Abstract: The Identical Twin Study seeks to identify genetic and environmental influences on the development of psychological traits. The value of the research was the ability to estimate the inheritability of certain traits, including academic ability, personality, interests, family and social relationships, & mental and physical health. Children who are orphaned, fostered, or adopted may have certain behavior or inheritable traits activated by certain environmental factors or adopted parents, but only within the limitations of their genes. Identical twins reared away from his or her co-twin seem to have about an equal chance of being similar to the co-twin in terms of personality, interests, and attitudes as one who has been reared with his or her co-twin. This leads to the conclusion that the similarities between twins are due to genes, not environment.
Twin studies are, “comparisons of identical (monozygotic) twins to fraternal or nonidentical (dizygotic) twins.” These studies are mainly to contribute to hereditary effects and also estimate heritability. Scientists and researchers look toward twin studies to debate the nature versus nurture on childhood. For many years scientists have tried to study twins to see if genetics and/or environment influence individuals. Sir Francis Galton (one of the first scientists to conduct twin studies) studied influential genetics are on intelligence, more than a century ago. Galton also suggested that children get their intelligence from parents. “Identical twins have the same genetic construction. So, by studying identical twins who were brought up in different environments, “scientists can see the impact of genes on development.” For fraternal twins, scientists study the impact of outside environment on the children’s personalities (Bryner, 2006).
Before coming into this research, I always view twin studies as