The Argument-Ecological Learning
Shenk discusses how twin brothers Jim Lewis and Jim Springer “wore their hair differently” from one another, “one of the Jims was married a third time,” and “one was much more articulate than the other” even though they “had been born from twin embryos derived from the same fertilized egg” (76, 83). How does the study of Jim Lewis and Jim Springer relate to our ecological study of parental investment that could account for the differences of the twins considering they were separated by mother and father? Discuss the significance of the twins’ differences in relation to both classical and operant conditioning. In terms of learning, how does habituation support the claim that the environment is involved in shaping the differences that are shown between Jim Lewis and Jim Springer? Consider how the differences in Jim Lewis and Jim Springer can be related to interdependence in nature.
-Trish Chari (trishtennis@gmail.com)
While both Jim Lewis and Jim Springer had similar DNA (not identical, a study done by Anahad O’Connor shows that twins’ DNA is actually not 100% the same), there are two main reasons why the two turned out to be very different from each other. They had different parental care and different life experiences.
ReplyDeleteThe care that parents provide have a huge effect on how their offspring will turn out. Many behaviors are learned from parents. For example, there are behaviors such as imprinting, in which the offspring will learn a large amount of behaviors from the parent that they imprint on. This can even happen in humans. While humans don’t imprint to a specific thing, they still do have a sensitive period in their lifetime during which specific behaviors are permanently learned. Behaviors more complex than imprinting are also learned through parents. Campbell provides an example of a chimpanzee learning from its parent how to crack open oil palm nuts using rocks (1128), an example of cognition, the most complex form of learning. Shenk also provides examples of musical geniuses such as Mozart (61) and Yo-Yo Ma (95) whose talents can be connected with their extraordinary musical upbringing. Certainly Jim Lewis’s and Jim Springer’s differences are partly due to the fact that they were brought up by different parents and therefore learned many complex behaviors in different ways.
Life experiences were also a huge impact on the two twins’ differences. Majority of behaviors that are learned are a result of experience and interactions with the environment. Habituation, Spatial Learning, Associative Learning, and Cognition are all behaviors that can learned based of the experience of the individual and not by the parents teaching (Campbell 1125-1128). Even if Jim Lewis and Jim Springer had grown up with the same parents and lived in the same area, there is still no way that the two would have had the exact same life experiences leading them to learn the same behaviors and have identical personalities and physical features. Michael Rennie did a study that showed two identical twins with completely different body types because of the fact that the one of the twins was a long distance runner and the other competed in strength events.
While twins often have similar DNA, the same parents and similar life experiences, the slightest differences will often lead to big differences in the types of people that the twins become, as is the case for Jim Lewis and Jim Springer.
Brad Tiller (brad.tiller@comcast.net)
Part 1
ReplyDeleteSociety portrays twins as being pure carbon-copies of one another; they act the same, enjoy the same activities, and have the same personalities. However, this view that society paints is highly inaccurate. As seen by the study of twins Jim Lewis and Jim Springer, genes are not the only deciding factor in the traits and actions exhibited by the pair; important environmental responses in critical periods of youth and differences in parental investment between the two allow for the discrepancies seen in this, as well as many other, pairs of twins.
By being raised separately in “...working-class towns seventy miles apart” (Shenk 83), the study on Lewis and Springer demonstrates that different environments will have different effects on any individuals. These effects are especially important to note when comparing twins, as twins share a vast majority of their DNA with one another. The environmental differences could include physical climatic differences, such as temperature and terrain, which would then influence the type of activities able to be performed by the individuals, but the differences are also the result of parental influence and care. As children, we tend to emulate our parents and the actions that they perform. While children will provide their own flair to these acquired actions depending on differences in their day-to-day routines when compared to their parents, the basics set forth by their parents at critical times in a child’s life are key to future behaviors and actions. Campbell describes the process known as imprinting as “the formation at a specific stage in life of a long-lasting behavioral response to a particular individual or object” (Campbell 1126). At young ages, children will imprint basic actions such as how to walk from point A to point B, or how to respond to basic commands. As a child grows, however, imprinting takes on a more specific form. Children are able to take up more advanced and comprehensive capabilities, such as problem solving, which will help to develop another key form of learning known as cognition: “the process of knowing represented by awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgement” (Campbell 1128). As such, the critical period in which imprinting takes place is actually broken down into critical periods that progressively offer children more and more advanced skills to learn. Because of the lasting influence that imprinting, or lack of, has on children, parents need to set forth positive examples and environments that foster growth and complexity. Because no two parents raise their children identically, the differences seen in both Lewis and Springer as adults have arisen as a result of differences in depth of imprinting as children, and consequently differences in levels of parental investment.
The above explanation is not specific to Lewis and Springer or even twins in general; comparisons can be made between random person A and random person B. However, in an interview with Italian identical twins, Anna and Elena Balbusso, who were raised separately from birth, Anna explains that “[their] personalities are not identical even though [the two] have the same genes! [They] work together concurrently on many projects with different styles and content. [Their] personalities complement each other” (qtd. in The Atlantic). While Anna makes a slight mistake in reference to their “identical genes” (there are still slight genetic differences between twins), the overall point that she makes resonates with the above discussion on environmental influence. As a result of their differences in growing up, Anna and Elena have different personalities.
Ethan Homedi (ethanhomedi@yahoo.com)
Part 2
ReplyDeleteDiscrepancies between the two twins also arise as a result of habituation and individual responses. Working hand-in-hand with imprinting, which is largely the work of the parent, individuals also learn on their own. Differences in the modes of learning, such as classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and cognition are the results of individual actions and motivations. For example, my sister and I have both grown up with one another, and thus with very very similar levels of parental investment. The ways in which we learn and act, however, have resulted in the two of us having many different habits. As a young child, I had always asked my dad to teach me new and advanced concepts in math. So he would go about teaching me new formulas and I would memorize them. As a result, I have exhibited classical conditioning (Campbell 1127); I need to be generally familiar with a concept in order to respond efficiently and effectively. On the other hand, my younger sister has generally exhibited operant conditioning (Campbell 1127); she will try different concepts and ideas in order to arrive to the correct answer. This one difference between us demonstrates the delicacy in which our actions and habits influence who we are.
The variations in our interactions with the environments is a great example of the biological theme interdependence in nature. Genes are not the only dictation of who we are; if they were, Lewis and Springer would be almost identical regardless of their different locations in which they grew. The complex interactions between ourselves and our external environment, both abiotic and communal, help to differentiate ourselves from one another through our actions, values, thoughts, relationships, and so on.
I agree with Brad’s response in which he states that any slight difference between two individuals, especially twins, will lead to larger, longer-lasting differences in the future. His example of the two twins who participated in different physical activities and as such gained different body structures helps to further this point.
In the case of Jim Lewis and Jim Springer, two twins that grew up separate from one another, differences in upbringing, childhood environment, and habituation all play essential roles in the distinction seen between the two individuals. While no factor is more decisive than the other in determining an individual’s future traits and actions, the complex interactions of these factors allows for greater diversity and discrepancies to arise between any two individuals, regardless of relationship to one another.
(http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/03/two-twins-one-design-career/255202/)
Ethan Homedi (ethanhomedi@yahoo.com)