I have read a few studies about identical twins being seperated at birth and when they were reunited they discovered had the same job, their wife had the same name, they had the same favorite color, same type of car and things like that.
Is this the exception or the rule when it comes to identical twins being seperated at birth? Do identical twins with different life experiences and upbringings have the same mannerisms and preferences?
Well, the only real data comes from the Minnesota study and other similar ones that you’ve probably read about. The major criticisms I’ve heard were 1) That twins in the studies were often raised in similar or even related families. 2) That practicly any two people filling out the extremely detailed questionnaires used would likely find some startling coincidences in their experiences, and 3) That participants were not kept especially in the dark about what the studies were looking for and might have been predisposed to go looking for convergences.
Dateline had a show about this about a month ago. It was about 2 Identical twin sisters that were separated at birth in mexico. The mother gave them up for adoption. One went to jewish family and the other went to a christian family. The weird part was that they didn’t live too far apart. They were reunited when a mutual friend of theirs noticed the two were too much alike to not be twins. Neither knew they had a twin.
They had alot of the same interests and mannerisms. They both liked to dance (same style too), wore same makeup, same hairdo, same clothes etc… When they first met each other, they had on the exact coats but different colors ( those horrendous “michelen man” coats that rappers wear ). Although, one was left handed and the other was righthanded I believe.
Dateline then found several other twins that were separated at birth. They all had suptle mannerism that were the same. Same tastes, all that good stuff.
Did they show the sets of twins that didn’t match the pattern? While it’s clear that there were similarities, without a control group it’s hard to say how many similarities should have been expected.
In a similar vein, I am always amazed by how much of our behavior seems to be genetically moderated.
My father died when I was 4 months old so I never knew him and saw very few pictures of him. It used to freak my mother out that I always have my legs twisted like a pretzel when I am standing at a counter or sink and also when I’m sitting in a chair. She said my father used to stand and sit exactly the same way and was the only person she had ever seen do that. I never saw a picture of him in these positions.
As I watch my children I notice things like that too. One of my sons cannot sleep with his feet covered (he repeatedly kicks the covers off his feet while sleeping) and always has a hand under the side of his face while asleep. These are things that my husband tells me I do in my sleep.
I used to believe that you could mold your children with nurture but I’m discovering that nature is hard to buck.
I would imagine that identical twins would have a remarkable degree of convergence just based on these observations.
I don’t think it’s just identical twins who can have the same mannerisms, I have two older brothers, we haven’t lived in the same house as each other for over 20 years, we were never “friends” (because I was 4/5 years younger than they), and these days we see each other once a year (if that) I frequently sound like one brother when I’m angry and sound like the other when I laugh …