Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr.

Thomas J. Bouchard Jr. (born October 3, 1937) is an American psychologist known for his behavioral genetics studies of twins raised apart. He is professor emeritus of psychology and director of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research at the University of Minnesota. Bouchard received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1966.

Research Bouchard worked on twin study, 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 attempt to determine to what degree genes have a role in medical and psychological outcomes, such as personality or heritability of IQ. According to The New York Times they both also owned a dog named "Toy", and had named their first son almost identically, "James Allan" and "James Alan".

Bouchard has said that these two twins happened to be unusually alike, while most twins show more differences:

"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. The next 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.

Bouchard served as associate editor for the journals Behavior Genetics and Journal of Applied Psychology. Distinguished Scientist Lecturer of the American Psychological Association in 1995 Dobzhansky Memorial Award for a Lifetime of Outstanding Scholarship in Behavior Genetics from the BGA in 2001 Gold Medal for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation in 2014. Honorary Degree: Doctor of Science, 313th Convocation, Western University, June 2019

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

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

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