How to Distinguish Between Dominant and Recessive Traits

Note which one trumps the other. Dominant genes are called "dominant" because they are superior to the recessive genes. This means if one of your parents with a dominant gene mates with the other parent who has a recessive gene, you would have a hybrid gene, but would display the characteristics of the dominant gene.

Look at how the traits are written out scientifically. A dominant trait gets a capital letter, whereas the recessive trait is written as a lowercase letter. For example, in a case where one person with a dominant trait of "EE" (unattached ear lobe) mates with someone with a recessive trait "ee" (attached ear lobe), the resulting offspring would have an ear lobe trait of "Ee," which means that the dominant trait would win out and the offspring would have an unattached ear lobe.

Note how often a particular trait shows up. Dominant traits are very common, whereas recessive traits are much more rare and difficult to find. If you're in a classroom setting, you might try an experiment where you check other students for common recessive traits. For example, brown eyes are a dominant trait, whereas every other color is a recessive trait, so you might find that only a few of the students in your class have an eye color other than brown.