The “Jim Twins”�Watch video about the “Jim Twins” & Twin Studies �(start at :50-7:45)

An Interesting Test in

Nature vs. Nurture

The Jim Twins were separated at four weeks old and adopted by families living forty-five miles apart in Ohio. Coincidentally, each was named ‘Jim’- one Jim Springer, the other Jim Lewis. Apparently, each had been told he was a twin, though one had been informed that his twin brother had died. They were reunited at the age of 39, and eventually interviewed and tested at the University of Minnesota. There, Thomas Bouchard studied over 300 twins pairs, 44 of which were identical twin pairs that had been raised apart.

It was discovered that the Jim Twins�

• Both drove the same make and color of Chevrolet
• Both chain smoked Salem cigarettes
• Both drank the same brand of beer, Miller Lite
• Both compulsively bit their fingernails
• Both had hemorrhoids, migraine headaches and high blood pressure
• Both worked as deputy sheriffs
• Both had mechanical drawing workshops in their basements
• Both had vacationed at the same beach in St. Petersburg, Florida
• Both built benches around the trees in their yards
• Both had an adopted brother named Larry
• Both had a dog named Toy
• Both married a woman named Linda, got divorced and married a woman named Betty
• Both had a son; one named James Alan, the other named James Allan
• Both scored almost identically on measures of personality, sleep patterns and intelligence

Follow-up Questions

• What more would I need or want to know to make a judgment as to the value of these striking similarities?
• Statistically speaking, how truly rare are such parallels?
• Were those who studied twin pairs at the University of Minnesota perhaps influenced by confirmation bias?
• Were differences between the twins systematically noted? (The Jim Twins did have different haircuts, and one had been married a third time, to a woman named Sandy)
• Is there a genetic predisposition to name your dog ‘Toy’?