Chapter One: Thinking Critically with Psychological Science

       Through reading the prologue and chapter one of the text, I gained a little background on the history of psychology and the different ways it can be interpreted. I learned that psychologists apply the scientific method to humans to figure out information on how we relate experiences or have feelings. Today's definition of psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. The field's most debated question is nature versus nurture: are we who we are because of heredity? Or are we who we are because of other factors like our enviornment or how we are raised? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26wQgAfTwA4 is a video that explains how both heredity and enviornment play key roles in the development of a person. I wonder how twins seperated at birth would relate to each other once grown. Would they have similar mannerisms and behaviors? Or would they be more like strangers raised in different homes? The text says that biological, psychological and social-cultural influence our behavior. So therefore would the heredity and enviornment influence each child equally? Would the same sex twins act more similar than opposite sex twins? I hope to find out during this class. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15629096 This article is a real application of the twin question because it actually happened. Two twin girls were seperated at birth for a scientific study and reunited 35 years later. Interestingly, the adoptive families were told that the children they were adopting were part of a scientific study but refused to say what the study entailed. Peter Neubauer realized that the majority of the public would be against the study and did not publish the results. The study is sealed up in an envelope and cannot be evaluated until 2066. The twins claim to have similarites, but ultimately realize they are different people who were raised in different homes. After reading the ethics portion of the chapter I realized that Neubauer's experiement seems unethical. To seperate family members at birth without explaining the premise or reasoning is wrong. Part of the ethics of scientific study of humans is to "obtain the informed consent of potential participants and to protect them from harm and discomfort". I do not believe that Neubauer protected the women from harm once they realized they were twins. The article does note that this study will never be replicated.  **This is a picture of the two women seperated at birth.