Multiple Topics: “The Three Identical Strangers”
Discuss The Implications Of The Unethical Behaviour As Experienced By The Three Brothers.
In the film of three identical strangers, identical triplets are separated at birth through adoption. As they turned 19 years old, they suddenly found each other and reunited, forming a strong bond founded on love and similarity among them(Wardle, 2018). The documentary portrays many unethical behaviors committed by the adoption agency, researchers, and some CDC professionals towards the triplets. Dr. Viola Bernard, a chief psychiatric consultant at Louise Wise Adoption Services, created a policy for separation of identical twins through adoption intending to relieve parents of early motherhood burden. She also believed that doing so would also help develop the individuality of a child (Wardle, 2018). However, Dr. Neubauer takes advantage of the same to conduct secret research on the twins for his gains. Separation of the twins denied the brothers the opportunity to grow up together as siblings; hence, they had future implications on them as adults as portrayed in the film (Wardle, 2018). This paper outlines the implications of the unethical behaviors experienced by the twins while referencing from various credible sources.
The unethical actions portrayed towards the triplets led to serious mental problems. Gregg Caruso argues that who we are or what we do is always the result of factors that are always beyond our control (2014). This means that the will to undertake an action is always based on our environment and nature around us. We are prisoners of the environment rather than our DNA (Caruso, 2014). In the film, the twins show great signs of separation anxiety and serious erratic behaviors during childhood. Besides, each of the triplets spent significant time in psychiatric hospitals as a result of mental problems. The separation made the triplets mentally disturbed to the extent that Galland, one of the triplets, committed suicide due to the harsh environment that he was subjected to, thanks to his strict foster father.
Additionally, Shafran, Galland’s brother, was charged with slaying an older woman during a robbery. These are all related to the mental problems that the brothers went through after their separation. At one point, the film hints that the mental challenges that were faced by the boys could have been avoided if the adopting families new about the medical history of their biological father (Wardle, 2018). The film tries to portray the boys as anguished children. However, this is not entirely true; most of the mental problems that the boys faced were influenced by their nature as well as the environment. Gazzaniga notes that the social world interacts massively with our minds as well brains (2014). To achieve robustness, human beings upload most of their critical needs to the social system around them so that their inventions can survive fragile and vulnerable lives (Gazzaniga, 2014).
The unethical behavior of the adoption urgency as well as researchers that led to the separation of the twins also affected their social well-being. In the film, the boys get along well when they finally find each other. The boys took advantage of their fame to venture into a restaurant business that earned them millions of dollars in the first year. However, all this success came crumbling down in subsequent years. This is because the triplets had different business management styles and the perception of work ethics despite their similarity. The difference in their perception of work ethics and business management procedures could be attributed to the different environment that they were raised in. The twins grew up in blue-collar, middle-class, and upper-middle-class Jewish homes. As a result, they were each faced with different social environments hence influenced their beliefs as far as ethics. As much as we may be justified in adopting a belief without substantial prior evidence in support of it, the supporting evidence is always achieved after the adoption of a belief (James). This means that our beliefs are subject to life circumstances, so is our view of ethics and morals. Also, Kant suggests that we can only know the things we can experience.
Conclusively, it is very evident that unethical behaviors that the triplets were subjected to by the researchers, as well as the adopting agents had serious implications in their future lives. The separation, which was done through adoption, affected the mental and social well-being of the triplets. This is because as much as DNA and genetic composition may influence individuals’ actions or behaviors, their environment or society associate with significantly mold their character and their perception of ethics and morals. From the film, one of the brothers commits suicide because of the characters of strict disciplinarian “father” who had personal struggles. Another brother is also charged with slaying an old lady during a robbery. Furthermore, the brothers are unable to manage their restaurant business jointly due to the difference in their perception of moral ethics and business management strategies. All these challenges faced by the three brothers portray the fact that free will cannot be entirely achieved as far as human actions and behaviors since our social environment influences our minds as well as brains.
1. Discuss How The External And Internal Components Of This Very Disruptive And Unique Early Life Affected The Three Brothers’ Future.
In the film, the three brothers are faced with a significant identity crisis, thanks to separation and unethical acts that were portrayed against them by the adoption agents and researchers. They lose real connection as far as their bloodline for almost two decades. Their early lives affected their future lives to a great deal. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory suggests that personality normally develops through a series of stages characterized by specific internal psychological conflict (Feurd, 1917). Every stage of human development affects the personality of human beings significantly. In the film of the three identical strangers, the early childhood stage of the brothers is marred with a series of disruptions that later own molded their personality in their future lives. This section of the essay will focus on examining how the disruptive and very unique early life’s internal and external components affected the future of the three brothers.
They were separating the brothers to families with different financial backgrounds greatly affected their personality and view of the world in the future. The twins grew up in blue-collar, middle-class, and upper-middle-class Jewish homes. According to Maslow’s humanistic theory, human needs influence one’s personality (Maslow & Rogers, 1979). Maslow suggests that human needs are subject to change throughout the life stages of an individual. This starts with basic physical needs for more advanced human needs, which involve self-actualization(Maslow & Rogers, 1979). Since the brothers were raised by families of different social statuses, access to physical needs such as water, food, and sleep was likely to be different during childhood. This, in turn, affected their self-actualization needs, such as morality and even creativity in the future. This explains why they are unable to get along well as far as managing their restaurant business.
Personality is often developed during childhood. At this early stage of life, one may be faced with myriads of internal conflicts that he or she has to manage to achieve maturity successfully. The twin brothers are subjected to unethical studies that deprive them of free bonding at the early stages of development. Each of them is faced with an internal struggle that arises due to different external environmental factors. Freud suggests that human behavior results from the interaction of three components of the mind. Namely id, ego, and superego. These three components are always developed at each stage of life, especially during childhood, thanks to internal and external struggles. If one undergoes a disruptive lifestyle full of these struggles, he or she may develop psychological problems such as neurosis. This explains the mental problems that the three brothers faced in their teenage lives.
The twin brothers were disconnected from their biological parents and with each other during their early childhood stages. This has adverse effects on any triplets’ personality since they are always related through genetics in their DNA. The separation had adverse effects on the morality of the triplets in the future since they “lost their selves” since they were disconnected from feelings, coherent thinking, and aliveness (Kierkegaard). This clearly explains why one of the brothers commits suicide while the other is charged with slaying an old lady but is later acquainted on a technicality. Also, existential psychologists and philosophers such as Heidegger and Rollo may highlight that sense of identity is vital as far as the mental well-being of an individual. Separation of the twin during childhood greatly affected their future lives because they could not figure out their self-identity in the future. This created a conflict between their desires for a clear sense of who they really and the uncertainties they were faced with. As a result, it affected their perception of morality and caused serious psychological problems resulting from denials and low self-esteem (Houe, 2011).
Conclusively, it is evident that the three brothers’ disruptive and unique childhood lives greatly affected their personality in the future. The brothers undergo different psychological problems and frequent psychiatric hospitals during their teenage years since they were disconnected from feelings during childhood. Freud suggests that human behavior results from the interaction of three components of the mind. Namely id, ego, and superego. However, these are strongly developed depending on how an individual can overcome internal and external struggles during his or her childhood. Also, the brothers develop different perspectives on ethics and morals. This is attributed to the humanistic theory, which suggests that basic physical human needs, such as food and water during childhood, greatly affect their self-actualization needs, such as morality and creativity in the future.
References
Caruso, G. (2014, December 9). TedTalk [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfOMqehl-ZA
Freud, S. (1917). A General Introduction To Psychoanalysis (Translated). Running Press.
Gazzaniga, M. (2014, June 30). How Free is your will [Video]? YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo_4w9JD-eQ
Houe, P. (2011). Rollo May: Existential Psychology. Kierkegaard’s influence on the social sciences, 217-38.
IntroBooks Team. (n.d.). Kant’s categorical imperative. IntroBooks.
Introduction to Kierkegaard: The existential problem. (2018, December 10). Academy of Ideas. https://academyofideas.com/2015/04/introduction-to-kierkegaard-the-existential-problem/
James, W. (n.d.). The will to believe. The Will to Believe, 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781107360525.002
Maslow, A. H., & Rogers, C. (1979). Humanistic psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 19(3), 13-26.
Wardle, T. (Director). (2018). Three Identical Strangers. CNN Films.