What Twins Can Tell Us About Who We Are
In March of 2017, the two sets of Bogotá twins, Jorge, William, Carlos and Wilber (left to right), gathered to celebrate Carlos's graduation. Diana Carolina/St. Martin's Press hide caption
In March of 2017, the two sets of Bogotá twins, Jorge, William, Carlos and Wilber (left to right), gathered to celebrate Carlos's graduation.
Diana Carolina/St. Martin's PressIn December 1988, two sets of identical twins in Bogotá became test subjects in a study for which they had never volunteered. It was an experiment that could never be performed in a lab, and had never before been documented. And it became a testament to the eternal tug between nature and nurture in shaping who we are.
The brothers as children. From left to right: Carlos and Jorge at age 5, and Wilber and William at age 6. Courtesy of Jorge and Carlos; William and Wilber/St. Martin's Press hide caption
The brothers as children. From left to right: Carlos and Jorge at age 5, and Wilber and William at age 6.
Courtesy of Jorge and Carlos; William and Wilber/St. Martin's PressThis week, psychologist Nancy Segal tells the story of the Bogotá twins, which was a tragedy, a soap opera, and a science experiment, all rolled into one. And she explains why twin studies aren't just for twins. They can serve as a paradigm to understand age-old questions that affect us all: Is our fate written in our genes? And how powerful is upbringing in shaping who we become?
Insights — and provocations — from twin studies, this week on Hidden Brain.
Additional Resources:
"Accidental Brothers: The Story of Twins Exchanged at Birth and the Power of Nature and Nurture," by Nancy Segal and Yesika Montoya, 2018
"Born Together—Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study," by Nancy Segal, 2012
"Pairs of Genetically Unrelated Look-Alikes: Further Tests of Personality Similarity and Social Affiliation," by Nancy Segal and colleagues, 2018
"Socioeconomic Status Modifies Heritability of IQ in Young Children," by Eric Turkheimer and colleagues, 2003
"Personality Similarity in Twins Reared Apart and Together," by Thomas Bouchard and colleagues, 1988
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