Aug 2 2025

Selects: Is birth order important?

Selects 52 min 2 movies discussed
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# Stuff You Should Know - Birth Order Episode Summary

Josh and Chuck dive deep into the fascinating world of birth order and whether it actually shapes your personality or if it's just pop psychology nonsense. They explore the classic stereotypes—firstborns as overachievers, middle children as peacemakers, and youngest kids as attention-seekers—but then reveal what science actually says about whether birth order effects are real or just a coincidence hiding behind tons of confounding variables. Blended families, twins, and adoption throw everything into chaos, making this one of the trickiest things to study scientifically, yet therapists and psychologists have been mining it for cash since Freud's time.


Movies Discussed

The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
1969
★ 6.7
"when I think of middle children, I think of Jan Brady. And Jan Brady was not a people pleaser. — Used as an example of a middle child character who contradicts the typical people-pleaser stereotype." — Chuck
The Dirt
The Dirt
2019 R 1h 48m
★ 7.4
"Did you watch the Motley Crew movie yet on Netflix? No. No, I didn't know it was out. — Chuck asks Josh if he's seen the Motley Crüe Netflix movie and describes it as similar to VH1 music movies." — Chuck

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