The following is an excerpt.
Are your talents, traits, and insecurities so deeply embedded in your genes that they’re basically inevitable? Or could things go rather differently with just a few tiny nudges? In other words, how much of your fate do you allot to your genes, versus your surroundings, versus chance?
In the absence of a time rewinder, the next best experiment is to do what Julia Freund and her colleagues did in a simple, yet remarkable recent study. These investigators placed genetically identical individuals (mice in this case) in a common environment, and asked whether systematic behavioral differences could still develop between them.
Related on the SLP
Read the full story here: Where Does Identity Come From?
Additional Resources:
- “Mice, Men, and Fate” The New Yorker
- “The Mystery of How Identical Twins Develop Different Personalities,” io9
