Genies Case - Grade: A PDF

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1 Writing Assignment #3: Genie’s Case In the 1970s an interesting case exploded amongst the Psychology community. It had to do with a 13-year-old girl who was rescued after years of severe child abuse and neglect. Over these 13 years she was exposed to being isolated, locked and tied up, and even beaten for making noise. She was brought into the community as Genie, the “Wild Child”. Nicknamed after common tales of a genie in a bottle, she was brought in similarly to the world after living her whole life behind closed doors with no human interaction. This unique case has only been recorded one other time, taking place in the 1800s after a man named Victor was discovered living in isolation throughout the forest. Teenager Genie came into the social world after 13 years, and as a result, developed unhuman traits. Traits including: Walking like a bunny, spitting constantly, and even sniffing/clawing. Research, which is still being done through review of Genie’s case and treatment, shows how crucial language is as a human trait. It allows us to share previous knowledge and experience, teaching future generations key survival tips. From learning how to walk, to knowing how to tell someone you are in danger. Both written and verbal communication is a key trait in the developmental process of human beings. Genie’s disability is most likely a result of years of severe, and unusual abuse. Isolation deprives necessary human social interaction, which has shown to not only help a person emotionally, but also help a person in learning societal norms – Such as the language used in the area you live. Not only was Genie deprived of this interaction, but she was conditioned to be afraid of it as doing so lead to continued abuse. The big question that resulted in this case came in a rival of theories between two Doctors. One of which claimed that there was critical period of learning for language, and once missed a person would be unable to develop the skills necessary to fluently speak it. The other

2 Doctor, refuted, saying that the ability to learn and adapt to human language is built into an individual’s genetic code. Meaning, that despite her years of abuse, her DNA allows for the chance of recovery. Before this case, ethical dilemmas lead both theories to be unproven. Until Genie was rescued. It was found that early language development is crucial for survival and goes hand and hand with learning basic traits. Such as appropriate mannerisms, communication, and the ability to retain information for future benefit. After a certain period of years, if a person is left without the proper fundamentals of language, they will be unable to properly form sentences. They will be able to repeat words, form grammatically correct sentence structures, but the meaning of what they are communicating will be lost. These damages, to researcher’s current knowledge, are irreversible. After years of controversial research Genie was able to do low intensity outdoor activities (rolling a ball), Repeat words, Show emotion, Develop relationships with the people around her, and she was able to understand the structure of sentences just not how to form them properly. She was still unable to live by herself free of any caretakers, unable to attend school and learn the necessary tools to make her independent, and she was unable to form sentences. A second controversy in this case goes early back to Genie’s childhood. Was Genie’s disability something she was born with, or was it her father’s abuse? One Doctor strongly believes that his test, which showed that Genie had a higher then average number of sleep spindles, proves that Genie’s condition was present at birth. Another Doctor opposes saying that her ability to learn words now proves that prolong exposure to abuse caused her disability. In my opinion, her prolong abuse created a conditioned response which overtime lead to her inability to develop language skills. The process of this conditioning is the following:

3 Talk (Neutral Stimulus) -> Abuse (Unconditioned Stimulus) -> Fear/Pain (Unconditioned Response) Silence (NS) -> No Abuse (US) -> No Fear/Pain (UCR) Talk (Conditioned Stimulus) -> Fear/Pain (Conditioned Response) Silence (CS) -> No Fear/Pain (CR) Overtime, these conditioned responses developed into a permanent mental disability. The information learned as a result of Genie’s unique case was important in understanding the development of human language. Her life story, and the findings of her treatment are both fascinating and incredibly disturbing. After finally ending university research of Genie, a law suit was filed against the Hospital and Doctors treating her. Similar to the case of Victor during the 1800s, Doctors became obsessed with the research side of Genie and treated her as a specimen rather then as a patient. She was adopted on multiple occasions by those leading the research, bring in the question of whether or not a person should conduct scientific research on their own child. In my personal opinion doing so leads to a conflict of interest and puts an umbrella of doubt over any scientific results reported. On top of that, research of any kind should be clearly defined. What are we trying to learn? Why are we trying to understand it? How do we go about conducting a proper treatment and rehabilitation plan? None of which were ever professionally and outright defined. These are the basic components of conducting proper scientific experiments, whether in a professional environment or for a personal project. If you do not clearly define everything being done, those involved in the research can twist information learned to fit their predisposed beliefs. This results in a step back in the scientific community as oppose to a step forward in understanding how to treat mental disability and specifically abuse

4 cases. The relevance of this case in Cognitive Psychology comes with understanding the mental process of language development. Through this, we can directly related Genie’s disability to the importance of forming memories and properly shaping one’s worldview. In conclusion, it is important that language is introduced properly at an early age. Genie and Victor’s rare cases have given the Psychology community insight into how a human would develop during complete isolation. They have supported the theory that humans do have language built into their DNA to a certain point. However, if unable to learn fundamentals of a language after an unknown period of time, they will be left without being able to form proper sentences. The world around us shapes who we are, who we were, and who we will become. But it all starts with understanding the world around us – communicating with fellow human beings. Language is a unique human trait. While other animals, such as Dolphins, have developed advance ways of communications – Humans are the only species who are able to record knowledge to pass onto generations for years to come. Genie was neglected of a proper chance at life because of her Father’s inhumane caretaking methods. The sleep study, which supports the theory that she was mentally disabled from birth is not enough to prove it. Without a proper scan of before the abuse began, there is no evidence (but circumstantial) to support that claim. On the contrary, there is evidence (Victor, as well as the results of the research) that shows that a child who is kept in isolation will struggle or even fail to fully understand language....