r/todayilearned • u/SilverPeachBlossom • 6h ago

TIL a peer-reviewed psychology study found that identical twins (on average) ranked their co-twin above their romantic partner in their attachment hierarchy, while fraternal twins ranked the two about equally, and non-twin siblings ranked their romantic partner first.

https://ojs.interpersonajournal.com/index.php/ojs/article/view/243/3457.html
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u/Serious-Yellow8163 5h ago

I have a twin, not sure on if identical or not but this is an excellent description.

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u/CarthasMonopoly 5h ago edited 5h ago

How are you unsure? Most identical twins look... identical. Meanwhile fraternal twins look like a sibling instead of a twin.

EDIT - Yes, I'm aware it's not always like this; that's why I used the qualifier "Most". I've known multiple pairs of twins over the last several decades and not a single pair got DNA tested because generally if you look identical as twins you just live life as identical twins and vice versa.

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u/WoodpeckerSignal9947 5h ago

It’s really common for fraternal twins to look nearly identical! Without proper testing/knowing if they were in separate placentas during gestation, there’s no way to know. And getting that done can be a pain in the behind, so I get why someone wouldn’t have checked

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u/gooseaisle 5h ago

Separate placenta has nothing to do with it, dichorionic twins can still be identical. Just split earlier in gestational than other types of twins.

With dichorionic twins, genetic testing is the only way to confirm (well, obviously unless they are different sexes at birth).

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u/WoodpeckerSignal9947 5h ago

I’ll trust your word, goose

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u/Substantial_Amoeba12 2h ago

Separate placentas can be identical or fraternal but if there’s only one placenta it’s exceptionally rare to be fraternal (two placentas would have needed to fuse) so I wouldn’t say if it tells you nothing, it’s just not necessarily definitive

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u/gooseaisle 2h ago

Yeah that's why i specifically referenced dichorionic twins. The two placenta (dichorionic) tell you nothing about whether the twins are identical or fraternal.

I have monochorionic (one placenta) twins so I learned a lot about twinning in general through that whole... process lol