Twin Separated at Birth

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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. He found that an identical twin reared away from his or her co-twin seems to have about an equal chance of being similar to the co-twin in terms of personality, interests, and attitudes as one who has been reared or brought up with his or her co-twin. This leads to the conclusion that the similarities between twins are due to genes, not environment, since the differences between twins reared apart must be due totally to the environment. Researchers should keep in mind that in many of the identical twin pairs studied for these investigations, the individuals did not even know that they had a twin. Furthermore, the environments in which they were raised in were often extremely different; one twin might be raised by a very poor family in an urban environment while the other twin was raised by a middle-class to upper- class family in a rural environment. Nature vs. nurture: Identical Twins Raised Apart 1) Jim L. and Jim S. were first reunited at age 39. They were genetically identical twins, reared apart since infancy by different adoptive families in Ohio and unaware of each other’s existence. As children, each twin had had a dog named Toy. Each bit his

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