Nature and Nurture
In the case of Genie, an American feral child, the influence of nature and nurture is constantly debated due to her background and upbringing. Genie is captured as a severe victim of neglect, abuse, and isolation. At the given time, the father prevented socializing between Genie and the surrounding people. Living like this for months left Genie malnourished and not exposed to talk, depriving her of speech until the state rescue at the age of 13 (Kimura, 2021, p. 1). The factor of nurture up to this point portrays numerous accounts of child abuse and deprivation of fundamental human rights.
Key findings from the documentaries and reading indicate that an individual’s environment is essential in their upbringing. Nurturing brings about social cognitive skills such as speaking and socializing. On the other hand, nature captures more physical development based on diet and health. Genie was deprived of both, which had detrimental implications for her growth, health, speech, and socializing skills.
Language Development
A medical examination was performed on Genie as soon as she was found (Kimura, 2021, p. 3). A group of professors visited her often over many years. They observed her thought patterns and concluded that she had the cognitive development of a youngster between the ages of five and eight. Genie spoke like a toddler, maybe a year old at most, and acted in peculiar ways, some of which might be explained by her background but were otherwise inexplicable.
Learning Theories Used in Educating Genie
Children raised in the wild are easily identifiable because they never develop a basic level of linguistic proficiency. When she arrived at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, Genie could only understand a few words. Her already limited ability to speak shrank even more. One of the main reasons why Genie became so well-known is that psychologists considered her situation a “forbidden experiment.”
Around the time when Genie was taken away from her parents, psychologists specializing in language study debated Noam Chomsky’s theory of innateness (Kimura, 2021, p. 3). Chomsky argues that individuals have an innate ability to pick up new tongues. His notion of universal grammar supported the view that language is innate to human beings. Some data support this idea, but studies with kids haven’t provided clear proof of linguistic competence or inherent language acquisition. For the sake of psychological study, isolating a single infant from language is unethical, much less doing it with a large enough sample size to draw any conclusions.
Stage Development (Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg)
There are three stages of moral development: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional (Novozhilova & Loshkova, 2023, p. 5). Kohlberg found that at three, children learn the difference between good and wrong due to external punishment. As they reach the typical developmental stage, they begin to see morality as a natural phenomenon. By age nine, most kids have learned that they must maintain good connections.
Genie spent thirteen years away from society, unable to make connections (Novozhilova & Loshkova, 2023, p. 4). Her predicament is typical of the pre-conventional stage of moral development, in which one’s actions are judged primarily by their outcomes.
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
The code of conduct for psychologists is founded on the principles of ethics. In the case of Genie, two principles are applicable and relevant to ensure success in the rehabilitation process. First is trust and responsibility, where psychological practice highly relies on trust. Professional and academic training informs practitioners of their civic duty to victims and patients. Ethical psychologists explicitly state their duties and responsibilities, thus assuming full responsibility for their actions and minimizing clients’ suffering from conflicts of interest.
Respect for human rights and individual dignity is the second principle applicable in the profession. Psychologists defend the privacy, autonomy, and secrecy of their patients. Psychologists know that vulnerable people and groups may need special protections to protect their rights and well-being. For instance, Genie showed significant progress living with the teacher and her boyfriend. However, the progress was significantly reduced as she was taken to different homes and lived with her mother.
Ethical Violation
The ethical dilemma presented by the Genie case calls into question the ethical and effectiveness of the scientific method applied when studying the nature of the human condition. The scientist seeks to prove that language can be attained at any given stage in life by studying how Genie would learn to speak. Psychologists will consult other professions and agencies if it’s in their client’s best interests, such as in the case of Genies, where a different field of psychology was needed.
Many psychologists feel bound to provide pro bono or low-bono services to the profession. Such legal procedures provide clear guidelines on the key elements of taking care of a patient. Genie’s case of who had custody over her serves as a good case study, as the movement to numerous environments and homes deprived her of a stable environment where she would develop her mannerisms and speech.
References
Kimura, L. N. (2021). Genie, The Feral Child: What can her Story Tell us about Human Language and the Brain and Second Language Acquisition? Web.
Novozhilova, M. V., & Loshkova, I. G. (2023). Flipped Teaching As One Of Emergent Educational Methodologies. Web.