The University of Minnesota study of twins reared apart found that identical twins reared apart correlate about .74 on measures of IQ whereas identical twins reared together correlate about .86. This finding suggests _________________________________.

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In this question, we’re looking at twin studies comparing identical twins reared apart versus together to infer the influence of genes and environment on IQ.
Option 1: 'shared environmental factors do not contribute very much to twins' similarity on IQ.' The data show a gap: .74 for identical twins reared apart vs .86 for identical twins reared together. The smaller-than-perfect correlation in the apart group indicates that environmental factors that twins do not share (or that differ when raised apart) play a role, but the relatively high correlations (both well below 1.0 yet still substantial) point to a strong genetic contribution. The decline from .86 to .74 suggests environment matters, but not to a large extent, so the statement that shared environment does not contribute very much is broadly consistent with the modest difference, while genetics accounts for a large portion of similarity. 
Option 2: 'shared environment is more important than genetic factors.' This is inconsistent with the observed correlations. If shared environment were more important, we would expect a much smaller gap between apart and together twins, or even higher similarity in the together group due to shared environment; the data do not support this.
Option 3: 'shared environment is more important than shared genes.' Here the phrase 'shared genes' is a misnomer for identical twins, who share nearly all their genes. The comparison focuses on what is shared by growing up together versus apart. Since identical twins share the same genes, the question cannot conclude that shared environment surpasses genetic similarity; the genetic contribution is implied to be large, so this option is incorrect.
Option 4: 'a shared environment is as important as genetic factors.' The measured gap (.86 vs .74) indicates that there is some environmental influence, but not an equivalence with genetic influence. If shared environment were as important as genetics, we would expect the reared-apart and reared-together correlations to be much closer to each other, or even that the apart correlation would approach the together correlation, which the data do not show.
Overall, the most accurate interpretation is that genetics play a major role in IQ, with shared environmental factors contributing less, aligning with option 1 while the other statements overstate or misstate the balance of influences.

PSY 1001 (001) Final Exam/Exam 4

The University of Minnesota study of twins reared apart found that identical twins reared apart correlate about .74 on measures of IQ whereas identical twins reared together correlate about .86. This finding suggests _________________________________.

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