Birth Order, Volunteering, and Status of the Experimenter: A Negative Note

Summary

The effect of birth order and status of the experimenter on volunteering for a psychological experiment was investigated. Subjects were 276 undergraduates (120 firstborn and 156 later born). Volunteering was not significantly affected by either birth order or status of the experimenter for males or females. These data were discussed in terms of two recent hypothesis: (a) population shifts (b) date of publication of negative results.