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Twin Studies of General Mental Ability

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Handbook of Behavior Genetics

Twin studies are a vital source of information about genetic and environmental influences on general mental ability. The classic twin design—comparison of the relative similarity between monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins— is a simple and elegant approach to estimating the effects of genes and experience on developmental traits. However, while this method was considered state of the art in behavioral genetics in the 1960s and 1970s, it is now only one of many more sensitive and sophisticated twin designs. Twin research on behavioral and medical traits, in general, and on intelligence, in particular, has advanced at an impressive rate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834, USA

    Nancy L. Segal

  2. Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology and Department,of Psychology,, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Wendy Johnson

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

    Wendy Johnson

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  1. Nancy L. Segal
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  2. Wendy Johnson
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Correspondence to Nancy L. Segal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Yong-Kyu Kim Ph.D

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Segal, N.L., Johnson, W. (2009). Twin Studies of General Mental Ability. In: Kim, YK. (eds) Handbook of Behavior Genetics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76727-7_6

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