[0:05]We're happy to accept the idea that physical characteristics like speed and endurance have a strong genetic component. Fast dogs are bred from parents who are fast.
[0:20]But when it comes to us, to our personality and the choices we make in life, we feel differently. The idea that we are all running around a track, following some predetermined genetic script is repellent. But some twin stories really make you wonder. Now, although the story of Jenny and Margaret is pretty surprising, it's nothing compared with the astonishing story of the Jim Twins. Meet Jim Lewis and Jim Springer. They have different surnames and they don't look much alike, but they are identical twins. The Jims were separated as babies and were reunited when they were 39 years old. It was a very good warm feeling, you know. It's like you have something favorite of yours and you lost it and you have to have it. You know, and you finally found it and it's a good feeling to find that thing. Well, that's what it was with Jim. Words came. When the Jims met for the first time, they discovered that their lives were peppered with bizarre coincidences. My first wife's name was Linda. My first wife's name was Linda. I divorced Linda and married Betty. And then my second wife's name was Betty. And now I'm married to Sandy. Well, she's kind of leery that she hopes I don't ever come across her a Sandy. I got into woodworking because my father Jim was always doing woodwork. Uh, I've been doing woodworking for quite a long time. My first son's name was James Allen. My first son was is James Allen. My favorite beer was Miller Light and I've always smoked Salem cigarettes. My favorite beer is is Miller's Light. And smoker and I I smoke camel light, but then I smoke Salem Light too. I I switch back and forth. I was in the sheriff's department in Miami County as a deputy. I was deputy sheriff for seven years.
[2:37]It's impossible to fathom the odds for some of the Jim's coincidences. The information is simply not available. But for some of the habits they shared, we can do the calculations. When the two Jims met in 1979, each was driving a Chevrolet. And it turns out, according to the experts, that the chances of only one man driving a Chevrolet then was 7 to 1. Now, both men driving a Chevrolet would therefore be 49 to 1. And they were also both heavy smokers and heavy drinkers. And the chances of any two men, both being heavy drinkers would be about 35 to 1. And at that time in 1979, the chance of any two men both being heavy smokers was about 300 to 1. Well, the chances of each one of these on its own isn't really that surprising. But if you put them all together, the overall coincidence is really rather amazing. To get the odds of all the similarities being down to pure coincidence, you have to multiply them together. In betting terms, it's called an accumulator. And these figures give you odds of half a million to one against two men sharing those habits by pure chance.
[4:02]Same sort of odds, I might get here on any one dog winning every race till the end of the season.
[4:12]It would be impossible for it to be 50 races. And if you think it could win 50 races, I would offer you a half a million to one. Has it ever happened? It's never happened, no. And it never will happen. So you'd be safe as a bookie. You would be completely safe. If you take any two people and look hard enough, you'll always find some similarities. But the two Jims are so alike despite being brought up by different parents in different homes, that it's hard to escape the thought that they've been shaped by forces deeper and ultimately more important than just their home environment. Psychologist Tom Bouchard has met more separated twins than anyone else in the world, but the Jims were his first. They kicked off a 20-year study that's changing the way we think about being human. The first week we were there, we answered 10,000 questions, true or false and multiple occasion. We look at their hobbies, their the jobs they've held, uh, their personality traits, their abilities. We took photos of our ears, of our eyes, and he took our fingerprints, their height, their weight. Their brain waves. The twins IQ and personality profile was strikingly similar. It was as if they had tested the same person twice.
[5:37]The very first morning we started to work with them, one of the twins put his hand on the on the table. And I noticed that he bit his nails. I remember saying to myself, now, isn't that interesting? Wouldn't it be interesting if his twin brother bit his nails? And as I was thinking that, his twin brother put his hand on the table, and sure enough, they were both nail biters. And I said, you know, that's not on any psychological test or any psychological characteristic. The way you wear your hat. The way you sip your tea. The Jims were only the first of hundreds of separated twins to pass through Bouchard's hands. Few were as remarkable as them. In fact, some were quite dissimilar. They are not carbon copies of each other. They each have the differences are great enough so they each have their own personality, et cetera. But when you work with them, you can just see the kind of similarity in the underlying template. The two twins are like variations on a theme. A memory of all that.
[7:01]What behavior Genesis have discovered is that most characteristics that you can measure reliably with psychological tests. Mental abilities, personality and vocational interest. They all show genetic influence in the range of 40 to 50%. That's typically what we find.
[7:23]This is common level of genetic influence across lots and lots of traits. The way you hold your knife. The way we dance till. Overall, the twins who had grown up in different homes were just as alike psychologically and physically as the twins who had grown up together.
[8:08]And there was one other quite startling finding.
[8:17]Probing beneath the surface, they found the percentage of fat in Margaret and Jenny's bodies is the same. And their bone density is virtually identical. They are also both intensely religious. For God is love, and God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world. You know, you go to deal with the unknown, but you know what I was alone. And I really he found me for Jenny. I really believe this.
[9:10]That identical twins have a similar intensity of religious belief is something that Tom Bouchard's twin studies have consistently confirmed. We eventually published a paper on it, don't we call the ability of religiousness. And we found a significant genetic effect. Now there are people who just find this hard to believe. Well, I find it hard to believe. Uh I didn't believe it when we started. I wouldn't have even started it.
[9:44]What Bouchard has concluded from 20 years work is that genes are just as important as environment in shaping personality and social attitude. And that applies as much to the rest of us as it does to twins.
[10:10]No one really knows how personality can be laid down when egg meets sperm.
[10:18]My own belief is that what are inherited are genes that create structures in the brain. And these structures in the brain drive behavior.
[10:37]It's certainly true there are some aspects of personality that you see from a very early age. So early they seem to be pre-programmed.
