ColinsMum, I fully expect Danish parents to have children that regress toward Danish means, not human means, not primate means, nor mammalian means. This effect was observed and quantified in the 19th century.
Regression in genetics is different than regression to the mean in statistics. The genetic regression depends on the trait under study. A tall family will have tall kids. They will not suddenly become Hobbits. And regression in genetics is still a way to "account" for things that cannot be measured and hence are "random" in appearance.
Since then, the term "regression" has taken on a variety of meanings, and it may be used by modern statisticians to describe phenomena of sampling bias which have little to do with Galton's original observations in the field of Genetics. Also, Galton's explanation for the regression phenomenon he observed is now known to be incorrect.
