Hostname: page-component-6dbcb7884d-4kfsg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-14T08:31:40.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

German Observational Study of Adult Twins (GOSAT): A Multimodal Investigation of Personality, Temperament and Cognitive Ability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Frank M. Spinath ,
Alois Angleitner ,
Peter Borkenau ,
Rainer Riemann  and
Heike Wolf
Frank M. Spinath*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germanyfspin@uni-bielefeld.de
Alois Angleitner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
Peter Borkenau
Affiliation:
Martin-Luther-University, Halle, Germany
Rainer Riemann
Affiliation:
Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
Heike Wolf
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
*
*Address for correspondence: Frank, M. Spinath, University of Bielefeld, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 100131, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The German Observational Study of Adult Twins (GOSAT) is the largest population-based observational twin study in Germany to date. Embedded in the Bielefeld Longitudinal Study of Adult Twins (BiLSAT), it addresses the etiology of personality, temperament and cognitive ability in a sample of 300 monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) adult twin pairs between 18 and 70 years of age. A major aim of the GOSAT lies in the utilization of different modes of measurement, (i.e., peer reports and observational data), in addition to self-reports which have been used predominantly in past behavioral genetic research on personality and temperament in adults. Participants completed a full day assessment at the University of Bielefeld including videotaped social interactions and presentations, psychometric intelligence tests and computerized elementary cognitive tasks as well as objective measures and unobtrusive behavior counts. The research design of the GOSAT was devised to reduce the potential impact of systematic rater bias on estimates of genetic and environmental influences to a minimum. In combination with extensive self-and peer report data on key personality and personality related dimensions available from the BiLSAT, the GOSAT provides a rich dataset, which currently includes DNA samples from 80% of its participants.

Type
Articles/Germany
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 5 , Issue 5 , 01 October 2002 , pp. 372 - 375
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002