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September 26, 2005
Genie
Hearing about case studies such as Genie's depresses me. I never understood why someone would want to abuse their child and I'm sure I'll never understand. I read more about her specific case on Wikipedia. I learned many new things about her case after reading this article such as her father was twenty years older than her mother, which shows, I think, that it was probably a little easier for the father to gain such control over the family. The mother, being so much younger and partially blind was probably made to feel so much inferior to her husband because of these factors. I also read about the movie that we found in class today, Mockingbird Don't Sing and I think it would be interesting to watch, especially after seeing the documentary.
With the knowledge I have about psychology (I took an AP course my senior year) and Genie's case, it is my guess and opinion that it is a combination of minor mental retardation and missing the critical period that inhibited Genie's language acquisition. I do believe that there is a critical period that one needs to meet in order to properly learn a language. However in Genie's case, I think it was the combination of the two things, since it was shown that she did have some mental retardation.
-Jessica F.
Posted by lcisfaria at September 26, 2005 07:17 PM
Comments
Yes,
This was really a very sad story about a neglected young girl who did not deserve the treatment that she recieved. This was a situation completely out of her control, but yet she was punished by not being able to completely recieve language. I think that this is a severe punishment that no one should have to ever be a part of.
The other facts about Genie's case are really interesting, and even from a phsychological standpoint (thinking about genie as possibly having had mental retardation, and missed her critical period for learning)one can't help but feel sorry for Genie.
Posted by: Yasmin at September 27, 2005 04:43 PM
Jessica--
I took Psychology last year too, haven't you noticed that alot this year has related to Psychology?? Its funny how everything always relates back to what you did before.
-Brenna DeCotis
This post is not scholarly at all, it is purely for fun! Sorry!
Posted by: Brenna at September 27, 2005 04:58 PM