Do children and adults think that academic and athletic abilities are inherited?

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Abstract
There have been several studies that have investigated children’s recognition of the inheritance of biological characteristics such as illness (Raman & Gelman, 2005), internal physical organs (Springer & Ruckel, 1992) and race (Hirschfeld, 1995). Most of these studies have found that young children appropriately attribute inheritance and not environmental factors to the determination of skin color, internal physical organs and genetic illnesses. However, there have been not been any studies that have examined if preschoolers think that certain academic and athletic attributes are inherited. The following study examines if preschoolers and adults think that academic and athletic attributes are inherited.
Fifteen preschoolers (data collection was interrupted due to Covid) and 15 adults were read 9 switched at birth vignettes for the following topic areas – core academics (math, reading, science), specials (language, art, music), and sports (gymnastics, soccer, and swimming). An example of a switched-at-birth vignette is ‘Mr. and Mrs. Nelson had a baby boy. Right after being born, the baby went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Clark. They named the baby boy Jackson. Jackson grew up with Mr. and Mrs. Clark and they loved Jackson a lot. Who was baby Jackson born to? Mr. and Mrs. Nelson or Mr. and Mrs. Clark? Where does he live now? (a) Mr. and Mrs. Nelson or (b) Mr. and Mrs. Clark. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are very good at swimming but Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are not good at swimming. Do you think Jackson will be: (a) Good at swimming like Mr. and Mrs. Clark; or (b) Not good at swimming like Mr. and Mrs. Nelson? Participants were shown stick figures to keep their attention and were asked to verbally state their answers. The vignettes were randomized for all the participants.

The results indicated there were no significant differences between preschoolers and adults for the academic and special categories (Ms = 1.57, 1.71 for academics and 1.64 and 1.57 for specials for preschoolers and adults respectively out of a maximum of 3 for each category). However, there was a significant difference for the sports category with adults generating significantly more responses that indicate that athletic abilities are inherited from the birth parents (Ms = 1.71 and 2.8, p < .01 respectively for preschoolers and adults). These results indicate that preschoolers and adults think that mental abilities are not necessarily inherited but adults are more likely to believe that athletic abilities are inherited. This could be because athletic abilities involve a physical component such as height, weight and stature which are genetically inherited. This suggests that preschoolers and adults reason similarly about academic activities but adults might think that academic abilities can be improved whereas athletic abilities are more difficult to do so.

Author

• Lakshmi Raman, Oakland University
  Presenting Author