A Twin Study of Personal Preferences

Abstract

SummaryThe object of the study was to investigate the genetic nature of personal preferences in such spheres as food, friendship, art, music, ambition, marriage and so on. The subjects chosen for the research were forty-eight pairs of identical and forty-eight pairs of non-identical twins, divided equally into males and females, with ages ranging between 17 and 40 years. Each subject, individually, was given an oral questionnaire (‘Fads and Fancies’), the answers to which were analysed statistically. The results indicate very little difference between the concordance rates of identical and non-identical twins, suggesting that the issues discussed might not be genetically influenced. One possible reason for such findings could be the unrepresentative nature of the sample.