Hokie Psychology

NY Times sports writer William Rhoden's column in today's edition (Times Select subscription required) is a great example of how silly a serious psychological idea can sometimes sound. The piece is entitled, "A Sibling Rivalry of Biblical Proportions."

Rhoden's article takes on the sad tale of Marcus Vick. Vick is Atlanta Falcon quarterback Michael Vick's younger brother, who followed in his older sibling's footsteps to become quarterback of the Virginia Tech Hokies. According to the column, therein lies the rub. Over the last week, Vick the Younger has stomped on the leg of an opponent in a bowl game, been dismissed from the VT football team for an accumulation of legal and unsportsmanlike offenses, and charged by Richmond police with "brandishing a firearm" at several youths in a McDonald's parking lot.

After outlining Vick's rough week, Rhoden writes the following:

One of the first people who came to mind when I heard the latest news about young Vick was Dr. Kevin Leman, a psychologist who has written 28 books, dealing primarily with parenting and family dynamics. My favorite, "The Birth Order Book," argues that birth order influences behavior and family dynamics. Leman felt that the big brother-little brother relationship between Michael and Marcus - aggravated by football celebrity - might have led to some of Marcus's problems at Virginia Tech.

Now, I closely studied the work of Alfred Adler during my training as a psychologist. Adler pioneered much of our current thinking about family systems dynamics and he and his followers have written extensively about the role of birth order in individual psychology. His work has influenced many serious studies of the effects of family relationships on personality development.

So, I laughed out loud when I read the next line in Rhoden's piece:

In Leman's birth order theory, firstborns almost always do well.

"They are the stars," he said. "Presidents of the United States are firstborn children in huge numbers, followed by middles. But only five babies made it to the White House. The babies are the attention getters and the attention seekers. I think what you got in young Mr. Vick is: 'I'm the best at being the worst.' That's sort of what his life says."

I haven't read Dr. Leman's book, so I'm not sure what he actually says. But the notion that, "firstborns almost alwasy do well" is preposterous. It's a little like saying, "left-handed people are unlucky."

There are hundreds of millions of firstborns on earth, and our knowledge of whether or not they, "always do well" is pretty limited. Using presidents as evidence of this theory is facile. How many firstborns are there in prison? How many sports star are middles? How many corporate executives are babies? Come on. If you're going to make claims like this, don't you have to submit those claims to something approximating the scientific method?

Neither Rhoden nor Leman have any idea what's going on in Marcus Vick's life, and to pretend that they know his behavior to be at all related to birth order, that "that's what his life says," is foolish.   

Psychology is not a parlor game. While it may be fun to concoct reasons for other people's behavior, in my opinion, this kind of nonsense cheapens the discipline.

Tags: Marcus Vick William Rhoden Kevin Leman Alfred Adler

Comments

[Kull]

Great post Tom. A couple thoughts on this topic.

I don't know what to think about this guy. In fact, I have started to type in this comment section twice, only to delete and start over this third time.

Marcus is just a guy that has been getting special treatment his whole life. Not only is he a star athlete at a powerhouse football program, but he is the kid brother of the guy they named some fieldhouse after as well. He thinks he is different than everyone else and acts out in such a manner.

I don't think he should have gone to Va Tech, shoes to fill are way to big. Should have gone somewhere else and made his own name. Not buying into the whole first born vs. baby thing though.

I am amused at how he just laughs everything off. Like last year when he was suspended he just shrugs and goes to live with his multi-millionaire brother and hang out with an NFL team. Most kids in that spot would be back in the ghetto or country working at McDonald's or something. This year he gets the boot and says "I'll just go to the next level baby" Its that easy eh Marcus? I wonder if he realizes that the next level for HIM might be the CFL or Arena Football, cuz I don't see too many NFL teams taking a chance on the Maurice Clarett of Quarterbacks.

[Tom]

I certainly didn't mean to quibble with the idea that Marcus made a poor choice in going to Va. Tech. Definitely a bad idea. Nor did I mean to suggest that he wasn't acting like a classic pampered child.

The problem with these high profile situations is that the more attention the case gets, the more the protagonist seems to revel in it. Clarett is the perfect example of someone who threw away an amazing career because he couldn't put the sequence together properly: first you BECOME a star, then, if you choose to, you ACT like one.

[Henry Stein]

I agree with your critique of Lehman's distortion of Adler's birth order theory. Anyone interested in this topic should read Alfred Adler directly. His journal article "How Position in the Family Constellation Influences Life Style" is available at http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/theme.htm. A contemporary Adlerian persepctive on birth order, as well as other personality influences, is featured in "Birth Order: Sense and Nonsense" available at http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/birth-vcd.htm.

[Wes James]

I have heard Mr. Lehman several times and I find his theories very credible. I find the assumption that Alfred Adler is the ultimate authority on birth order a very closed-minded, non-objective approach to the subject. While Adler may have introduced many valid concepts, it is doubtful that his work could exhaust the issue. As with many scientific/philosophical presentations offerec as an explanation of observed criteria, it is subject to further observation which can lead to additional, or even contradictory conclusions. Statemenst in the article quoted about birth order possibly affecting Marcus Vick were a casula observation, not a clinical anaylisis, but as far as I am concerned, do fit the possibilties of birth order affect. They are typical of the sibling rivalry between older, successful brother and younger brother. It is seldom the older brother who act out this type of behavior when he is surpassed. In my experience that behavior is usually (not necessarily always) more self deprecating, less outwardly competitive and leads either to an introverted depression or direct engagements with the younger.

Is it possible that the negative opinions are fostered by the fact that Dr. Leman is a "Christian" psychologist? He certainly has a following of people who claim his ideas have been successful in helping them.

Wes