In another thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=112700), KarlGauss mentioned that identical twins reared apart have similar body weights- which would mean that genetics, and not environment- appears to determine weight. My question is, what other similarities do identical twins reared apart have? Has any other aspects of these twins personalities been studied?? Do they like the same foods??? The same music???
Thanks.
I remember reading about some studies some years ago. There are often surprising similarities. One rather interesting study found that although different educational environments led to different IQs as children, by the time they were adults they had almost identical IQs, regardless of upbringing.
Just IIRC, so take it with a grain of salt. Maybe someone else knows some ref.s?
look at http://tlc.discovery.com/tlcpages/twins/s_separated.html for an interesting story. Many other possible genetic links such as alcoholism have been found http://www.healthrecovery.com/Not_All_In_Your_Mind.html and all sorts of similar odd behaviour in separated twins
“Both wore short, clipped moustaches, stored rubber bands around their wrists, and read magazines back to front. Both also shared the habit of sneezing loudly in public to attract attention” from http://www.modcult.brown.edu/students/angell/twinstudy.html
Track down anything by Thomas Bouchard on the web who has done much of the work in this area, he hasn’t written any books as far as I know. Or search for identical twins separated on google for tons of interesting stories