Hold onto your hats, folks, because in a revelation that will surely rewrite everything we thought we knew, science has confirmed that people who are genetically identical might… be similar. I know, I need a moment to process this landscape-altering discovery, too.
Between 1979 and 1999, a brave team of researchers led by Thomas J. Bouchard Jr. embarked on a 20-year odyssey known as the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA). The goal? To solve the age-old “nature vs. nurture” debate once and for all by studying 137 pairs of twins who were separated at birth. Because what better way to spend two decades and a presumably large amount of funding than to confirm something your average person could guess in about five minutes?
The “Groundbreaking” Investigation
The methodology was, you’ll be thrilled to hear, incredibly thorough. Each twin endured about 50 hours of intense scrutiny, including psychological and medical exams (Source: themantic-education.com). They looked at everything from IQ to personality, social attitudes, and even body posture. All this to arrive at a stunning conclusion: identical twins, who share 100% of their DNA, were found to be “strikingly similar” to each other, even when raised in different homes (Source: communicatingpsychologicalscience.com).
Yes, the MISTRA found that genetics play a significant role in who you are. About 70% of the variance in IQ, for example, was chalked up to our good old double helix (Source: science.org). So, you can officially thank (or blame) your parents for your brainpower. The study also suggested genes have a hand in your personality, interests, and even your choice of spouse (Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Truly revolutionary.
But Wait, There’s More (Skepticism)
Of course, no scientific soap opera is complete without its critics. And oh, did the critics have a field day with this one. For starters, that tiny little detail of being “reared apart.”
- Some twins had already been reunited and spent an average of two years together before the study even began (Source: resources.corwin.com).
- The term “reared apart” is used loosely, as most twins spent their first five months together, not to mention sharing the same prenatal environment (Source: madinamerica.com).
Critics also pointed out that the study might have been just a little bit biased toward finding genetic links, perhaps over-emphasizing similarities while conveniently ignoring differences (Source: resources.corwin.com). And in a twist that will surprise absolutely no one, the study’s participants were mostly from white, middle-class backgrounds, which I’m sure makes the findings perfectly generalizable to all of humanity (Source: madinamerica.com).
The Earth-Shattering Conclusion
So, what have we learned from this grand experiment? That your genes predispose you to certain traits. And that your environment also plays a role. In other words, it’s a complex interplay between nature and nurture. A conclusion so profound, it only took 20 years of research on twins to figure it out. Money well spent.
We are left with the comforting knowledge that science has validated our common sense. Twins are similar. Who knew?
Sources That Made This Post Possible (Unlike Some Twins, They’re Never Separated)
- Communicating Psychological Science: Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart
- PubMed: Sources of Human Psychological Differences: The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart
- Science.org: Sources of Human Psychological Differences: The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart
- Themantic Education: Key Study: The Minnesota Twin Study of Twins Reared Apart
- Corwin: The Minnesota Twins Study
- Mad in America: Bad-Science Warning: The “Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart”
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