26 Facts about the Science of Family - mental_floss List Show Ep. 442

[@AndrewJohnstonerulez]

non-stop Hank slams. Hilarious

[@savannah4439]

I lost it at John's pronunciation of "amygdala" 😂😂

[@seleciaa]

Savannah Same!

[@Astrosassy]

Savannah same omg

[@codygerard4193]

I heard it and immediately scrolled down to see if anyone had commented about this.

[@SaraAnneMiller]

Savannah ameegdahlah omg I'm dying 😂 John, you're rad. Keep it up! 👍🏻

[@brandonbuchner1771]

Wasn't she the queen in the Star Wars Prequel? Queen Amygdala?

[@Zeldaschampion]

I was half expecting Hank to come in at the end of the video and slap John in the back of the head.

[@eustacia03]

That would have been epic.

[@Ashtarte3D]

I would have paid to see that. :D

[@niamhrj]

That would be great

[@unicornsims7044]

"I love my children so much, but not that much." - John Green

[@deldarel]

I completely lost it at 3:08 John's going savage on Hank's ass.

[@keriezy]

Loved the brother bashing. Truly shows the love an older sibling has for the younger. 😅

[@thebleach401]

Hank is so funny and in a genuine way, like he doesn't try to push humour out of him it is just there. Makes my day!

[@BiancaBlade]

As the oldest, and only sister, i can attest to all the wonderful things said about older sisters in this video.

[@Master_Therion]

John, I know mis-pronouncing words is your thing, but 4:02 amygdala... ouch! It sounds like you are talking about Padme Amidala from Star Wars.

[@hattie_burns]

I think he might me doing it on purpose nowadays. I mean... surely

[@juliakat5587]

I was just about to write a comment like this.

[@memorandom7484]

As someone who works in mental health, that pronunciation was just _painful._

[@AraneaPush]

+

[@KerryHallPhD]

He must be a deliberate nose thumbing at us there :p

[@jorgedaniel9656]

A couple weeks ago I found out that my mom's name isn't actually Mom... She has been lying to me all these years :'(

[@templarking6819]

Omg that's terrible

[@marissahammer2229]

Jorge Daniel HAHAHA!!

[@dismissing]

Jorge Daniel Is her name Dad?

[@MaraK_dialmformara]

OED says: when saying "amygdala", think more doo-wop than Star Wars. Stress is on the "myg" part.

[@limelightmoon]

I really want to see Hank respond to this video!

[@slytherlily]

As a middle child, all I could think during this video is "where are the facts about the middle children?" There were tons about the older and younger siblings, but what about us? Oh yeah, forgotten just like the middle child. :X

[@roecocoa]

Lily Castle You are simultaneously an older and a younger sibling.

[@JoshuaGonzalez-be3pc]

John's mispronunciation of amygdala activated the very thing he mispronounced.

[@alexaliona]

OOOOOOHHHHH

[@jonathanplatt5027]

Wow, there seemed to be a lot of correlation=causality in these studies. "Science."

[@6ThreeSided9]

This video could have seriously used a "Correlation =/= Causation" disclaimer.

[@ireallyhatemakingupnamesfo1758]

6ThreeSided9 yea, especially the teenage mom thing😂😂

[@abramwicasatheca6324]

6ThreeSided9 Amen 🙌🏻

[@ellymay527]

Life should have a "Correlation =/= Causation" disclaimer.

[@Alverant]

Hank, you gonna take this trash-talk from John?

[@JulianGreystoke]

So what you're saying is: as the eldest, and also a female I am the best? That's what I'm hearing.

[@alexaliona]

I'm the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in new York city is insidious...

[@invisibleninja86]

Yeah, I got the same exact message from this video.

[@alexaliona]

***** yep.

[@alondotan239]

How should I feel being male, and the youngest of 4...

[@JulianGreystoke]

youngest of four boys? Then you should feel sad you had no older sisters.

[@spelevink]

That last fact made me so happy. Love ya sis :)

[@hattie_burns]

I cant wait for someone to show 16 year old Alice 6:19

[@cmckee42]

#letletitgogo

[@IoEstasCedonta]

It will be attached to a blue dress.

[@JasonPotwora]

It's just like older and younger siblings to forget about the middle child....;)

[@KhajiitTrader]

So much shade thrown on Hank!

[@alannar.8701]

I relate to Alice quite a lot in that situation :D

[@alannar.8701]

To be fair, though, I'm just as likely to beg to listen to anything sung by Idina Menzel.

[@TheRonster9319]

I am a guy with an older sister which makes more emotionally stable, better at dating and more likeable whaaaaat? Woot woot!

[@ireallyhatemakingupnamesfo1758]

TheRonster9319 thank God for that, I need all the help I can get

[@dougm2174]

John, you love these videos where you get to take loving pop shots at Hank don't you 😂

[@Ashtarte3D]

This made me smile for all the wrong reasons. It was like a laundry list of studies on family that anecdotally don't apply to me, lol. Like I'm an only child and every single one of my best and closest friends have multiple siblings. I had a great relationship with my grandparents and have fought clinical depression for years. I disowned my deadbeat father at 7 and can safely say I have a very high level of empathy with others. You get the point, lol.

[@fromscratchauntybindy9743]

Best episode ever!

[@s3cr3tpassword]

throwing so much shade at Hank

[@samnassar6182]

duh. having an older sibling of the opposite sex helps. who else would I have practiced kissing wait...

[@UniqueornBacon]

If you ain't good enough for family, you ain't good enough for anyone.

[@dlee645]

Sam Nassar Ha!

[@lijohnyoutube101]

Yuck 🤢

[@silvertimer]

More mental floss please!

[@sarahleonard7309]

As far as I can tell, the only observed trends that apply to myself and my younger sister are that she defined her personality in opposition to mine, strong attachment to our father lead to strong empathy, and that the younger sibling is more competitive.

[@literaturenerd]

I really expected John to make a joke about the younger sibling being less likely to smoke thing... considering John's admission that he smoked as a teenager 😂

[@AshasaurusRawr]

what I got from this video os that all of my and my husband's issues are our parents faults. And that we need to make sure our children feel loved.

[@johncoleman1930]

its A-Mig-Duh-luh John from one John to another

[@Yosser70]

Best one yet :)

[@person2.022]

LET IT GO, ALICE!!!!!!😂😂😂😂😂

[@mccataldo]

Ah. 'Let it Go'. It's a measure of your fatherhood awesomeness, but I feel your pain!

[@cbjgirl23]

The working titles for this episode: John Green basically just roasting his brother. John Green is the superior sibling.

[@ThisIsFiftyWithLil]

"Let it go, Alice!" Ha ha, at least she is not singing Hopelessly Devoted To You, you know, from GREASE, at the top of her tiny 3 y/o lungs at the Walgreens pharmacy counter. Oh my god! I let that happen... she was THREE! Worse, she, along with her 5 y/o sister & 7 y/o brother had the entire movie soundtrack down tight. What kind of mother! Right? *sigh*

[@ladyi7609]

I'd consider that a parental success, actually, particularly if that was indicative of the kind of music you exposed your little children to. Great job!

[@ljmastertroll]

Which sibling is more likely to be a Nerdfighter?

[@drewg.4779]

ljmasternoob Was that asked in any of the nerdfighter censuses? I hope it was, I'm curious.

[@ljmastertroll]

I don't remember but it is intriguing.

[@Hpfan3295]

John: "A video about families? MORE LIKE AN OPPORTUNITY TO DRAG HANK FOR 9 MINUTES STRAIGHT"

[@caewing85]

I'm with you...let that damn song go!! my 4 year old girl is the same.

[@cati101]

great video!

[@Marie45610]

The only one of these facts that I can confirm is true for me, is that I never really had a hard time talking to guys growing up. I have an older brother, who is just under 2 years older than me. And then there's the massive age gap between me and my younger brothers. 12 and 16 year age difference. No sisters.

[@polkadottedpolak]

I found most of these to be consistent with my own experience as a woman with an older sister.

[@pollyflores418]

"LET IT GO ALICE!!!"

[@disputed_origin]

Hello John! as much as I trust you, i would really like if you linked the studies you are talking about in your videos. I understand most people cant or won't bother with it, bt for the few of us who like reading papers, it would help

[@chrispassmore7372]

I don't drink or smoke or do drugs mostly because I saw first hand what it did to my siblings and it was never something I wanted, but I also knew a lot of people (albeit, in a very small town where drug/alcohol/tobacco use goes up a lot) who did that stuff /with/ their siblings as a way of bonding.

[@cindyphippen6554]

I am a heterosexual female, I'm the youngest of 9 kids, and 7 of my 8 siblings are girls (my one brother is second in line). The items in this video most consistent with my personal experience: women with older sisters are more competitive (I'm playfully vicious during board games), sibling de-identification (I hate the color pink because the two sisters just older than me were obsessed with it), I feel less overall anxiety when my relationship with my parents is at its most healthy, and men with sisters tend to be more more attentive and devoted significant others.

[@isabellapatterson1406]

Loving John's pronunciation of amygdala it's pronounced ah-mig-dela

[@Sackofbooks]

I'm a guy with an older sister, and although I haven't done a lot of dating for someone my age, I do find it easier to just hang out with women (platonically) than with men.

[@zandisch]

This was interesting bro, im subbing

[@AveryMilieu]

Second child. Older sister was ill and after four years of surgeries and hospitalization, she died when I was 7. This means I spent most of my childhood as an only child of distracted and grieving parents. Having one child left did not exactly make them more affectionate, and they limited my activities severely while pressing on me to be academically proficient. I was expected to excel for both of us, I guess. I didn't succeed to their satisfaction. I am socially awkward. And frankly have very few memories of my sister...

[@grindlemarka]

Sorry to hear. My 14 year old sister died in a bike accident when I was 9. My other sib, a brother, was 3 years older than me. My folks showered him with everything, and left me alone mostly. I was really bad in relationships, although I'm an affectionate person, I chose poorly. I am now 58, and have been alone for 25 years. Sad how the early things so hammered my adult life. Peace to you- =Maine=

[@AveryMilieu]

mark grindle Sorry to hear it. Families strengthen when they work - but it takes the effort of the adults involved to make it work. We were children and had no control - and often lacked the vocabulary - emotionally and verbally - to tell anyone what we were feeling, what we needed.

[@jamurphy21]

I think correlation vs causation is a chronic pitfall in this type of social science research. It can be standardized, but it is really hard to minimize the variables in human life. Interesting correlations, though.

[@sgtpepper138]

Jessica, the science girl. Yeah I was cringing a quite bit throughout this.

[@freddiekinnaputi]

I'm a big fan of Hank and I believe you both have the same speech rhythm

[@donovankriasol]

Hahahha. Yes!! I have a sister and a lot of this facs hit me in the liver hahahahaha love from México 🇲🇽🙋‍♂️

[@teerah003]

I figured almost all of these were common sense but I guess it's cool to have studies to back it up.

[@vgfbestuur9565]

The one about teenage pregnacy, isnt it more likely because they come from the same family and environment, like you are more likely to be a teenage mom in a certain environment.

[@thedesucomplex4365]

UTA shoutout, woo!

[@representationmetaphorique]

my brother has four sisters; i really hope he becomes a stable human being

[@Joesaflake]

They may cancel each other out.

[@SionEoinPaytonJesse]

Hehe, I had my son after long-term testosterone treatment and then resumed treatment after he was born. I also had all my reproductive organs removed. So I wonder what the pregnancy/birth stuff did to my brain and if it's different given how much testosterone treatment (at my type of dose that results in my type of level in my type of body) impacts the human brain. We don't have very much research to help make informed decisions about medical care in the world of reproductive health for trans people. Trans people who have been on hormone treatment actually do make partners pregnant or have babies relatively often these days, though, so we have lots of questions!

[@magister343]

The correlation between IQ and birth order completely disappears if you correct for family size. Children with more siblings (and thus less one on one time with their parents, and probably less educated or affluent parents) tend to have higher IQs, but comparing families with the same number of children does not show any advantage for the older children. If fact, you you could from youngest to oldest instead of oldest to youngest the youngest appears to the the smarter by a slightly larger (although not statistically significant) amount.

[@gerrigalaz]

Keep taking jabs at Hank. I actually watch both of you guys.for very different reasons. I didn't even know you guys were brothers. But that line about the pacifier *kisses fingertips*

[@Crasho327]

People always ask me, how many siblings do you have? My answer, too many.

[@magister343]

Oxytocin is not only the "love hormone," but also the "racism hormone." It encourages bonding and preference for members of the in-group, which can involve fleeing more protective and hostile towards unfamiliar individuals who could be seen as threats.

[@meligarrett9197]

There were three sisters in high school that all got pregnant and had babies within a month of each other. They were 18,16,and 15 years old.

[@amalzuhair4495]

I knew I was smarter than my younger siblings now science has even backed me up

[@williamshaughnessy1740]

So if you're studying family science do you need to record a lot of... dada? No? Okay I'll leave.

[@atheryne]

I am the oldest of 4 girls and the shortest of my sisters, but they would agree that I am the smartest. I never smoked, and neither did my two youngest sisters, but the sister closest to me did for a while. I have a very strong relationship with my grandparents, but I also suffer from depression.

[@maxcelcat]

Interesting. My wife and I are both the eldest siblings. We also noted that the majority of our previous relationships were with oldest siblings. There is something going on there...

[@Dice1138]

"Some Evidence" = Facts....

[@Kaalyn_HOW]

I have an older sister and brother. They're both terrible people who supplied me nothing positive. The only accurate fact here was the "becoming the complete opposite" one.

[@princesskyrie]

As the eldest sister of three girls, I can see some correlation between me and these facts. (Except for, like John, both of my younger sisters are taller than me, but I am the smartest.) But now I have another reason to give for my perpetual singlehood: that I have no brothers.

[@TiffanyHallmark]

I'm the oldest of my parent's children and I am the shortest, at 5ft. 1/2inch, I am actually the shortest in my entire family. I would say I am the most intelligent out of myself and my siblings.

[@markbollinger1343]

Why were they shocked about the influence of fathers. I've seen other studies showing when a father is present children are more likely to graduate high school, more likely to go and attend college, girls are less likely to end up pregnant out of wedlock at a young age, boy less likely to end up in prison. This is across all racial and economic backgrounds-though more pronounced in poor communities with a lack of resources. Our society has accepted this lie that father are stupid, clueless and useless buffoons who know nothing and a woman can do it all on her own. While yes and single parent man or women may be able to do it it certainly isn't easy, far from ideal and not something to glorify or promote. Admitting you need a partner to raise children isn't sexist its common sense and biology. Children deserve two parents, children need two parents, children thrive the best with two parents.

[@Belboz99]

Amygdala... check your pronunciation on that one.

[@benjaminwang4371]

Fact 24, I'm 2 minutes younger than my older brother, and I don't smoke. Fact confirmed :)

[@triv314]

Well I'm the oldest and I'm definitely the smartest but I'm also the shortest :/

[@kenziefox6095]

1:53 WAIT I DIDN'T KNOW THAT'S WHAT I WAS DOING

[@tselea]

In my observation, the eldest sibling is almost always the shortest, not the tallest!

[@UniqueornBacon]

All of the younger siblings in my family are taller than their older counterpart. (Four of us in order: Girl, boy- and then 30 some odd years later my dad gets remarried- girl, boy, girl boy.) The youngest girl is the tallest sister, and youngest boy is the tallest brother. Oldest are the shortest. I'm calling BS on that one.

[@ShOiEs70]

I am the youngest of three. My fiancé is the oldest of three. I am taller than my older brother and my older sister and I am both socially and physically insecure.

[@ClimbaRock5]

Sympathies, friend. I am all too familiar with "Go".

[@garysnape266]

as a older child to my brother i was told to look after him. if warned him not do some thing he do it and always got the blame why he did it and told off by my parents even after i try to stop my brother.

[@kitteridgesimpson8144]

Wait a second.. I've been told I'm empathetic, but I never met my father

[@PatrickAllenNL]

The first fact seems logical

[@Theraot]

I demand links to the sources!

[@StardustScribe]

I wonder if growing up with two older guys who you consider brothers has the same effects as actually having older brothers.

[@ButtercheeseYay]

I am both the youngest and the only girl among my siblings. And I know for a fact that our oldest is _not_ the most intelligent in the bunch. I am the only one who never picked up smoking though. I also never had a problem talking to guys.

[@templarking6819]

With my own research I have found that the youngest sibling always tend to end up becoming the tallest in the family. Wondering what your guys thoughts on this are?/

[@izzieluv]

I'm the oldest, I'm 5'4" and my brother is 6'2"

[@CharlieDB96]

lmao I got 4 older sisters and my dating life still sucks. Thanks Science xD

[@Melissa-wx4lu]

Would it suck more if you didn't have sisters? that's the thing with these kinds of studies. You can't really compare yourself to yourself...only to others. So your dating life might be far better because of your sisters. you just don't know what it would be like if you didn't have them.

[@tigerfanfrv]

any research on multiples beyond twins??

[@aidanbowie5391]

I'm the 4th child but the tallest and smartest! woo!

[@pudetouch]

Fel!

[@ruona1andonly]

I have 4 older sisters. And I'm super competitive.

[@learnerlearns]

a•myg•da•la (ə-mĭgˈdə-lə) www.dictionary.com/browse/amygdala

[@seatbelttruck]

Oldest. Not tallest. Probably smartest. And of my close friends... many of them are oldest, I guess. Even of the ones that aren't, I tend to be friends with their older siblings as well. I also definitely feel more emotionally and socially secure around my sisters, and they reciprocate.

[@1234kalmar]

Hmm, the competitiveness stuff... It was done in Japan. It's like if you made a study about Engineering in Germany. A Statisical outlier.

[@mizusenshisongs]

I didn't know you had a daughter...guess I must be behind on your videos, John.

[@drewg.4779]

Lara Larame Hank and Catherine are having a baby too, FYI

[@mizusenshisongs]

Drew G. That's awesome!

[@mizusenshisongs]

nevramm I see. I'm not up to date on the Vlogbrothers videos (I used to watch them regularly but then stopped being active on KZbin after becoming frustrated at them for various reasons) so I guess that's why I didn't know.