By
I magine finding out late in life that there's someone out there who looks just like you: same eyes, same nose, same mouth. Not a doppelganger, but a twin you never knew existed. Discovering that you're a twin is "a life-changing experience," says Nancy L Segal, a professor of psychology and the director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton.
Segal has written nine books on twins and is now working on her 10th. Over the years, she has come across at least 100 pairs of reared-apart twins. In most cases the twins were separated at birth and adopted by different families. "Adoptees often feel that something's missing in their lives," Segal says. "I think it relates to the fact they don't look like their family members. They don't feel a certain kind of belonging, even though they're loved. When they find a twin, they can see themselves in somebody else. And that's important." Through her research, Segal has found that twins are often similar even if they've grown up apart. "In personality, identical twins raised apart are as similar as identical twins raised together." This suggests we're similar to the people we live with because of the genes we share, rather than the environment. Segal has also found that identical reared-apart twins often feel closer than fraternal (non-identical) reared-apart twins. "What I've found even more striking is that when I've compared the twins' current closeness - both identical and fraternal to the adopted siblings they were raised with, they felt much closer with the twin. I've been surprised at how well they got along so quickly. It seemed as if they'd known each other all their lives." Here, people who have found their twin later in life share what it's like to discover this missing part of themselves.
'What freaks everybody out is our gestures'
Tim Carpenter and Bill Henry, 62
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Finn family murals
The optimism that runs through Finnish artist Tove Jansson's Moomin stories also appears in her public works, now on show in a Helsinki exhibition
I hoped Finland would be a progressive dream.I've had to think again Mike Watson
Oulu is five hours north from Helsinki by train and a good deal colder and darker each winter than the Finnish capital. From November to March its 220,000 residents are lucky to see daylight for a couple of hours a day and temperatures can reach the minus 30s. However, this is not the reason I sense a darkening of the Finnish dream that brought me here six years ago.
A surplus of billionaires is destabilising our democracies Zoe Williams
The concept of \"elite overproduction\" was developed by social scientist Peter Turchin around the turn of this century to describe something specific: too many rich people for not enough rich-person jobs.
'What will people think? I don't care any more'
At 90, Alan Bennett has written a sex-fuelled novella set in a home for the elderly. He talks about mourning Maggie Smith, turning down a knighthood and what he makes of the new UK prime minister
I see you
What happens when people with acute psychosis meet the voices in their heads? A new clinical trial reveals some surprising results
Rumbled How Ali ran rings around apartheid, 50 years ago
Fifty years ago, in a corner of white South Africa, Muhammad Ali already seemed a miracle-maker.
Trudeau faces 'iceberg revolt'as calls grow for PM to quit
Justin Trudeau, who promised “sunny ways” as he won an election on a wave of public fatigue with an incumbent Conservative government, is now facing his darkest and most uncertain political moment as he attempts to defy the odds to win a rare fourth term.
Lost Maya city revealed through laser mapping
After swapping machetes and binoculars for computer screens and laser mapping, a team of researchers have discovered a lost Maya city containing temple pyramids, enclosed plazas and a reservoir which had been hidden for centuries by the Mexican jungle.
'A civil war' Gangs step up assault on capital
Armed fighters advance into neighbourhoods at the heart of Port-au-Prince as authorities try to restore order
Reality bites in the Himalayan 'kingdom of happiness'
High emigration and youth unemployment levels belie the mountain nation's global reputation for cheeriness
