The Jim Twins

This week in class we watched a video focusing on the Jim Twins, a bizarre occurrence of identical twins who were separated shortly after birth. When reunited, the Jim's found out they had a huge number of similarities, down to the names of the women they married.

These uncanny resemblances provide serious evidence for nature in the debate of nature vs.nurture. The first time I saw this video I was convinced that this proved our personalities were formed far more through genetics than environment. However, watching it this second time I was far more skeptical. So many of the things the Jim's share in common can only be coincidence. For example, while it makes a great story, genetics had no role in the fact that both twins were named Jim. Similarly, nature could never influence the women that both Jim's married who shared the same name. I do believe that some of the Jim's shared traits come from their similar genetics as identical twins. However, I think this is another case that proves further the deepest connection between nature and nurture that can never truly be separated.

The first thing that came to mind when hearing the Jim's story was what their environments would reveal. Although the Jim twins share a great deal of DNA, this does not mean their environments were so different. If further examination showed that the Jim's lives growing up were similar as well, this would somewhat lessen the connection their story suggests between nature and development.

The video states that this is the only case that shares as many extreme similarities between separated identical twins. If a wider selection of twins that experiences this same situation shared so much in common that would help support the idea that nature is the true predictor of development. However, the fact that the Jim's alone have these identical lives further suggests that they are simply a coincidence.