The Trouble with Twin Studies PDF Download

Author: Jay Joseph
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317605918
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
The Trouble with Twin Studies questions popular genetic explanations of human behavioral differences based upon the existing body of twin research. Psychologist Jay Joseph outlines the fallacies of twin studies in the context of the ongoing decades-long failure to discover genes for human behavioral differences, including IQ, personality, and the major psychiatric disorders. This volume critically examines twin research, with a special emphasis on reared-apart twin studies, and incorporates new and updated perspectives, analyses, arguments, and evidence.

Author: Adam D. Tarnoki
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0128215143
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 738

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Book Description
Twin Research: Biology, Health, Epigenetics, and Psychology is a comprehensive, applied resource in twinning and twin studies that is grounded in the most impactful findings from twin research in recent years. While targeted to undergraduate and graduate students, this compendium will prove a valuable resource for scholars already familiar with twin studies, as well as those coming to the field for the first time. Here, more than forty experts across an array of disciplines examine twinning and twin research methodologies from the perspectives of biology, medicine, genetic and epigenetic influences, and neuroscience. Chapters provide clear instruction in both basic and advanced research methods, family and parenting aspects of twinning, twin studies as applied across various disease areas and medical specialties, genetic and epigenetic determinants of differentiation, and academic, neurological and cognitive development. The presentation of existing studies and methods instruction empowers students and researchers to apply twin-based research and advance new studies across a range of biomedical and behavioral fields, highlighting current research trends and future directions. Offers unique insights into twinning rates, mechanisms and factors surrounding twinship Provides clear instruction on both basic and advanced twin research methods and study design Features leading international experts in twin biology, genetics, health and psychology Examines findings from recent twin studies across a broad array of health and behavioral studies

Author: Nancy L. Segal
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674065158
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart startled scientists by demonstrating that twins reared apart are as alike, across a number of personality traits and other measures, as those raised together, suggesting that genetic influence is pervasive. Segal offers an overview of the study’s scientific contributions and effect on public consciousness.

Author: Jay Joseph
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131760590X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
The Trouble with Twin Studies questions popular genetic explanations of human behavioral differences based upon the existing body of twin research. Psychologist Jay Joseph outlines the fallacies of twin studies in the context of the ongoing decades-long failure to discover genes for human behavioral differences, including IQ, personality, and the major psychiatric disorders. This volume critically examines twin research, with a special emphasis on reared-apart twin studies, and incorporates new and updated perspectives, analyses, arguments, and evidence.

Author: M. Neale
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401580189
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 503

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Book Description
Few would dispute the truth of the statement `People are Different', but there is much controversy over why. This book authoritatively explains the methods used to understand human variation, and extends them far beyond the primary `nature or nurture' question. After chapters on basic statistics, biometrical genetics, matrix algebra and path analysis, there is a state-of-the-art account of how to fit genetic models using the LISREL package. The authors explain not only the assumptions of the twin method, but how to test them. The elementary model is expanded to cover sex limitation, sibling interaction, multivariate and longitudinal data, observer ratings, and twin-family studies. Throughout, the methods are illustrated by applications to diverse areas such as obesity, major depression, alcohol comsumption, delinquency, allergies, and common fears.

Author: Nancy L. Segal
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0128039957
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Twin Mythconceptions: False Beliefs, Fables, and Facts about Twins sheds new light on over 70 commonly held ideas and beliefs about the origins and development of identical and fraternal twins. Using the latest scientific findings from psychology, psychiatry, biology, and education, the book separates fact from fiction. Each idea about twins is described, followed by both a short answer about the truth, and then a longer, more detailed explanation. Coverage includes embryology of twins, twin types, intellectual growth, personality traits, sexual orientation of twins, marital relationships, epigenetic analyses, and more. Five appendices cover selected topics in greater depth, such as the frequency of different twin types and the varieties of polar body twin pairs. This book will inform and entertain behavioral and life science researchers, health professionals, twins, parents of twins, and anyone interested in the fascinating topic of twins. - Identifies common misunderstandings about twins - Provides scientific answers to questions about twins - Encompasses the biology, psychology, genetics, and personality of twins - Includes discussion of identical, fraternal same-sex, and fraternal opposite-sex twins - Allows for quick answers to common questions and more detailed explanations

Author: Nancy L. Segal
Publisher: Dutton Adult
ISBN: 9780525944652
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
A groundbreaking study of twins brings together the latest scientific research and case studies to explore the complexities of human behavior and development as it examines such topics as twins separated at birth, pseudotwins, the loss of a twin, the implications of new fertility drugs, and more. 10,000 first printing. Tour.

Author: Todd D. Little
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199934908
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 784

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Book Description
Research today demands the application of sophisticated and powerful research tools. Fulfilling this need, The Oxford Handbook of Quantitative Methods is the complete tool box to deliver the most valid and generalizable answers to todays complex research questions. It is a one-stop source for learning and reviewing current best-practices in quantitative methods as practiced in the social, behavioral, and educational sciences. Comprising two volumes, this handbook covers a wealth of topics related to quantitative research methods. It begins with essential philosophical and ethical issues related to science and quantitative research. It then addresses core measurement topics before delving into the design of studies. Principal issues related to modern estimation and mathematical modeling are also detailed. Topics in the handbook then segway into the realm of statistical inference and modeling with chapters dedicated to classical approaches as well as modern latent variable approaches. Numerous chapters associated with longitudinal data and more specialized techniques round out this broad selection of topics. Comprehensive, authoritative, and user-friendly, this two-volume set will be an indispensable resource for serious researchers across the social, behavioral, and educational sciences.

Author: T. J. Bouchard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Twins as a Tool of Behavioral Genetics Edited by T. J. Bouchard, Jr. P. Propping Every human being is genetically unique and consequently genetically different from every other human being. The one exception is identical (monozygotic) twins, who share exactly the same genome. Fraternal (dizygotic) twins share half of their genes in common by descent. Twins of both types constitute "an experiment of nature". Because it is unethical to carry out powerful experiments on human beings in order to explore the causes of variation in human traits, this natural experiment with all of its vicissitudes is one of the few windows we have with which to view the genetic and environmental determinants of complex human behavioral traits. Many scientists believe that twins can only be used to estimate "heritability" and that they reveal nothing about how genes influence behavior. In addition, they argue that modern molecular genetics will quickly make twin research obsolete. These widely held views are largely incorrect. Twins are a unique and very powerful tool for exploring a wide variety of hypotheses about both the distal (mostly genetic) and proximal (mostly environmental) origins of human individual differences. Scientific knowledge accumulates most rapidly when scientists ask the right questions and utilize the right tools—the right tools for the job. This book attempts to highlight the questions that might be most productively addressed through the use of twin designs. Every tool, however, has its limitations. This book carefully examines the limitations and assumptions associated with the application of the method to each of the domains discussed. Goal of this Dahlem Workshop: to evaluate the environmental and genetic mechanisms underlying the structure and development of behavior in twins studies: the achievements, limitations, and potentials.

Author: Jay Joseph
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 0875863442
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
Jay Joseph's timely, challenging book provides a much-needed rebuttal of the evidence cited in support of genetic theories in psychiatry and psychology, which are based mainly on twin and adoption studies. He shows that, far from establishing the importance of genes, psychiatric genetic and behavior genetic research on twins and adoptees has been plagued by researcher bias, unsound methodology, and a reliance on erroneous theoretical assumptions. Furthermore, he discusses how this faulty research has been used to support the interests of those attempting to bolster conservative social and political agendas. Under the Microscope Dr. Jay Joseph provocatively challenges current genetic theories and the evidence cited to support them - in particular, genes' alleged role in criminal behavior, IQ, heritability and molecular genetic research - and maintains they are all part of the "Gene Illusion."