Differential Response to Acute Stressors in Firstborn Compared With Lastborn Siblings as Measured by Facial Infrared Thermography

Bibliographic Data

ID21287944
AuthorsKarla Cruz-Sanchez (Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala), Luis Enrique Juarez (Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala), José Alfredo Zepeda (0000-0001-6436-1831, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla), Christophe Féron (0000-0002-6799-1449, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord), Amando Bautista (0000-0002-7002-8557, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala), Robyn Hudson (0000-0002-5526-9555, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Verónica Reyes‐Meza (0000-0002-2745-4032, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala), Verónica Reyes-Meza (Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala)
Year2024
Volume137
Issue3
Pages321-331
Publication date2024-10-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe American Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9556 • E-ISSN: 1939-8298
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5406/19398298.137.3.06
OpenAlexW4407300446
LanguageEN
References cited52

For many mammals, siblings are an important part of the developmental environment, probably contributing to the formation of individual differences in personality. Specifically, in humans sibling effects are thought to be associated with birth order. However, the findings have been controversial. This might be due in part to the use of self-report methods, which depend on subjective perceptions. Thus, it is necessary to also use physiological measures not under voluntary control. We tested the behavioral and physiological responses of 80 young adults—40 men and 40 women, 20 firstborn and 20 lastborn of each sex—to 3 commonly used psychological stressors during a 13-min experimental session. Participants’ behavioral responses were recorded on video, and their physiological reactions were registered via facial infrared thermography. As predicted by birth order theory, firstborns showed significantly greater signs of stress than lastborns, with lower nose temperatures on all tests and for both sexes. Behavior did not differ between the 2 groups. Thus, contradictory findings among previous studies of the association of birth order with personality differences between siblings might be partly due to the low resolution of behavioral evaluation in contrast to the registration of autonomic nervous system activity as, for example, measured by noninvasive, easily implemented facial infrared thermography

Audiology · Birth order · Developmental psychology · Environmental health · Firstborn · Infrared · Optics · Physics · Stressor · Thermography · Clinical Psychology · Infrared Thermography in Medicine · Medicine · Psychology

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