Nature vs. Nurture

Paper Summary:

The paper shows that studying twins has been one of the most fruitful methods for comparing the differences between nature and nurture. The paper analyzes studies involving identical twins and twins separated at birth. It also examines studies involving twins that show there is a correlation between genetics and intelligence.

From the Paper:

"The most famous results of the twin studies have been those involving intelligence. Generally, we tend think of intelligence as something that is not genetically inherited, but cultivated through intense study. In the Enlightenment, thinkers believed that people began life as a totally clean slate and that anything could be impressed upon them through proper education, religious indoctrination, and a solid and respectable upbringing. This concept, often referred to as tabula rasa, or "the mind before it receives the impressions gained from experience" seems soundly refuted by the Minnesota Study of Twins reared apart (Webster's II 1177). Instead of finding support for the Enlightenment notion, the study found that twins' intelligence tended to correlate very strongly despite differences in upbringing, and subsequent studies have supported this conclusion."

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