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I'm an identical twin. I remember twice in high school we were accused of cheating because we wrote extremely similar essays, but in fact we both randomly came

I'm an identical twin. I remember twice in high school we were accused of cheating because we wrote extremely similar essays, but in fact we both randomly came up with the same very specific idea at the same time.

cperciva 4y ago
All you know for certain is that you didn't cheat and your twin claims that he didn't copy your work. ;-)
- Retric 4y ago
  Hardly, they also know if their twin had the opportunity to copy their work etc.
cjbgkagh 4y ago
Thoughts are highly genetic.
- lukas099 4y ago
  I think you can make a pretty strong case for nurture here. The twins talk and hang out a lot, so they develop similar thought patterns.
  - casion 4y ago
    You can't disentangle nature from nurture with some sets of twins as they are both in play. That's part of why it's fascinating to see both with strong simultaneous reinforcement, and similarly when the "nurture" part is removed and the chances of similarities is higher than normal.
    - lukas099 4y ago
      Yes, we are lucky to have identical twins in the world if for nothing else than the scientific research they enable.
    - waterhouse 4y ago
      Some studies look at identical twins vs fraternal twins, seeing if identical twins are more similar than fraternal. It's an excellent way to control for almost everything except the genetics.
      - cperciva 4y ago
        The gold standard is "separated twins" studies, looking at identical twins who are adopted away to different families at birth. Sadly for science but happily for the families involved, these are getting harder to do; the primary source of such twins used to be unmarried women who became pregnant, but between the availability of birth control and a dramatic reduction in the social stigma, far fewer children are being "hidden" by being adopted away.
- senectus1 4y ago
  oooh not sure i agree with that. Thats a very slippery slope as well.
- ARandomerDude 4y ago
  I wish I could agree with you but I’m helplessly bound by my DNA to think you’re wrong.
pge 4y ago
identical twin too - my brother and I were accused of cheating on standardized test once in elementary school because our answers were so similar. Got called into the Principal's office. Fortunately, we were sitting far enough apart that there was no way we could have cheated. Certainly with my brother and me, our answers to any kind of test at that age were highly correlated, just from having had similar (or the same) teachers and having similar aptitude.

cperciva 4y ago

All you know for certain is that you didn't cheat and your twin claims that he didn't copy your work. ;-)

Retric 4y ago
Hardly, they also know if their twin had the opportunity to copy their work etc.

cjbgkagh 4y ago

Thoughts are highly genetic.

lukas099 4y ago
I think you can make a pretty strong case for nurture here. The twins talk and hang out a lot, so they develop similar thought patterns.
- casion 4y ago
  You can't disentangle nature from nurture with some sets of twins as they are both in play. That's part of why it's fascinating to see both with strong simultaneous reinforcement, and similarly when the "nurture" part is removed and the chances of similarities is higher than normal.
  - lukas099 4y ago
    Yes, we are lucky to have identical twins in the world if for nothing else than the scientific research they enable.
  - waterhouse 4y ago
    Some studies look at identical twins vs fraternal twins, seeing if identical twins are more similar than fraternal. It's an excellent way to control for almost everything except the genetics.
    - cperciva 4y ago
      The gold standard is "separated twins" studies, looking at identical twins who are adopted away to different families at birth. Sadly for science but happily for the families involved, these are getting harder to do; the primary source of such twins used to be unmarried women who became pregnant, but between the availability of birth control and a dramatic reduction in the social stigma, far fewer children are being "hidden" by being adopted away.
senectus1 4y ago
oooh not sure i agree with that. Thats a very slippery slope as well.
ARandomerDude 4y ago
I wish I could agree with you but I’m helplessly bound by my DNA to think you’re wrong.

pge 4y ago

identical twin too - my brother and I were accused of cheating on standardized test once in elementary school because our answers were so similar. Got called into the Principal's office. Fortunately, we were sitting far enough apart that there was no way we could have cheated. Certainly with my brother and me, our answers to any kind of test at that age were highly correlated, just from having had similar (or the same) teachers and having similar aptitude.