ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the Texas Adoption Project (TAP), a thirty-five-year study that began with three hundred families, each of whom had adopted a child from a particular Texas home for unwed mothers, the Methodist Mission Home of San Antonio, during the years between 1963 and 1971. It explores the cognitive, personality, and outcome dimensions along which people commonly assess individual differences. However, it is well to remind ourselves that this appraisal is based on concrete, specific individuals growing up in concrete, specific families. Looking at the varied outcomes for the adopted children from the TAP it seems that a few cautionary remarks are in order before any general conclusions are drawn. The first is that the adoption outcomes may be judged differently according to the perspectives of the different interested parties. The study has not left us with the belief that human abilities, personalities, and life outcomes are simple or easily understood.
