One Twin Argumentative Essay

Twins often have similar characteristics that go beyond physical appearance. What would happen if a set of twins grew up apart; would their characteristics change based on their surroundings or would their genes keep them alike? The question is, "What is it that makes us who we really are: our life experiences or our DNA?" (npr.org)

Scientists have done many studies on twins to see just how much DNA affects personalities. Even though most adoption agencies try to keep siblings together it is not always possible, so occasionally twins have to go to different families (creatingafamily.org). In China, because of the one child rule, sometimes the families will just leave one twin at the hospital. After being born, the twins that are separated, either by adoption or otherwise, grow up having an "identical stranger"(npr.org).

Jim Lewis and Jim Springer were separated at birth and were reunited at thirty-nine years old. Both Jim and Jim discovered they had many similarities in the way they acted. For example, they drove the same car, smoked the same kind of cigarettes, and vacationed at the same beach. These had also both been married twice. Both of their first wives were named Linda, and both of their second wives were named Betty (intropsych.com). This is just one example of many of twins who had very similar interests even though they
Segal, shocked many scientists because she showed them just how much genetics impact who people are. In one of her many books about twins, she says, "I look at twins as scientific treasures. Because just by acting naturally in different research contexts, twins tell us so much about our human behavior and how we got that way" (Nancy L. Segal). While working on the study, Nancy was surprised to find out that the twins' genetics also contributed to things such as religiousness, and the way twins act in social settings. Nancy said, "Those surprised us because we thought those certainly must come from family" (Nancy