8230: Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are

About the Course:

Wright, who wrote on twins for the New Yorker, presents an examination of twin studies and what we have learned from them. Much of what we know about genetics comes from studying identical and fraternal twins who were reared apart. Wright shows how, historically, different interpretations of these studies have ended up creating trends in psychology or fueling social policy, and that researchers are still tracing the heritability of such things as IQ, addictive behavior, and criminal behavior through siblings, fraternal twins, and identical twins in attempts to resolve the nature versus nurture debate. 

Author

Wright, Lawrence

About the Authors:

Lawrence Wright (Austin, TX) is an award-winning staff writer for The New Yorker. He has also written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and Texas Monthly. In addition to Twins, which was short-listed for the Rhone-Poulenc Science Prize, Mr. Wright is the author of Remembering Satan, Saints and Sinners, and In the New World.

Course Objectives:

1. To be able to understand the role genes play in shaping identities

2. To be able to understand the role family life and experiences outside of family life impact on shaping lives

3. To be aware of important twin research studies