Prof. Bouchard (now semi-retired) is Director of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research. The primary research project being carried out under the auspices of the center was the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA). The study had two parts. The first part involved a week long medical and psychological assessment of identical (monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic) twins separated early in life and reared apart. Spouses participate in the study when it is possible for them to participate (if they agree to participate and the study had the funds to bring them to Minnesota). The psychological part of the assessment included multiple measures of personality, mental abilities, values, psychological interests, psychomotor skills, reading, spelling, writing, and a variety of miscellaneous psychological tests (Stroop Color Word Test, Barron-Welsh Art Scale, Morningness-Eveningness Scale, etc.). The medical assessment includes a psychiatric interview (Diagnostic Interview Schedule) a medical life history interview, a standard blood battery, blood for zygosity testing, wearing a 24 hour heart monitor and detailed dental and periodontal examinations. The study began in 1979 and was completed in 2000. The center continues to be engaged in data analysis. Copies of center publications can be obtained from Prof. Bouchard by e-mail bouch001@umn.edu.
Koenig, L. B., & Bouchard, T. J. Jr. (2006). Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Traditional Moral Values Triad - Authoritarianism, Conservatism and Religiousness - as Assessed by Quantitative Behavior Genetic Methods. In McNamara, P. (Eds.) Where God and Science Meet: How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter Our Understanding of Religion. Volume I: The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion: How Evolution Shaped the Religious Brain. Westport, CN: Praeger.
Steger, M. F., Hicks, B. M., Kashdan, T. B., Krueger, R. F., & Bouchard, T. J. Jr. (2007). Genetic and environmental influences on the positive traits of the Values in Action classification: Findings from a twin study. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 524-539.
Johnson, W., Nijenhuis, J., & Bouchard, T. J. Jr. (2007). Replication of the Hierarchical Visual-Perceptual-Image Rotation Model in de Wolff and Buiten's (1963) Battery of 46 Tests of Mental Ability. Intelligence, 35, 69-81.
Johnson, W., Bouchard, T. J. Jr., McGue, M., Segal, N. L., Tellegen, A., Keyes, M. & Gottesman, I. I. (in press). Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Verbal-Perceptual-Image Rotation (VPR) Model of the Structure of Mental Abilities in the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. Intelligence.
Bouchard, T. J. Jr. (in press). Genes and human psychological traits. In P. Carruthers, S. Laurence & S. Stich (Eds), The innate mind: Foundations for the future (Vol 3). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
