Hirschfeld

Hirschfeld, L. A. (1995). The inheritability of identity: Children’s understanding of the cultural biology of race. Child Development, 66, 1418-1437.

The purpose of this study is to examine when children begin using the one-drop of blood rule for assigning mixed race children to their minority racial group and the meaning that they give this rule. Four experiments examined the differences in adult and grade school children’s beliefs about the inheritability of identity or racial categorization. The first three studies look into children’s and adults’ (living in mostly white communities and attending white schools) expectations about racial identity. The last survey examines expectations of racial identity among children going to an integrated school and living in racially mixed community.

Previous research has shown children to expect animals to resemble their mother more then their father. The first study examined whether this same principle would be used in assigning racially mixed children to their racial category, using provided pictures. The second graders did generally follow this rule assigning the child into the racial category of the mother, regardless of her race. The adults in the study all assigned the child into the black racial category, regardless if the mother was white or black. The fifth graders fell in between the other two categorizing methods expecting the mixed-race child to resemble more strongly their black parent.

The second study showed similar results as the first one with the fifth graders using a biological but not a categorical interpretation of the "one drop of blood" rule. The adults use a categorical method, which is different in this study, then the fifth graders’ biological interpretation. The older children thought that the mixed race children would have black features, whereas the adults expected more of a mixing of black and white features. Yet the adults all assigned the mixed children to their black parent with the "one drop of blood" rule.

The third study found that the younger children used a strictly biological method for making inferences about inheritability for both humans and animals. The older children though thought that animals born to parents of mixed color would be an intermediate color, as opposed to their view of mixed race children. The older children show different patterns of reasoning for the inheritability of non-social as opposed to social characteristics.

The final study showed that both older and younger children from racially mixed areas expected the appearance of mixed-race children to be somewhere in between that of the white parent and that of the black parent. This showed that it is community differences, rather than characteristics of the race of the child that create these inferences about inheritability of race. This is an important finding and needs further research.


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