Background
Genie’s mother had a stormy relationship with her husband who threatened to beat her and she lived in fear. He was violent towards her and didn’t want children.
When their first child was born she cried a lot but seemed healthy. Her father locked her in the garage because he was irritated by her crying and she died at the age of 2. They then had a son three years later and the mother tried to teach him to be quiet and good. He had developmental problems, being late to walk and talk so the husband’s mother took him in and he thrived.
Three years after that Genie was born. Her father disliked her and didn’t allow her mother to pay her much attention. At 14 months Genie had an illness and she was a doctor who said she showed signs of possible retardation but that it was hard to assess because of her illness. Her father used this ‘diagnosis’ as an excuse for the abuse she later suffered.
Genie was isolated completely, tied to a potty chair during the day, and a crib at night. There was little for her to hear and she occasionally made a noise but she was beaten and so she stopped. Her mother began to go blind and found it hard to speak to her and her bother copied her father and didn’t speak to her.
Her father thought that she wouldn’t live beyond the age of 12 and so promised that if she did her mother could get help for Genie. When she was 13 her parents had a violent argument because her father went back on his promise and Genie’s mother left the home with Genie. They went to get help and when a worker saw Genie they realised something was very wrong. Her parents were charged with child abuse but her father killed himself of the day of the trial. Genie was admitted to hospital with severe malnutrition.
Aims
The aim of the study was primarily to help Genie, but also to see if a child over the age of 13 could learn language.
Procedure
Most of the data was gathered by working with and observing Genie. There were also weekly interviews with her mother but it seemed that she would say whatever she thought the social workers wanted her to say so the data isn’t valid. There were daily doctors reports about her and video-tapes were made, forming a rich source of data.
Case Study Evidence
When tested at the hospital, Genie could do some things that an 8/9 year old could do like cleaning herself but with things like chewing food she could only do to the level of a 2 year old.
She displayed some awareness – there was an occasion in a classroom where a teacher asked a child with 2 balloons how many they had. They said they had three and Genie gave them another one, suggesting she had an understanding of numbers.
Another occasion is when Genie asked for a cracker. Curtiss asked how many she wanted and she replied with 5. When asked if she wanted fewer she said 4 and when asked again she said 3. This shows that she was starting to understand and use English with the help of sign language, although her understanding was incomplete.
Case Study Analysis
Her language was analysed in relation to what was thought of as the critical period for language learning. A critical period is when something has to be learned by and if it is not learned by then, it will not happen at all. It was thought that the critical period for language development was 2 – puberty – before then the brain isn’t mature enough and it is fully matured at puberty. Animal studies show critical periods for the development of attachments but it is now thought that instead of critical periods, sensitive periods should be considered instead.
A problem with studying humans and critical periods is that experiments cannot be carried out – we cannot deprive someone to see the effects that it has. Genie and other feral children have naturally been deprived – it is a natural experiment. Genie had been deprived of language stimulation until puberty and if she could still learn language it would provide evidence against there being a critical period.
The difficulty with the study is that although she did learn a lot of language skills it cannot be said that he development had caught up with her age – her behaviour and language skills were not normal. This means that it can be concluded that there is a critical period for language development.