Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
The twins, who both now live in Brooklyn, combined their writing skills to write a book called Identical
Strangers about their childhoods and their experience of discovering an identical twin in their mid-30s (Spilius,
2007; Kuntzman, 2007). [1]
Elyse and Paula
You can learn more about the experiences of Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein by viewing this video.
One of the most fundamental tendencies of human beings is to size up other people. We say that
Bill is fun, that Marian is adventurous, or that Frank is dishonest. When we make these
statements, we mean that we believe that these people have stable individual characteristics—
their personalities. Personalityis defined as an individual’s consistent patterns of feeling,
thinking, and behaving (John, Robins, & Pervin, 2008). [2]
The tendency to perceive personality is a fundamental part of human nature, and a most adaptive
one. If we can draw accurate generalizations about what other people are normally like, we can
predict how they will behave in the future, and this can help us determine how they are likely to
respond in different situations. Understanding personality can also help us better understand
psychological disorders and the negative behavioral outcomes they may produce. In short,
personality matters because it guides behavior.
In this chapter we will consider the wide variety of personality traits found in human beings.
We’ll consider how and when personality influences our behavior, and how well we perceive the
personalities of others. We will also consider how psychologists measure personality, and the
extent to which personality is caused by nature versus nurture. The fundamental goal of
personality psychologists is to understand what makes people different from each other (the
study of individual differences), but they also find that people who share genes (as do Paula
Bernstein and Elyse Schein) have a remarkable similarity in personality.
[1] Spilius, A. (2007, October 27). Identical twins reunited after 35 years. Telegraph.Retrieved
from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1567542/Identical-twins-reunited-after-35-years.html; Kuntzman, G. (2007,
October 6). Separated twins Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein. The Brooklyn Paper. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/39/30_39twins.html