Book ID: CBB001320238

Born Together--Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study (2012)

unapi

Segal, Nancy L. (Author)


Harvard University Press


Publication Date: 2012
Physical Details: vi + 410 pp.; ill.; bibl.; index
Language: English

The identical Jim twins were raised in separate families and met for the first time at age thirty-nine, only to discover that they both suffered tension headaches, bit their fingernails, smoked Salems, enjoyed woodworking, and vacationed on the same Florida beach. This example of the potential power of genetics captured widespread media attention in 1979 and inspired the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. This landmark investigation into the nature-nurture debate shook the scientific community by demonstrating, across a number of traits, that twins reared separately are as alike as those raised together. As a postdoctoral fellow and then as assistant director of the Minnesota Study, Nancy L. Segal provides an eagerly anticipated overview of its scientific contributions and their effect on public consciousness. The study's evidence of genetic influence on individual differences in traits such as personality (50%) and intelligence (70%) overturned conventional ideas about parenting and teaching. Treating children differently and nurturing their inherent talents suddenly seemed to be a fairer approach than treating them all the same. Findings of genetic influence on physiological characteristics such as cardiac and immunologic function have led to more targeted approaches to disease prevention and treatment. And indications of a stronger genetic influence on male than female homosexuality have furthered debate regarding sexual orientation.

...More
Reviewed By

Review Tucker, William H. (2013) Review of "Born Together--Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study". Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (p. 337). unapi

Review Tucker, William H. (2013) Review of "Born Together--Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study". Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (pp. 337-341). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001320238/

Similar Citations

Book Amy F. Ogata; (2013)
Designing the Creative Child: Playthings and Places in Midcentury America (/isis/citation/CBB389474571/)

Book Malik, Kenan; (2000)
Man, Beast and Zombie: What Science Can and Cannot Tell about Human Nature (/isis/citation/CBB000600037/)

Article Sarah Babb; (2021)
The Privatization of Human Research Ethics: An American Story (/isis/citation/CBB733380502/)

Article Weidman, Nadine; (2011)
Popularizing the Ancestry of Man: Robert Ardrey and the Killer Instinct (/isis/citation/CBB001034550/)

Article Johnson, Andi; (2013)
The Athlete as Model Organism: The Everyday Practice of the Science of Human Performance (/isis/citation/CBB001320557/)

Book Erika Lorraine Milam; (2019)
Creatures of Cain: The Hunt for Human Nature in Cold War America (/isis/citation/CBB774791548/)

Book Nadine Weidman; (2021)
Killer Instinct: The Popular Science of Human Nature in Twentieth-Century America (/isis/citation/CBB223877625/)

Book Matthew G. Glischinski; (2012)
Minnesota railroads: A photographic history, 1940-2012 (/isis/citation/CBB180296308/)

Article Csaba Pléh; (2023)
Changes in Hungarian academic psychology after the end of "people's democracy" (/isis/citation/CBB283707622/)

Article Ryan Driskell Tate; (January 2021)
Rural Revolt: Power Line Protests and the Alternative Technology Movement in the United States, 1970s (/isis/citation/CBB243007913/)

Article Catriel Fierro; Saulo de Freitas Araujo; (2021)
Psychology qua psychoanalysis in Argentina: Some historical origins of a philosophical problem (1942–1964) (/isis/citation/CBB669206588/)

Essay Review Herman, Ellen; (2001)
How Children Turn Out and How Psychology Turns Them Out (/isis/citation/CBB000100117/)

Authors & Contributors
Weidman, Nadine M.
Pléh, Csaba
Matthew G. Glischinski
Skagius, Peter
Amy F. Ogata
Tate, Ryan Driskell
Concepts
Psychology
Science and politics
Definition of human; human nature
Developmental psychology; pediatrics and psychology
Human experimentation
Child development
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century, early
20th century
19th century
Places
United States
Minnesota (U.S.)
Ohio (U.S.)
Argentina
Sweden
South Africa
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment