03.08.2023

Study shows how identical twins influence each other's self-perceptiion

New insights into how young people view their own school performance

Whenever people learn together with others, they draw comparisons. Usually, a contrast effect occurs that immediately affects one's perception of one’s own academic abilities. If others perform better, one assesses one's own abilities as worse. If others perform less well, one perceives oneself as more talented and capable. These contrast effects have been confirmed repeatedly in various studies.
Now researchers at the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology at the University of Tübingen have found a significant ex-ception. In the case of identical twins, the comparison effect becomes a mirror effect. The performance of one twin has an equalizing effect rather than an opposing effect for the other twin. So if one twin is good in a school subject, this has a positive effect on the other twin’s view of her or his own performance in the same subject. Conversely, poor performance by one twin has a negative effect on the other's view of her/his own ability in the subject.

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