Identical Strangers
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''Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited'' is a 2007 memoir written by
identical twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...
Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein and published by
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
. The authors, born in New York City in 1968 to Leda Witt, daughter of
Nathan Witt Nathan Witt (February 11, 1903 – February 16, 1982), born Nathan Wittowsky, was an American lawyer who is best known as being the Secretary of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1937 to 1940. He resigned from the NLRB after his commu ...
, were separated as infants, in part, to participate in a "
nature versus nurture Nature versus nurture is a long-standing debate in biology and society about the relative influence on human beings of their genetics, genetic inheritance (nature) and the environmental conditions of their development (nurture). The alliterative ex ...
"
twin study Twin studies are studies conducted on identical or fraternal twins. They aim to reveal the importance of environmental and genetic influences for traits, phenotypes, and disorders. Twin research is considered a key tool in behavioral genetics ...
. They were
adopted Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
by separate families in the New York area who were unaware that each girl had a twin sister. Soon after the twins reunited for the first time in 2004 at the age of 35, they began writing the book. Of the 13 or more children involved in the study, three sets of twins and one set of triplets have discovered one another. One or two sets of twins may still not know they have an identical twin. Audio also.


Twins study

Viola Bernard, a prominent
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
psychiatrist, had persuaded Louise Wise Services, an adoption agency, to send twins to different homes without telling the adoptive parents that they were adopting a child who had a twin. Then, researchers sponsored by the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services secretly compared their progress. Bernard believed that identical twins would better forge individual identities if separated. By the time the twins started to investigate their adoptions, Bernard had already died, but the twins found
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
psychiatrist Peter Neubauer who had studied them. The twins study they were involved with was never completed. The practice of separating twins at birth ended in the state of New York in 1980, shortly after Neubauer's study ceased. Neubauer reportedly had
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
lock away and seal the study records until 2065. He realized that public opinion would be so against the research that he decided not to publish it. As of 2007, the sisters and other twins had not persuaded Yale or the Jewish Board to release the records. By 2018, some 10,000 pages had been released but were heavily redacted and inconclusive. The Neubauer study differed from most twins studies in that it followed the twins from infancy. However, the debate about whether nature or nurture has a greater impact on human development continues. The documentary '' Three Identical Strangers'', which told the story of three male triplets who were also part of the study and found one another at age 19, noted that although much was made of superficial similarities among the three, their personalities were significantly different because they were raised by parents with profoundly different personalities and child-rearing practices. In addition, no one can accurately assess to what degree each infant in the study was shaped by the trauma of separation after several months together as infants. Some researchers believe that children's differences are forged less by their families than by
genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
and chance.Segal, Nancy (1999). ''Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us About Human Behavior''. Dutton. Contrasting neuroscience research of the last three or four decades supports the claim that minds are formed through relationships, especially in the first 1000 days of a child's life. In an interview with NPR to promote the publication of "Identical Strangers," Bernstein said, "Twins really do force us to question what is it that makes each of us who we are. Since meeting Elyse, it is undeniable that genetics play a huge role — probably more than 50 percent."


Documentary films

Two
documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...
about this study have been released, ''The Twinning Reaction'' (2017) and '' Three Identical Strangers'' (2018), along with the television episode ''Secret Siblings'' (2018).


See also

*'' The Parent Trap''


References

{{Reflist Twin studies Books about adoption Adoption in the United States Human subject research in psychiatry Human subject research in the United States 2007 non-fiction books American memoirs Random House books