Psych Day focuses on twins – Daily Titan

Laura Baker, Ph.D.,a psychology professor of USC, gives a presentation on antisocial behavior during the 19th annual Psychology Day on Tuesday at the Titan Student Union.

Laura Baker, Ph.D.,a psychology professor of USC, gives a presentation on antisocial behavior during the 19th annual Psychology Day on Tuesday at the Titan Student Union.

Guest speakers addressed a crowd of nearly 300 students in the Titan Student Union Pavilion Tuesday at the 19th annual Psychology Day, which focused on the research of twins.

Henrik Cronqvist, Ph.D., a financial economics professor at Claremont McKenna College, presented research on variations on financial behavior, using sets of Swedish twins as his testbed.

While Cronqvist is an economist and not a psychology expert, his work cuts across economics and behavior, according to organizer and Cal State Fullerton psychology professor Nancy Segal, Ph.D.

Cronqvist, who is Swedish, said his home country is unique in its abundance of twins and open tax system.

He studied the savings and investment habits of 50,000 sets of twins to determine whether financial behavior was determined by genetics or upbringing.

Twins of different types of pairs (fraternal and identical) who grew up either together or grew up separated were also studied to determine difference in how each twin saved and invested money.

By studying sets of twins, he was able to determine how much of a person’s financial habits are genetically predetermined and how much are encouraged by environment. If genes matter, he said, identical twins should be more economically similar, since they share 100 percent of their genetic code.

Risk preferences and time preferences are important in determining how investments are made and how much money is saved, he said. If somebody is genetically predisposed to have an appetite for risk or impatience, that will translate to the investment decisions they will make.

The volatility level of investments made was also important to the research. If an individual was more willing to invest in volatile stocks, they were labeled as a riskier investor than somebody who invests in safer stocks.

The correlation of investment behavior was markedly higher among identical twins, the study found.

“Genes, the genetic part, explains quite a bit of a percentage of how people invest their money,” said Cronqvist. “There is very little evidence of parenting, or the common environment, playing an important role.”

Laura Baker, Ph. D., a psychology professor at USC and director of the Southern California Twin Project, also spoke at the conference.

Baker has studied the roots of antisocial behavior for the past 15 years.

Antisocial behavior can be defined by sets of rule violations such as delinquency and criminal behavior, as well as trait aggression which can be predatory, defensive or relational (spreading rumors or social exclusion).

Psychopathic traits such as deceit, manipulation, callousness, impulsivity and irresponsibility can also lead to antisocial behavior as can psychiatric diagnoses such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.

Looking at these various traits, genetic predisposition to antisocial behavior was studied over a number of years. Beginning in childhood, 780 sets of identical and fraternal twins were studied into adulthood.

Participants were studied through school records, police records and “informants,” teachers parents or siblings who reviewed the prevalence of antisocial behavior in the individual, until the age of 25 when likelihood for criminal behavior peaks.

Baker is currently applying for funding for a sixth wave of funding.

Guest speakers were chosen by Psychology Day committee member Nancy Segal, Ph.D, who is considered an expert in the study of twins. Segal has studied twin intelligence, personality, social relationships and decision-making.

“I think that Psychology Day is a really important day for students. Not only do we have speakers, but we also have panels in the afternoon to acquaint them with going to graduate school,” said Segal. “We look forward to other fruitful days like this one.”

Two panel discussions on graduate school and what graduates can do with a psychology degree were held at the end of the day’s events.

A panel of graduate students offered advice to students applying to programs, in one panel.

“They spoke to what program’s they’re in and why they chose the field they’re in,” said Psi Chi historian and webmaster Jonni Taylor, a psychology major and moderator of the graduate school panel. “I think it went over pretty well.”

Guest speakers judged research posters by undergraduate and graduate students, and the winner will be decided next week.

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