Three Identical Strangers
Imagine one day you run into someone who looks just like you, whose voice sounds like yours, and whose behavior seems to be a carbon copy of you. If you live in the greater New York area and are between 60 and 70, this is a real possibility, as we learn in the intriguing documentary Three identical strangers. Around 1960, an experiment was made to separate twins given up for adoption. The experimenters did not tell the adopting parents or the children about the existence of the other twins.
On purpose, the experimenters placed the twins in families that differed in their socio-economic status. Scientists then followed the children to investigate whether the choice of parents with different parenting styles would have an impact on the behavior and development of the children. The documentary traces how three brothers growing up in different families learn in their late teens that they have two identical brothers. The film is fascinating and reminded me of stories about twins I featured many years ago in this blog. But it also raises profound questions about the ethics of conducting experiments with children without telling their adoptive parents. The film ends with a conclusion that I think was misleading at best. It suggests that the story of the three brothers showed that it is family context (nurture) rather than genes (nature) that drives behavior. Genes play a much larger role in determining our behavior than most people suspect. And if you do not believe this, read Robert Plomin’s Blueprint—How DNA makes us who we are.