In 1980, three young men discovered something truly astonishing: they were identical triplets, separated at birth. They met by chance – up to that point, none even knew that they had siblings.
It sounds like a wonderful story. Three identical triplets, all adopted by different families soon after birth, rediscover one another and begin a new life together.
It soon became apparent that the story had a much darker heart.
The three young men had been the subject of a sinister secret psychological experiment. They were deliberately placed with separate adoptive parents.
They were then covertly studied, and the findings were used to try to resolve a long-running psychological debate. This is their story.
Nature vs Nurture
The phrase “nature versus nurture” was first used in the mid-18th century by the English social scientist Francis Galton.
This defined a major debate that emerged during the late 19th century when psychology was first established.
In simple terms, is our behavior formed by genetic inheritance or by the environment in which we are raised?
During the first half of the 20th century, psychology was divided into two main schools of thought. Behaviorism suggested that human behavior has its origins in lifelong learning.
Psychoanalysis proposes that a great deal of our behavior comes from the interaction between the conscious and unconscious mind.
One of the few things that psychologists from both schools agreed upon was that behavior is learned. In other words, that nurture, not nature, is the most important aspect. From the 1960s, that began to change.
New technology brought an increased understanding of brain function. Other new technology has brought more awareness of genetics, which are hereditary characteristics that affect the brain and other parts of our bodies.
Understanding genetic characteristics seemed to suggest that some behaviors might be inherited, not learned.
This led to a number of studies of identical twins, particularly those separated at birth. Such twins had identical genetic inheritance but were brought up in different environments.
Here, finally, was an experiment that could provide an answer to the nature versus nurture debate.
Except that it didn’t. The experiments certainly showed notable similarities in behavior between separated twins. That strongly suggested a genetic link to behavior.
However, most also displayed differences attributable to their upbringing. The answer, it seemed, was that behavior wasn’t solely due to nature or nurture. It was a combination of the two.
The Experiment
Peter Bela Neubauer was an Austrian-born child psychiatrist. His Jewish family left Austria before WWII and moved to Switzerland. Neubauer emigrated to America in 1941.
By the 1960s, Neubauer had become one of the most influential child psychologists in America.
He, like many others, became interested in the nature versus nature debate. But Neubauer began to undertake secret experiments to test his theories.
He formed a covert association with the Louise Wise adoption agency, one of the largest adoption agencies in America. When identical twins came up for adoption, Neubauer was informed.
He and his Child Development Center would be involved in the choice of adoptive parents.
These children were then secretly observed for years by researchers working for Neubauer.
Adoptive parents were told that this was a standard part of following up on an adoption. Instead, it was a way for Neubauer to acquire information to fuel the nature versus nurture debate.
When the agency was given the opportunity to find homes for three identical triplets in 1961, Neubauer was inevitably interested. This, even more than the study of identical twins, would give an opportunity to study the roots of behavior.
David, Bobby, And Eddy
The three boys that came up for adoption were placed by the Louise Wise agency.
The birth parents were told that it wasn’t possible to place all three with a single family. Only much later would it become known that wasn’t true.
Neubauer learned of three identical triplets who would be adopted. He contacted the agency and ensured that each was placed in a separate family.
One was blue-collar, one was middle-class, and one was relatively affluent. Placing the triplets in this way gave the best chance to observe behavioral differences.
Placing them with families in different circumstances gave them the best opportunity to observe the impact of the environment. But this decision seemed completely indifferent to the welfare of the children.
As they were raised by their families, all three boys were secretly observed by researchers working for Neubauer.
He was able to compile data that he hoped to use in a new book. None of the children or their adoptive parents were aware that each was an identical triplet.
The Meeting
In 1980, 19-year-old Robert Shafran began attending Sullivan County Community College in upstate New York. He was surprised and more than a little confused when students there acted as if they already knew him.
It took time to work out that they were mistaking him for Eddy Galland, another student already at the college.
When the two finally met, it was clear that they were more than strikingly similar, they were identical. They discovered that they had the same date of birth. By checking hospital records, they became aware for the first time that they were identical twins.
But things were about to get even stranger. Newspapers reported the case of two identical twins who had never known one another.
One person who read those reports was a 19-year-old student at another college, David Kellman. Both of the twins looked uncannily like him, and they had the same date of birth.
Soon, it became apparent that these weren’t just identical twins but identical triplets. This chance discovery prompted a frenzy of media reporting.
The triplets were featured in many press articles and appeared on the popular Phil Donahue NBC television chat show.
They wore identical outfits for the show and answered questions eerily in unison. The three moved into an apartment together in New York City. They even opened a new restaurant together, Triplets.
This seemed to be a positive story. Three triplets, separated at birth, met by chance and were forging a new life together. Only much later would the darker side of the story become known.
A New Life As Triplets
It quickly became apparent that all three triplets were uncannily similar in some ways. They enjoyed the same movies, smoked the same Marlboro cigarettes, and all had been amateur wrestlers.
All three had unfortunately also suffered from mental health issues as they were growing up.
At first, being reunited went well. The three had a cameo role in the 1985 movie Desperately Seeking Susan. The publicity they received ensured that their new restaurant was a success.
That didn’t last. The stresses of running the restaurant caused disagreements, and the three stopped living in the same apartment. In 1995, Eddy Galland, still struggling with mental health issues, took his own life at the age of 34.
Then, an article appeared in the New Yorker magazine, which described Peter Neubauer’s secret experiments for the first time.
The Truth Emerges
The article and others that followed exposed Neubauer’s links with the Louise Wise adoption agency. It pointed out that every pair of identical twins (and the triplets) placed for adoption went to separate homes.
The implication was that this was done at the urging of Neubauer to provide data for his experiment.
When this became known, it caused outrage. The decision to place these children for adoption did not seem to have been based on their welfare. Instead, it was done to provide information for a secret experiment.
Like other children affected, the two surviving triplets began to ask questions.
Would their lives have been different (and better) if they had been placed together? Would their mental health issues have been reduced if they had been raised knowing about their siblings?
Confusion and surprise quickly turned to anger. Bobby Shafran gave an interview in which he said: “We’ve been called ‘subjects.’ We’re victims. There’s a big difference.”
Concerned about growing criticism, Peter Neubauer decided not to publish the findings of his twin and triplet studies. When he died in 2008, he left his research papers to Yale University. He gave instructions that they were not to be released before 2065.
In 2018, a documentary was released that told the story of the triplets, Three Identical Strangers. It won an award at the Sundance Film Festival.
The successor to that group issued an apology when the documentary was released. It acknowledged its role in the experiment and noted that: “we deeply regret that it took place.”
Conclusion
It is deeply troubling that a secret psychological experiment could impact the lives of so many people.
The placement of some children with adoptive parents was not based solely on the welfare of those children. Instead, identical twins and triplets were placed in order to facilitate the secret collection of data.
Ironically, what Neubauer intended to be the ultimate experiment to finally decide the nature versus nurture debate failed.
The similarities between the triplets, who had been raised separately, certainly suggested that some characteristics may have been inherited. However, differences highlighted that environment and circumstances also played a significant role.
The answer, it seems, is that human behavior is not due entirely to either nature or nurture. It appears to be a combination of the two.
To most people, that seems little more than common sense. It is difficult to justify carrying out a sinister experiment that may have caused harm to confirm what seems obvious.
Secret psychological experiments such as this one can negatively impact the lives of subjects in ways that cannot be anticipated.
That cannot be a positive thing. The story of David, Bobby, and Eddy should stand as a warning of the risks of any secret experimentation.
Leave a comment