Children with Williams syndrome — a rare genetic disorder that leads to mental retardation and overt friendliness — hold stereotypes based on gender, but not race, according to a report published in April in Current Biology.Because behavioral and brain imaging studies have shown that individuals with Williams syndrome don't show fear when appropriate — such as when they see an angry face — the study supports the controversial idea that racial stereotypes are based partly on fear, researchers say.Scientists have long debated about whether stereotypes — which are often unconscious and immediate, and arise in children as young as 3 years — have evolutionary origins, or are cultural constructs."We have a very bad understanding of how our stereotypes originate, but I think this paper has made a really significant advance in this," notes Uta Frith, emeritus professor of cognitive development at University College London, who was not involved in the work.Read more at...SFARI, May 2010.