http://www.playboy.com/mar81/twins.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)
Bouchard, who originally set out to find out how the environment works to shape psychological traits, admits, "I frankly expected far more differences then we've found so far."
We thought it might be interesting to take some of the early data from Bouchard's research and compare it with the experiences of our four pairs of ladies, though they weren't raised apart.
Not surprisingly, our twins report similar physiological traits. Sheila and Moira Stone say they're both "practically blind in the right eye." "In fact," says Sheila, "I can use Moira's glasses." Cybil and Tricia Barnstable were involved in an 11-year study of twins at the University of Louisville when they were youngsters and Cybil says, "They ground our baby teeth down 32 levels and our teeth were identical, all the way. Ordinarily, any similarity in physical structure between two people doesn't go more than 18 levels. At least that's what they told us. They also found that our chromosomal make-up was identical."
Bouchard says that twins, with startling regularity, display "coincidental" behavior: Both will buy the same gift, piece of furniture or article of clothing, without the other's knowing it. That occurs with high frequency among twins who are raised together, but Bouchard found similar cases with twins raised apart. An example from his research came from two middle-aged women who reported that when they were children, they were brought together briefly to meet each other and found that they were wearing the same dress.
Our twins were more familiar with coincidental behavior. Tricia Barnstable recounts, "Once, Cyb and I were separated for about four months and when we got together again, we both rushed to the stereo to play the other one a song -- the same song. One time, I went to California and Cyb went to New York. I bought a blouse and when I got together with Cyb again and took it out to show her, she'd bought the same blouse."
Piper and Tara Perry also recall several times when they've been apart and bought the same clothes. But perhaps the strangest story of all comes from the Barnstables. "Once, when I was in Los Angeles and Trish was in Chicago," Cybil recalls, "we both fell down a flight of stairs the same day at the same time. And we both hurt a leg."
Bouchard found that separated twins often developed the same tastes and habits. The "Jim" twins have almost identical smoking and drinking patterns and both chew their fingernails to the quicks. Another pair Bouchard studied, Oskar and Jack, though raised in Germany and Trinidad, respectively, both like spicy foods and sweet liqueurs, read magazines from back to front, store rubber bands on their wrists, flush the toilet before using it and dip buttered toast in their coffee.
Sheila and Moira Stone admit to having certain tastes in common. "We both like the same kinds of foods," says Moira, "particularly Mexican and Chinese. And we both love Grand Marnier. It's about the only alcohol we'll drink."
Cybil and Tricia say their eating habits are identical. "Not only do we have the same taste in clothes," says Cybil, "we both crave frozen yogurt and pretzels. We don't eat any meat but chicken, and we both drink nothing but Diet Pepsi. In fact, you might say that's our diet: yogurt, chicken, Diet Pepsi and pretzels, morning, noon and night." It must be said, however, that identical twins also differ in many significant ways. The most common dissimilarity is that one twin is an introvert while the other is an extrovert. Bouchard's research team has found that one twin is more likely than the other to be aggressive and outgoing. That observation is corroborated by what our twins tell us about the differences between them.
Sheila Stone says, "I think I'm the more outgoing of us. And I like to dress up more. I love wearing spiked heels; you can't get me out of them. Moira you can hardly ever get out of tennis shoes or boots. I get hit on more often, but men seem to fall madly in love with Moira more often."
Tara and Piper Perry also confess to the extrovert-introvert syndrome. "We're different in many ways," says Piper. "I like to party and Tara is more the homebody type. She's punctual and I'm late. She's a vegetable and fruit eater and I'm a meat eater. she's not much of a drinker, but I drink."
Leigh Harris says she's generally late, while Lyn is punctual, and describes herself as "a little more extroverted" than her sister.
Cybil Barnstable is of the opinion that if twins are too much alike, it's unhealthy. "I think a twin has to assert her individuality. If twins can't do that, it can become crippling to both of them." It should also be noted that, except for the Barnstables, all of our twins said they had different tastes in men.
Our favorite twin story, however, comes from Tara Perry, who says she and Piper were shopping together once in a department store, and both women went into dressing rooms to try on an outfit they were considering wearing onstage during their singing act. "When I came out of the dressing room, I asked Piper if she liked the outfit enough to buy it. She didn't answer me. So I asked her again and she still didn't answer me. I was beginning to get annoyed when I noticed the saleslady dying laughing. Then I realized that Piper hadn't come out of the changing room yet. I was talking to a full-length mirror."
All of which is to warn you: If you're dating a twin, be careful. If you aren't observant, you could get into a double bind. Unless, of course, you're an identical twin, too. Then you risk a quadruple bind. Which reminds us of quadruplets. But that's another story.
