Same although different: Social beliefs in the cultural canalization of twins’ development

Abstract

This paper investigates ideas and expectations by the mother, grandfather and teacher of monozygotic twins  about  their  development,  considering  the sociocultural constructivist perspective. Through an interpretive-qualitative analysis, categories were constructed inferred from participant’s narratives. Results show that: a) cultural and educational prac- tices carried out within school and family contexts depend on adults’ beliefs about twinship;b) such practices may have fundamental impact over the development of subjectivity of each child; c) there are divergences about beliefs and expectations held by family and school contexts about twins’ behaviors and performances; d) there is a dialogical tension between promoting similarity and/or individuation/differentiation processes.