Eligibility: All twins – identical and non-identical - aged 18-65 years.

Have you ever wondered to what extent the everyday decisions that you make are determined by your genetics? To what extent is your tolerance towards risk, your patience, and your willingness to share with others and to trust them determined by your genes and how much by your unique life experiences?

The purpose of this study is to investigate how genes and environment affect people’s everyday decisions, and to what extent important choices that impact on people’s lives are passed from one generation to the next . The study will ask participants to make choices that require them to weigh up the risks and rewards of their decisions. The choices in this study are designed to measure influences that are known to impact on people’s life outcomes including finance, health, social and general wellbeing.

By understanding how these behaviours impact our lives as well as pass between generations, governments and related services can design policies and measures to better support people’s desired life outcomes.

What is involved?

If you agree to participate the researchers will:

1. Email you the study questionnaire. The questionnaire will take approximately 45-60 minutes to complete online and asks you questions about your willingness to take risks when making a variety of decisions.
2. Once both you and your twin have completed the survey, the researchers will:
   1. Randomly select one of your answers and pay you out in real dollars (an amount between $0-$37.50). This financial component of the study helps our researchers to understand how you make decisions in real-life situations with real monetary stakes.
   2. Enter you into a prize draw with 3 prizes available. (1) iPad mini, (2) $250 gift card, and (3) $100 gift card. If you and your twin win you will each receive the prize.
3. The researchers may contact you one year later to complete a similar questionnaire to understand if your decision making behaviour has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please note: Payments will be made via bank transfers. At the end of the survey you will be asked to enter your BSB and account number. These details can only be used to deposit money, not withdraw. They will not be disclosed to any third parties and will be deleted from the researchers’ database once the payment has been made and the study has finished. Administrative staff at the University of Technology Sydney may assist the researchers with facilitating the payments but will not retain any data about you. For more information please read the study’s FAQ's here.

Who is eligible?

All twins aged 18-65 years.

Would you like to get involved?

If you would like to participate or find out more please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Please note, if you are not yet a Twins Research Australia (TRA) member you will also need to register online here. If you are a TRA member you may have received an invitation via email already. Please check your inbox or junk/spam folder for an email from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., titled "Study Invitation: Genetic Impact on Decision-Making". 

Recruitment:

October - December 2020.

Participant testimony:

"This study was unique!”
“We are always keen and very interested to be part of TRA surveys. The latest one we took part in was the influences in decision making study ...it really made you think about the different financial scenarios and what kind of risk you would take. This study was unique in that it actually gave you a 'real' financial 'payout' at the end, dependent on your answer. I enjoy answering the array of questions and hope that our contribution to doing surveys helps others. They can be varied, sometimes unusual, long or short, but you are assured that your contribution is going towards assisting researchers and academics find answers.' Twins and TRA members, Carolyn Chizmesya and Jane Mitchell, South Australia