Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are

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Authors: Lawrence Wright

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BOOK: Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are
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title
:
Twins : And What They Tell Us About Who We Are
author
:
Wright, Lawrence.
publisher
:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (US)
isbn10 | asin
:
0471252204
print isbn13
:
9780471252207
ebook isbn13
:
9780585334462
language
:
English
subject
 
Twins--Psychology, Nature and nurture.
publication date
:
1997
lcc
:
BF723.T9W75 1997eb
ddc
:
155.44/4
subject
:
Twins--Psychology, Nature and nurture.
Page i
Twins
And What They Tell Us about Who We Are
Lawrence Wright
 
Page ii
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 1997 by Lawrence Wright. All rights reserved
First published in the United States in 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Published simultaneously in Canada
Portions of this work were previously published in different form in an article entitled "Double Mystery," which first appeared in the August 7, 1995, issue of
The New Yorker
.
First published in Great Britain in 1997 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate percopy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (508) 750-8400, fax (508) 750-4744. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012, (212) 850-6011, fax (212) 850-6008, E-Mail: PERMREQ @ WILEY.COM.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wright, Lawrence
Twins : and what they tell us about
who we are / Lawrence Wright.
p.    cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-471-25220-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. TwinsPsychology. 2. Nature and nurture. I. Title.
BF723.T9W75    1998
155.44'4dc21                                       97-38827
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 
Page iii
Contents
Acknowledgments
v
1
Two LivesOne Personality?
1
2
The Nature-Nurture Wars
10
3
The Secret Study
35
4
The Minnesota Experience
43
5
The Critics Respond
67
6
Twin Mysteries
85
7
The Same, but Different
105
8
The Emotional Life
123
9
The Environment We Make
131
10
Beyond Nature versus Nurture
143
Bibliography
161
Index
197
 
Page v
Acknowledgments
It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to thank the many people who contributed their time and energy to making this book. I am particularly grateful to the scientists who are frequently quoted here; contrary to the usual bitter truce that exists between science and the media, many of the most distinguished figures in their fields placed their time and trust in my hands. I hope they will feel rewarded by their efforts.
Much of this book originally appeared in the
New Yorker
magazine, and I wish to extend my deep appreciation to Robert Vare, my editor on this and many other articles and my dear friend as well.
I want to extend particular thanks to Thomas J. Bouchard Jr. and his colleagues at the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research, who spent many hours patiently responding to my queries. Nancy Segal made innumerable generous suggestions and provided invaluable assistance. In addition, everyone with an interest in twin statistics owes a debt to the peerless "Miss Helen"Helen Kirk, the unofficial archivist of multiple births. I also want to thank the following people who provided vital information in the preparation of this book: Nicholas Fisk, Elizabeth Noble, Louis
 
Page vi
Keith, Donald Keith, Phyllis Markuson Keith, Helain Landy, David Teplica, John Burn, Elizabeth Bryan, Judith Hall, Elena Lopez, Emmanuel Lewis, Judith Goodship, Charles Boklage, Jason Birnholz, Debbie Ganz, Lisa Ganz, Lindon Eaves, Claire Kellman, David Kellman, Robert Shafran, Leon Kamin, Jim Springer, Kay Cassill, Jonathan Marks, Kathryn Roeder, Richard Lewontin, Ashley Montagu, Samuel Abrams, Richard J. Rose, Richard C. Pillard, Arthur Jensen, Evan S. Balaban, Lee Willerman, David Lykken, Tanya Lundgren, Tina Lundgren, Sandra Scarr, Laura Baker, Peter B. Neubauer, Alexander Neubauer, Wai Han Mak, Ken Kendler, Toni Miles, Caryn Carlson, Jack Yufe, Devra Yufe Gregory, Janice Bleyl, Dan Kee, Viola Bernard, J. David Smith, and Juko Ando.
In addition to providing thoughtful insight in the preparation of this book, Ricardo Ainslie, Thomas Mack, and John Loehlin read the manuscript and kept me from making many needless errors. Those that may remain are my responsibility.
Peter Ermey undertook the onerous task of compiling the boxes of research into a coherent bibliography. As usual, Jan McInroy cast her scrupulous eye over the text.
Finally, I wish to thank Ravi Mirchandani, the editor of this book, who recognized the possibility for a larger work and provided invaluable encouragement and guidance.
 
Page 1
1
Two LivesOne Personality?
A pair of identical twin girls were surrendered to an adoption agency in New York City in the late 1960s. The twins, who are known in psychological literature as Amy and Beth, might have gone through life in obscurity had they not come to the attention of Dr. Peter Neubauer, a prominent psychiatrist at New York University's Psychoanalytic Institute and a director of the Freud Archives. Neubauer believed at the time that twins posed such a burden to parents, and to themselves in the form of certain developmental hazards, that adopted twins were better off being raised separately, with no knowledge of their twinship.
Neubauer also recognized the exceptional research possibilities such a separation offered. Studies of twins reared apart are one of the most powerful tools that scholars have to analyze the relative contributions of heredity and environment to the makeup of individual human natures. Identical twins are rare, however, and twins who have been separated and brought up in different families are particularly unusual. Neubauer was aware of a mere handful of studies examining twins reared apart, and in most cases the twins being studied had been separated for only part of their childhoods and
 
Page 2
were reunited at some point long before the study began. Here was an opportunity to look at twins from the moment they were separated, and to trace them through childhood, observing at each stage of development the parallel or diverging courses of their lives. Because the sisters shared the same genetic makeup, one could evaluate the environmental effects on the twins' personalities, their behavior, their health, their intelligence. Such a study might not set to rest the ancient quarrel over the relative importance of nature versus nurture, but there were few other experiments one could imagine that would be more pertinent to an understanding of the human condition.
Neubauer sought out other instances in which newborn twins were being placed for adoption, eventually adding three other pairs of identical twins and a set of identical triplets to his project. The complete study has never been published, and Neubauer is reluctant to discuss the details of how he enlisted twins into the project. Indeed, much of the history of the study has been kept secret. In any case, by the time that Amy and Beth were sent to their adoptive homes, there was already an extensive team of psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, observers, and testers waiting to follow them as they moved from infancy to adolescence. Every step of childhood would be documented through psychological and ability tests, school records, parental and sibling interviews, films, and the minutes of nearly 1,000 weekly conferences. Not surprisingly, the study was slanted toward psychoanalytical concerns. "In particular, we were looking for the psychological variables which influence developmental processes," says Neubauer. One would expect identical children placed in separate environments to be formed by different family dynamics. Broadly speaking, the personality differences between

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