Understanding constraints on inheritance: Evidence for biological thinking in early childhood

Children ranging from 3 to 6 years old were given three tasks to assess their understanding of race as an invariant trait that is biologically transmitted from parents to offspring. Children were asked to: (1) pair offspring with their biological parents on the basis of the physical characteristics associated with race in the face of a distracting cue, namely clothes colour; (2) pair offspring with their biological parents in the context of a trans-racial adoption; and (3) assess the possibility of changes to their own racial identity. Analysis of pairing responses and justifications showed that 3- and 4- year-old children have a limited knowledge of the inheritance and invariance of such racial characteristics, whereas 5- and 6-year-old children display more consolidated knowledge and coherent responding across the different tasks.