A study of twins and coping with crisis using Emotorics

Abstract

The newly introduced twin types identification, TT1 and TT2, embraces the potential for coping with crises among individuals in general, and between twin pairs in particular. This distinction offers a new approach of predicting how children would cope with crises, being integral experiences in the child's developmental stages. By means of a unique twinship study in the area of dance movement therapy, this article presents a new view of understanding human individuality and explains why identical twins, although sharing the same genes and environment, may cope with crises so differently. TT1 and TT2 characteristics evolve based on the newborn twins emotional and functional development in the early years of their twinship lives. This article reveals possible parental guidelines for appropriate holding and encouraging of their twins in their early years according to the newly proposed twin types identification, TT1 and TT2. This would enhance the twins' emotional capabilities and consequently would improve their coping potential with crises throughout life. For the purpose of this study, the movement observation system Emotorics, a psychomotor model for the analysis and interpretation of emotive motor behaviour, was employed. It is based on the Body–Movement–Mind paradigm evolved by Y. Shahar-Levy (1996, The Visible Body Reveals the Secrets of the Mind: A Body–Movement–Mind Paradigm (BMMP) for the Analysis and Interpretation of Emotive Movement. Jerusalem: Author's Hebrew Edition).