Mongoloid /ˈmɒŋ.ɡə.lɔɪd/ is a term for peoples indigenous to East Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Siberia or North Asia, Northern Europe, the Arctic, the Americas, parts of the Pacific Islands, parts of Africa (Madagascar), and South Asia. Individuals within these populations often share certain associated phenotypic traits, such as epicanthic folds (epicanthus), sinodonty and neoteny.
Epicanthic folds and oblique palpebral fissures are common among Mongoloid individuals. Most exhibit the Mongolian spot from birth to about age four. Mongoloid individuals have straight, black hair and dark brown almond-shaped eyes, and have broad, relatively flat faces as well.
Traits more controversially ascribed to Mongoloids include high intelligence and a stoic, taciturn, unaggressive demeanor. The extent to which individual psychological makeup is a social construct, rather than a matter of biology, remains a matter of debate. (See also the articles Race and intelligence and Model minority.)