Nature Vs. Nurture- A Twins Perspective

I agree with your statement about twins. The twins I know that are identical or even just the same gender seem to be much more alike than the ones that are different genders. When it comes down to it, children are nurtured different based on their gender which affects their behavior and personality later on in life. Definitely some kids naturally act a certain way but a lot of how we act is based on how our parents treat us, which once again varies with different children.

This post brings up an interesting topic. Me and my sister, the only children of the family, are complete opposites. Besides the faint similarities in our faces, no one would ever know that we were related. I think this may support the opinion of the article, in that nurture played a significant role in the way siblings differ and are similar. Me and my sister are three years apart, meaning she was a freshmen in high school when I was a senior. This age gap, and the way that our parents choose to raise each of us I believe has had a huge impact on the way we are now. I think that myself being the oldest, the way my parents raised me was completely different from my sister. Whether it was due to their experience of raising kids or events that happened during my sisters childhood, the nurture given to my sister from my parents was completely different, which led to our two polar personalities.

You asked "Is who we are determined by our genetics or shaped by the environment in which we developed? ". I would have to say that nurture does play a huge role in the way siblings are different from or similar to each other. I always thought me and my older brother were raised exactly the same way and that the reason why we are so different has to be genetic, but now that I look again, we actually had two very different childhoods. Our friend groups were different, our interests were different, which meant that the environment we surrounded ourselves with was completely different, which makes me see that nurture (not only from parents) does play a huge part in shaping who we are.

I think that it is difficult to accurately address the nature vs. nurture debate in families. All of the children, from one couple, will have similar genetics (nature). Even though, some people claim to be the complete opposite (physically and socially) of their siblings (as shown in the post and subsequent comments); genetically, siblings are still closely related. Also, even though children may be raised at different times, I think that if they are raised by the same couple, their environment (nurture) will be similar. People may change their parenting styles, but only slightly. That is why I think it is difficult to address the nature vs. nurture debate between you and a sibling. You can never really know which influences a person more without concrete evidence.

I am not surprised that you don't see many similarities with your twin sister Andrew. After all, she is a girl.

But I would guess that there may be some similarities in other dimensions of your traits and abilities. But since she is a fraternal twin, you are no more similar than any other two siblings. I would guess that since you are twins with someone of the opposite gender you likely did many things to try and distinguish your identity from hers.

It is also not surprising that you have more in common with your older brother. It makes more sense to see him as a role model and it is likely that you enjoy the same things and often do them together.

I would guess that is what occurred in the Manning family and Eli learned a lot about being a great QB from Peyton which they both learned from their father. I would also guess that genetics did play a role in Manning family and other families that produce superstar children. Its not specifically one gene or trait that gets passed down but a bunch of small traits or a set of genes that makes the difference.

In the end it really is not a question of what plays a larger role but what environment works best for the traits we are born with.