number of samples (siblings) and conducting analysis about personality based on quantitative and objective methods.
I strongly agree that the Forer's article is not convincing because it doesn't show any empirical or logical reasons to what he says is the truth about the relation between personality and the birth order of children. Your paragraphs are well designed to be easily read, and your ideas are convincing and logical. I liked how you gave example of your own sister.
ReplyDeleteI think you should continue this form of essay and enhance it by correcting grammatical errors that can be found in some parts of your essay. In addition, I found that you are very good at using transition words like 'in addition', 'therefore', 'first', and so on.
P 40 question E.
ReplyDeleteMy apology for not posting it together. Sadly, I forgot to do so..
Q1. Which character, Esther or the Ethiopian wife, loves more deeply? Explain
In my opinion, Ethiopian wife loves more deeply. First, she attempted to solve her problem regarding marriage with her beloved husband, whereas Esther simply solved the inner conflict by killing the beloved one. If Esther truly loved him, she should have just let him go rather than silently intoxicating him to death. Second, the young wife demonstrated many noble virtues to carry out the given solution, just to fix problems in her marital life. She decided to sacrifice herself (in sake of her own safety)! I think that’s magnificent. However, the young aboriginal girl simply decided to kill the person she loved because she failed to endure a sense of betrayal and humiliation. In short, I firmly believe that it is the Ethiopian wife that gave more affairs to her lover. True love is about sacrificing oneself, not about eliminating the other person.
Q2. Do women love more strongly than men? Explain.
It’s really hard to answer… I strongly believe that it depends on individual cases or circumstances. I must say it’s impossible to give a generalized answer to this question. In the articles we read, there’s not much description about the men, thus we didn’t get much impression that men were active lovers. But judging from what I’ve witnessed in my life, men can love more strongly than women. I also admit that some other people will talk about exactly opposite situations. If we approach from biological ways, it’s safe to assume that women “love” more than men, though I think that’s somewhat ridiculous. On the other hand, in some novels or literatures men are described as a subject that give more love to women. In a nutshell, I think the answer to this question will surely vary depending on personal experiences and approaching methods.