Twins Separated At Birth What makes us who we are: our life experiences or our DNA? Until recently, studies of identical twins separated at birth were virtually impossible because it was so difficult to get a high number of identical twins who were indeed separated early. But since the early 1990s, twins separated at birth studies have been possible. The Minnesota Twin Study Born Together- Reared Apart In these studies, most notably being done at the University of Minnesota, researchers focused on the tale of identical twins who were separated at birth and adopted by different families. In 1979, Thomas Bouchard began to study twins who were separated at birth and reared in different families.
An Analysis of "The Science of Difference: Sex Ed." by Steven Pinker In The Science of Difference: Sex Ed., Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard and alumni faculty at MIT, argues that research from cognitive science and evolutionary biology supports Lawrence Summer’s hypothesis that innate differences between males and females can influence mathematical aptitude. Steven Pinker states that by the early ‘70s women in science was a given and there is no going back, to even talk about going back to when women weren’t would be morally wrong and scientifically disastrous. Pinker goes on to say that the way people reacted to Harvard President Lawrence Summers’s remarks was as if he had proposed that there were innate sex differences, when he just proposed the possibility. Summers was shamed into apologizing but his analysis of why there might be fewer women in mathematics and science is common.
Diamond and Sigmundson (1997) were interested in psychosexual development, and if our innate characteristics can be overruled or irrelevant when identifying ourselves with a particular gender. Diamond challenged what was a widely accepted theory; that a child is born without gender (distinguishing between sex: genitals, chromosomes – and gender: sense of masculinity of femininity), and could therefore be assigned to an opposite gender and adjust to a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. This was brought to light when two male twins (David and Brian Reimer) underwent an operation on their penises as babies, resulting in David’s penis being burnt off. Sexologist, John Money, persuaded parents to raise David as a girl, in the belief that gender was determined by nurture. Unknown to Reimer, his story was falsely advertised as a success story.
However, if MZ twins share 100% of their genes, then they should both have 100% chance of developing depression, but according to this research, that is not the case; this research may also suggest that genetics are not the main factor in developing depression. Due to this, some psychologists believe that the theory of genetics cannot be used to explain depression. McGuffin et al (1996) conducted research on concordance rates using 177 identical and fraternal twins. They found that the concordance rate was 46% for identical twins, but only 20% for fraternal twins; these findings are significant as the concordance rate for identical twins is over double of that for fraternal twins. These findings support the biological explanation as it suggests that depression has a genetic factor.
When the doctor performed the procedure on Bruce, an accident resulted in the loss of most of the baby’s penis. The Reimers took their maimed son to several doctors until they ended up consulting medical psychologist Dr. John Money of Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore. Money told the parents that do to Bruce’s young age he could be raised as a girl successfully since a person’s gender was decided by their environment and not by their DNA. Bruce was an ideal candidate for an experiment to prove this claim since he had an identical twin brother to use as a control. Before then, gender reassignment surgery had never been performed on a child who had normal genitalia.
However, the younger children would lack schemas and the vocabulary needed to describe the science experiment. This means that they wouldn’t have been able to describe the experiment when asked to recall it, and therefore would make this experiment less valid. Anastasi and Rhodes performed an experiment in 2006 to see if recall is better when identifying people from the same age range (own age bias). They showed 24 photos to 3 age groups and then later they were shown 48 photos and had to identify the original 24. They found that generally the younger age groups were better at recall, but all age groups were better at recognising their own age group.
B: The End of men How have the sex roles changes over the centuries, and can women or men rule the world alone or do we need each other? In the magazine, The Atlantic, from July/August 2010 Hanna Rosin writes about the women overtaken the men’s place in the society today, especially in the economy. Hanna writes about a biologist, Ronald Ericsson, who invented a method in the 1970’ties that made it possible to select the sex for your child. Ericsson were certain of parents now would prefer their children’s sex to be boys, but in the ‘90s he could see on the statistics from the clinics that used his methods that people preferred girls over boys. First the topic is very clear in Hanna Rosin’s article; women have today overtaken the men’s role in the society.
Genetics could explain why some individuals inherit the condition. Specific but not social phobias seem to run in families to some existent but this behaviour could be learnt by imitation. A way to find out whether phobias have a genetic component is to look at family history. Phobic people are more likely to have close relatives with phobias than non-phobic people. However this is inconclusive as families all share the same environment.
C Langlois’ research shows that babies under 12 months will spend more time looking at attractive faces. This shows that preferences are innate as babies have not yet learnt what is deemed as attractive or not. AO1: Evidence for sexual selection is based on the attraction to resources. Women are impressed by men with resources and qualities such as ambition which suggests they will have increasing amounts of resources. Swallows impress females by regurgitating food to show that they can provide for future offspring.
For example, if a lower class man and woman have a child then their child would not be able to rise form the lower class. The major experiments to prove biological determinism are Twin Studies. Psychologist separate twins at birth and then see how their behaviors are similar and claim that their biological predisposition or strong genetic component causes their behaviors to be similar and prove that genetics is the only factor that affects behavior and not the environment. On the other hand, B.F. Skinner, in his book “Beyond Freedom and Dignity”, stated that all behavior is fully governed by external stimuli and concluded that free will is an illusion. Also, John B. Watson argued that behavior is governed primarily by the environment.