Benny Wins Powerball

By Erin Gough

Benny wins Powerball, the entire Jackpot. (…)

Source: Gough, Erin “Benny Wins Powerball.” In: The Best Australian Stories 2012. Edited by Sonya Hartnett. Black Inc. 2012.

Available at [🔗].

Current Affairs

Does birth order determine personality type? Are younger children on average more prone to risk taking? Do older children have higher IQs on average? The influence of birth order has been questioned in recent psychological studies.

links

Jocelyn Voo “Birth Order Difference: Your Guide to Sibling Personality Differences.” Parents Magazine, s.d. [🔗]

Ben Guarino “Birth Order May Not Shape Personality at All.” Washington Post, 14 March 2019. [🔗]

Questions

  1. What hints do you get throughout the story that foreshadow how Benny will resolve his troubles?

  2. How does the interaction between Big Dave, Jube and Benny reflect stereotypes about birth order in families? Is this borne out in Jocelyn Voo’s “Birth Order Difference: Your Guide to Sibling Personality Differences”?

  3. Do you agree with the personality traits for typical first borns, middle children, youngest children and only children in Jocelyn Voo’s “Birth Order Difference: Your Guide to Sibling Personality Differences”?

  4. Newer research, as reported on in Ben Guarino’s “Birth Order May Not Shape Personality at All,” calls into question that birth order determines talents and personality traits. What do more recent studies show about the effect of birth order on risk preference and IQ? How did earlier studies allegedly get it wrong?