Abstract
Three studies were conducted to investigate if four and five year old children recognize that kinship relationships are determined by biological associations and not environmental conditions. All three studies employed the “switched-at-birth” task. Study 1 investigated if children and adults recognize who the biological parents and siblings are. Study 2 examined preschoolers’ and adults’ recognition of who the biological parents and siblings are when step parents and step siblings were introduced into the family. Study 3 examined if children and adults extend their knowledge of kinship relationships to non-human creatures. For Studies 1 and 2, results indicated that preschoolers and adults have a robust and accurate biological model of kinship for both biological parents and sibling relationships. However in Study 3, preschoolers had a more difficult time recognizing biological sibling relationships than biological parent relationships in the presence of step parents and step siblings for non-human biological creatures. In totality, these results suggest that even young children (like adults) have a robust theory of kinship when reasoning about human relationships. However children’s model of kinship is fragile and still developing when reasoning and extending their knowledge about humans to non-human species.
Highlights
How do children reason about kinship relationships? Do preschoolers recognize that kinship relationships are biologically inherited irrespective of changing environmental conditions? This topic has both theoretical and practical importance
In order for us to be confident that children reason about kinship relationships based on biological relatedness and not environmental factors, we need to be examine if children make kinship associations based only on proximity or if they recognize that these kinship relationships can be maintained across distance and time
Study 2 examines this concept by presenting children with biological and step parent and step sibling scenarios to determine if children recognize that their biological siblings are their siblings related by kin, even though their step siblings live with them
Summary
This topic has both theoretical and practical importance These studies enlighten us about children’s underlying biological theories about family relationships and whether children recognize that individuals are related based on underlying biological ties even when physical appearances can be vastly different. The data from these studies will inform educators about the knowledge that children have about family relationships. The following three studies examine if children recognize that kinship relationships are biological associations that result in social labels that do not change across varying environmental conditions. Study 1 examines if four and five year olds recognize parent and sibling relationships. Study 3 examines if four and five year olds extend their knowledge of kinship relationships to non-human anthropomorphic species
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