Firstborn Get the Brains

Dekortage writes "Eldest children have higher IQs than their siblings, according to a recent study by Norwegian researchers. The study focused on men, particularly 'on teasing out the biological effects of birth order from the effects of social status,' but indicates that the senior boy in a family (either by being firstborn, or if an elder brother died) has an average IQ two or three points higher than younger brothers. As noted in the New York Times coverage, 'Experts say it can be a tipping point for some people — the difference between a high B average and a low A, for instance... that could mean the difference between admission to an elite private college and a less exclusive public one.'"

Man, little brothers really have it bad...

[illeism]

Zonk!!!! - "as-an-eldest-sibling-i-find-this-research-quite-a ccurate" - as the defender of little brother everywhere that's NOT NICE!!!

...the senior boy in a family... has an average IQ two or three points higher than younger brothers... Experts say it can be a tipping point for some people

Well, that explains why I'm a network admin instead of the CIO.
I also wonder if being a middle child has any effect on IQ...
I wonder if I will get those extra IQ points if I eat his brains...

Wow man

[spellraiser]

Firstborn Get the Brains would be an awesome name for a zombie movie!

(Pardon my stupid ramblings - I'm not an eldest son, you see)

Re:Which study do you believe?

[spellraiser]

Well, I have some very reliable evidence that the seventh son is the most powerful, but only if it's a seventh son of a seventh son.

Re:Which study do you believe?

[altoz]

Yea, but Peter took over the world while Ender only saved it.

Re:how about daughters?

[everphilski]

TheLink, women can't go to college

(Just kidding. Until last fall my wife had a higher level of education than I did)

But.. but...

[dmayle]

but... that can't be true, I'm not the first born in my family, and my older sister... frist post!!! GNAA!!! In Soviet Russia...

Oh wait, ok, I guess I can kind of see their point...

Re:Which study do you believe?

[bronzey214]

Some of us have to finish reading it, you insensitive clod!

Insesuhtive Claud!

[MyLongNickName]

I wuz born sevunteenth you insensuhtive Claud!

Evolution?

[rajats]

So isn't this theory anti-evolution? The younger children are less smarter than the oldest one.

..but second borns get the girls :-)

[WarwickRyan]

So you can probably tell that I'm a firstborn, otherwise I'd be 'doing' something interesting instead of posting on /.

Re:Girls

[niceone]

If there is a difference between us it's slight. I'd wager that would hold true for most girl siblings regardless of pecking order.

Hmm, my wife has a science PhD and her sister is a mor... um, is more talented in non-academic areas.

Re:Ugh IQ...

[heinousjay]

So you're the youngest, eh? Sorry dude, better luck next reincarnation.

Re:Girls

[D-Cypell]

Hmm, my wife has a science PhD and her sister is a mor... um, is more talented in non-academic areas. ....tell me more!

Re:Evolution?

[Anonymous Coward]

Only if you come from a family where your brother is also your father.

Re:Girls

[niceone]

I knew I shouldn't have started this.

Re:Man, little brothers really have it bad...

[kalirion]

I also wonder if being a middle child has any effect on IQ...

Dunno about IQ (other than it being lower than firstborn's) but I recall a study showing that if you have an older and a younger brother you are more likely to be gay...

Re:Man, little brothers really have it bad...

[Anonymous Coward]

Q:

I wonder if I will get those extra IQ points if I eat his brains...

A:
Well, dear illeism, RTFA!

... the senior boy in a family (either by being firstborn, or if an elder brother died) has an average IQ two or three points higher...

Re:Man, little brothers really have it bad...

[Hoi Polloi]

Duhhhh, I have to have my older brother read this article to me. Me not read good.

Re:how about daughters?

[andrewd18]

TheLink, women can't go to college

So that means my girlfriend is... ... ... oh shit.

Re:the teacher

[coren2000]

Thats because you didn't ask you ungrateful whelp.

I think your older brother should give you some more schooling!

Re:IQ != Intelligence

[Lord Ender]

It sounds like you think everyone is equally intelligent. That shows how smart you are.

Re:2 or 3 points?

[Furry Ice]

Standard error for this test? That would be file descriptor 2.

Re:Man, little brothers really have it bad...

[spun]

I've heard it said that the eldest child gets the brains, the middle child gets the sneakiness, and the youngest child gets the cuteness. Are you particularly sneaky? Maybe very good at hiding things, or finding them? I had an SO who was a middle child, and damn was she sneaky. "Honey, where the hell are the condoms?" "I don't know, lets just go to bed..."

Re:Which study do you believe?

[spellraiser]

Only on Discworld. On Discworld, cubes are the powerful numbers. On Earth it's the primes.

Re:Man, little brothers really have it bad...

[elrous0]

Speaking as a middle child, I'm glad that firstborns get all the brains.

The zombies will come after them first.

Re:Man, little brothers really have it bad...

[Jarjarthejedi]

Only on /. is a post joking about killing your older brother to become more intelligent modded informative...

Firstborn Gets the Brains

[AeroIllini]

I'm a firstborn zombie.

Braaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiinnnnnssss....

Re:Wow man

[LordEd]

Of course the firstborn gets the brains. First to die, first to rise from the dead, after all.

Braaaainnssss are first come, first serve.

This doesn't always work

[Green Light]

Neither of my two older brothers are as smart as I am.

Re:2 or 3 points?

[Joebert]

A member of Mensa & I were standing near the edge of the Grand Canyon admiring the view. Both of us were thirsty, he reasoned that since he was the smart one, I should be the one to go get some drinks so he could continue pondering over the view.

So I pushed him over the edge.

I still had to fetch a drink, but I felt better about doing it.

Re:Methinks the data has a few outliers

[cmorgan47]

who knows...maybe jeb is a complete dumbass

I Can explain the whole thing in 4 words.

[einnar2000]

ecklesweb : And what is the standard error on the particular IQ test they used?

Second son.

Daniel Dvorkin : What you're talking about is standard deviation, not standard error. SE = SD/sqrt(n), and given that in this case SD = 15 (by definition of IQ) and n = 241310, we have a standard error approaching 0. It's a little more complicated than that, of course, since the "n" here has to be applied to each group separately; for the sake of argument, let's assume the sample was equally divided between first-, second-, and third-borns, that means about 80000 in each group, which means the SE is about 0.053. This is plenty to detect the kind of differences they're talking about.

First son.

Re:This doesn't always work

[808140]

Neither of my two older brothers is as smart as I am.

Thank you, please drive through.

Re:2 or 3 points?

[Bastard of Subhumani]

If you were smart and a geek, you'd recognise a unix joke when you see it.