Thomas J. Bouchard Jr.

Bouchard is perhaps best known for his studies of twins, particularly as part of the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA). This work has included case studies, longitudinal studies, and large-scale quantitative analyses and meta-analyses. These studies indicated that genes play a substantial role in many medical and psychological outcomes, such as a person's personality or intelligence, though environment and experiences are also important.[2]

One often-reported case study is that of Jim Springer and Jim Lewis (so-called Jim twins), twins who had been separated from birth and were reunited at age 39.[2] Bouchard arranged to study the pair, assembling a team and applying for a grant to the Pioneer Fund in 1981. According to The Washington Post, the twins:

found they had each married and divorced a woman named Linda and remarried a Betty. They shared interests in mechanical drawing and carpentry; their favorite school subject had been math, their least favorite, spelling. They smoked and drank the same amount and got headaches at the same time of day.[2]

However, Bouchard has noted that these two twins happened to be unusually alike, while most twins show more differences. He has stated:

There probably are genetic influences on almost all facets of human behavior, but the emphasis on the idiosyncratic characteristics is misleading. On average, identical twins raised separately are about 50 percent similar -- and that defeats the widespread belief that identical twins are carbon copies. Obviously, they are not. Each is a unique individual in his or her own right.[2]

In 1994, he was one of 52 signatories of Mainstream Science on Intelligence, a public statement written by Linda Gottfredson and published in The Wall Street Journal. This statement was a response to what the authors viewed as the inaccurate and misleading reports made by the media regarding academic consensus on the results of intelligence research in the wake of the appearance of The Bell Curve earlier the same year.[3] The following year, he was part of task force commissioned by the American Psychological Association which released a consensus statement on the state of intelligence research titled Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns.[4]

Bouchard served as Associate Editor for the journals Behavior Genetics and Journal of Applied Psychology.[5]

Bouchard is the author of more than 170 publications.[5] According to the Web of Science, Bouchard's works have been cited over 5500 times and he has an h-index of 33.[6]

Awards Bouchard has received include:

• Elected President of the Behavior Genetics Association (BGA) in 1993[7]
• Distinguished Scientist Lecturer of the American Psychological Association in 1995[5]
• Dobzhansky Memorial Award for a Lifetime of Outstanding Scholarship in Behavior Genetics from the BGA in 2001[7]
• The 2005 Kistler Prize[5]
• 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Intelligence Research.[8]
• Gold Medal for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation in 2014.[9][10]
• The Dunnette Prize from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology in 2018 [11]
• Honorary Degree: Doctor of Science, 313th Convocation, Western University, June 2019

At the occasion of his retirement, a Festschrift was organized in his honor.[12]

According to the Web of Science, Bouchard's five most cited papers are:[6]

1. Neisser U, Boodoo G, Bouchard TJ, Boykin AW, Brody N, Ceci SJ, Halpern DF, Loehlin JC, Perloff R, Sternberg RJ, Urbina S (February 1996). "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" (PDF). The American Psychologist. 51 (2): 77–101. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.51.2.77. (Cited >590 times)
2. Tellegen A, Lykken DT, Bouchard TJ, Wilcox KJ, Segal NL, Rich S (June 1988). "Personality similarity in twins reared apart and together". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 54 (6): 1031–1039. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.318.4777. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1031. PMID 3397862. (Cited >550 times)
3. Bouchard TJ, Lykken DT, McGue M, Segal NL, Tellegen A (October 1990). "Sources of human psychological differences: the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart". Science. 250 (4978): 223–8. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.225.1769. doi:10.1126/science.2218526. PMID 2218526. (cited >500 times)
4. Bouchard TJ, McGue M (May 1981). "Familial studies of intelligence: a review". Science. 212 (4498): 1055–9. doi:10.1126/science.7195071. PMID 7195071. (Cited >350 times)
5. McGue M, Bouchard TJ (July 1984). "Adjustment of twin data for the effects of age and sex". Behavior Genetics. 14 (4): 325–343. doi:10.1007/BF01080045. PMID 6542356. (Cited >250 times)