October 02, 2005
Genie
There are many things about the Genie case that are beyond astonishing. I think there were many downfalls to the research being done but more importantly, the study on language aquisition could not be conclusive because she was mentally retarded from birth (the reason why the father abused her in an act to protect her). The case, though recent, is inconclusive and thus, quite agitating to make any guesses about human nature with.
I am quite interested in why Genie was abused so. Her father (a severly depressed man) commited suicide and left a note saying "The world would never understand." His death is ambiguous also because his suicide could have been for selfish reasons (not wanting to go to jail for child abuse) or because of his mental state. He said he wanted to "protect" his daughter after finding out that she was slightly mentally retarded. His protection could have been from the outside world (which he was quite unhappy with from childhood because he was in so many foster homes) but like his other children, he probably got annoyed that Genie disrupted him from even simple things like thinking. Proof against the father's "protection" claim could be the nonsensical treatment including being "tied into a sleeping bag which restrained her arms (and)she was put into an over-sized crib with a cover made of metal screening." It almost seems he was afraid of her by locking her in restraints. There was no way she could have escaped the room; so the extra restraints seem unnecessary and done for mentally imbalanced reasons.
Also, I am quite interested in her learning the words "stopit" and "nomore." She might have learned these words from her mother who may have shouted when and if the father beat her too. But, the words are so childish, it seems like her language aquisition was activated but not continued.
Lastly, her physical development was strange. We all know about her spitting and her malnutrition and low body weight. Something odd I found was that she had two nearly complete sets of teeth. That could have been baby teeth and adult teeth. But, don't baby teeth fall out on their own? What do baby teeth need to be signaled to leave?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_children http://www.feralchildren.com/en/showchild.php?ch=genie http://www.feralchildren.com/en/pager.php?df=leiber&pg=3
JESS YEICH
Posted by lcisyeich at 05:18 PM | Comments (1)
September 28, 2005
Genie
After we googled Genie in class the other day, I was so intrigued by what I found that I went online later in the day to find out more. I went to the website feralchildren.com and found many more stories of children who had been made to live in isolation as well as children who had been raised by animals (one of them was a boy who was raised by gazelles and was caught by an army jeep while running 50 kph!). All of the children that lived in isolation since they were young never learned to talk, even after they were discovered, just like Genine. I also found out that many children who were lost in the wild and lived there in isolation for many years actually lost the ability that they once had to talk. Some of them could also no longer even laugh or cry. I think the whole idea of the critical period is so interesting, even after seeing the movie of Genie and reading all these stories, it is still strange to me to think that we cannot learn language after we have passed a certain age. It is hard to imagine that our brains could change so much in such a short period of time (compared to a normal lifespan). Language is so important that I don't know why our brain does not allow it to learn it after we have passed the critical period. I was especially suprised to see that children who had once been able to talk had completely lost that ability after having lived alone for a number of years. How can we loose the ability to do something that is so incredibly important in our everyday lives? I found the story of Genie and of these other children so interesting, I would encourage everyone to go to the feral children website and read some more stories of children similar to Genie.
Posted by lcismardin at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)
Genie's Existance
Poor Genie had, and maybe still is having, an all-around terrible life, as we all know. It baffles me how anyone could do such awful things to his own child. Most parents can't help but love their children, it is innate. Her father must have been very mentally unstable. I wonder, though, why he didn't just kill her. If he was capable of doing these shocking things to her, and if he was so ashamed that she might have been retarted, then why wouldn't he eliminate her from his life? I think it was because he liked to control and feel powerful. Having this power over her, her mother, and possibly her brother made him feel superior. Even after Genie was put through this unheard of living situation, she was still put in many more than awkward postitions-- her mother suing the hospital, being placed in many foster homes, even more abuse, etc. In some ways, I do believe that the scientists exploited her in order to finish the "forbidden experiment". Genie's mother sued for $500,000 but this little girl's life was priceless and it is not something that she can buy back.
Posted by lcishagan at 10:17 AM | Comments (2)
September 27, 2005
Genie
I find it interesting that Genie missing the critical period for language formation not only prevented her from learning language when she was older but also it also made her seem retarded. If I had happened to run into Genie randomly I would be under the assumption she is retarded rather than merely a lack of language and human experiences. Her behavior and intelligence is similar to that of retarded children. I believe also an aspect of Genie's life that may have been overlooked a little bit in the movie was the human experiences she, well, did not experience. Everything we take for granted for experiencing in our childhood Genie did not experience. Birthday parties, Sesame Street, kindergarden, coloring books, making friends, losing friends, playing games, homework, playing dress-up, first crush, first kiss, etc. All of these and more make up who we are today because humans experience and then change and experience and then change; it is a cycle. Genie did not have that oppurtunity and perhaps the critical period was also the period for her to experience everything children with normal lives are supposed to experience to function properly in society. It is impossible to reverse because as our mind and personality grow so does our body; they are supposed to be in sync. Genie's body grew (though obviously not as it should either due to malnutrition and abuse) but she as a person did not because she did not interact and experience with other humans.
Posted by lcisfreya at 05:54 PM | Comments (1)
Genie and Background!
When I was doing more research, I was profoundly struck by the amount of tragedy in Genie's family. There was so much more going on in this situation than just child neglect. First off, Genie's father was twenty years older than her mother, not a very unusual situation certainly, but an interesting fact to add to the story. Her mother was blind, due to an accident when she was young and was hit in the eye while helping her mother wash clothes. Her father grew up in a series of foster homes, but was still devestated when his mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident just prior to Genie's birth. It is believed that her father was serverely mentally ill, which affected his family in so many different ways. The couple had two children before Genie and her brother, both of who died due to apparent child neglect.
The reason I chose to write about this aspect of Genie is because there is apparently so much more to the situation than just face value. It is so complex, and despite Genie's father's apparent guilt, he certainly cannot be blamed for the entire situation, for some of it was beyond his control. I learned about Genie last year in psychology, but each the topic is brought up, I am intrigued beyond belief with the complexity of her situation. P.S. I got my information from: http://www.psychology.sbc.edu/cesarz.htm
Posted by lciscotis at 04:30 PM | Comments (1)
The Story of Genie
What I found interesting about Genie was something that I found on the website "feralchildren.com" which was about Genie's brain development. I was interested by a paragraph that I found from a link that was taken from the book The Civilization of Genie which was:
"The theory of language learning recently offered by Curtiss is an attempt to explain Genie’s dependence on her right hemisphere. Possibly, Curtiss wrote in a paper on cognitive linguistics published by UCLA, the acquisition of language is what triggers the normal pattern of hemispheric specialization. Therefore, if language is not acquired at the appropriate time, “the cortical tissue normally committed for language and related abilities may functionally atrophy,” Curtiss wrote. That would mean that there are critical periods for the development of the left hemisphere. If such development fails, later learning may be limited to the right hemisphere."
This paragraph was significant of the fact that their is a critical period for acquiring language in human, and that if that critical period has passed, there will not have been a normal occurence of specialization in the brain in which the two hemisphere have recieved information back and forth from each other. Although this story was very tragic, I thought that it was very interesting how Genie's right hemisphere of her brain was able to compensate for the left hemisphere of her brain, which had not been stimulated for language. This just shows the amazing adaptability of the brain, and how the brain is able to compensate for a tremendous loss of language such as this one.
After watching the movie I was just shocked and wondered how could someone possibly do that to a child. Language is one of the most important things in our culture, because it allows us to communicate our thoughts, words, and other important ideas. Language makes up and influences our society. It's just amazing for me to think of someone being in a situation of not being able to communicate, it is one of the most horrible punishments. Genie appeared to be so infant-like and helpless, yet she had so much understand in her eyes as if she had so much that needed to be said. This story to me just shows the world how important language is.
--Yasmin
Posted by lcisperez at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2005
The genie that couldn't completely emerge from her lamp... (Cheesy, yes)
Perhaps I will start out by referring to my cheesy blog title... Well, Genie in a way, is kind of like a mythical genie, confined and put away, longing to get out, but can only do so when someone from the outside comes along to release her. Genie herself was stored away, in unimaginable confinment. She too, was eventually (after an mind-boggling amount of time) released, exposed to a whole new world. The researchers that found her, although they did care for her greatly, saw her as something that could fulfill some of their dreams - she was infact the "forbidden project", and this opportunity to study her and her situation was incredible exciting for them. Genie did provide lots of fascinating information, but never really enjoyed it as much as those who found her did. Sadly, in the end, she ended up in a similar situation to returning inside the lamp; isolated from the world out and around her.
I'm sure that sounded really corny, but I thought it was an interesting analogy!
Genie really fascinated me. She looked like such a cute, innocent, pretty liitle girl, with such big, expressive eyes that sometimes seemed like a window into her soul. She had endured so much unbearable confinement, and nevertheless, she was never really agressive or violent towards anyone to release any anger. It almost seemed like she did not feel anger, but more fear and frustration.
It is interesting to thing about Genie in terms of brain development, especially after reading Chapter 2 on Brain and Language. Was she in fact mentally retarded from the beginning, which perhaps lead to her being locked away? Or was her confinement, her isolation without conversation, what damaged, or prevented her brain from developing properly? It is difficult to decipher exactly in Genie's case, as there is evidence for her being retarted, like her brain signals when she is dreaming, yet there is also evidence in the theories of brain localization and the critical period that suggest otherwise.
Some think the whole Genie "experiment" was one hundred percent ethically wrong, but I do not agree completely. It was a very difficult, rare, exciting situation, that had an abundance of potential to provide crucial information we cannot get otherwise. Yet, I do wonder, perhaps they should have taken more time to think over what they would do with Genie exactly before actually doing it, without considering alternatives. For example, it was mentioned that if they tried teaching Genie sign language earlier on, not only would they have been more successful, but Genie would have been too.
Posted by lcisthur at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)
Genie
What a truly terrifying story this was. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined that parents could ever decide one day that they did not want to bring their child up through the knowledge of language, of words, and meanings. My language comes to me without difficulty most of the time. I rarely stop to think about what I am saying or how I am wording a sentence. Genie's inability to speak, even at an old age, gives me this sense of dissappoinment and longing to help her in any way possible. While watching the movie, I felt as though I could just jump through the screen and witness this incredible miracle, in a way, of one girl, touching the hearts of many, without the ability to converse. Genie had this innocence that I couldn't seem to get over. In some of the pictures, her face was just completely drained and plain, but her eyes told the story. Her eyes told of her days strapped to the "potty", and her days filled with anger, yelling, and fear. Yet, this must have happened for a reason. I believe that many things occur for a purpose. Through Genie, scientists were able to dive into the brain and language, in general, more deeply. Though they really did not obtain concrete answers for everything language-related, scientists were able to study how Genie processed different words and sentences. They analyzed her and were able to learn more about this certain "critical period" which deals with the time in which a child should be acquiring language or hearing language in order to develop their own. I have been thinking about Genie often. Her story just captivates me, and I feel compelled to learn more about her whereabouts. Scientists asked for a language experiment, and they sure got one. As cliche as it may sound, this is certainly a girl and a story I will never forget. -Christina G.
Posted by lcisgancarz at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)
Genie's Fate
A girl, a human being, who grew up tied to a potty chair for over ten years. She lived under conditions worse than that of in prison. Her name is Genie. She was abused by her father, and left alone in the dark, empty room in silence. Genie's father shot himself after finding out that she was in public, and his last notes said, "They will not understand". What would be this man's excuse to be such brutal and inhumane? Genie had the least interaction with her family. She was beaten by her father, when made least sound.
Genie's patience is extreme. She went through hard life. Even after being granted "freedom", she had no choice, but to be an experimental subject for the next few years. Throughout the tests, Genie's left brain proved to have almost no process. She nearly had no left brain, therefore wasn't able to learn language efficiently. The scientists also wondered if Genie was born retarded. However, she had almost perfect right brain-nonverbal process. The Story of Genie reports, "She scored the highest recorded score ever on tests that measure a person's ability to make sense out of chaos and to see patterns. Her abilities to understand and to think logically were also strong. She had a perfect score on an adult-level test that measured spatial abilities" in the guide Learning about Learning.
Afterall, she may not have been retarded but missed her once in a lifetime chance to learn language. Her parents failed her to learn language during her critical period.
The parents of Genie tortured her. Still, her mother wasn't embarassed enough that she sued The Genie Team. Even though Genie might have been under pressure of testings, it was through the team's support and help that she learned communication and was rebirn to the world again.
Posted by lcisbold at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)
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 07:17 PM | Comments (2)
Genie Blog
The Genie story is really disturbing for me to learn about. It reminds me of how evil humans can be towards one another, which is something that I have always known in the back of my mind, but I try not to think about. However, when reading about Genie's story, I can't help but feel so disappointed that something like this could go on for years and years and never be detected.
After we watched the documentary about Genie I visited the web site about feral children all over the world, and I'm not trying to say that one case is more acceptable than another, but I found that the cases that took place in the U.S. (versus the ones that took place in other countries) were so much harder for me to read about.
Many of the cases from other parts of the world included children getting separated from their parents during war or their parents dying, leaving no one to care for these kids. Often times the children befriended an animal, usually dogs, and the children were raised by that animal. However, most of the cases in the U.S. involved deliberate child abuse. These children were knowingly locked away, like in Genie's case, for years by their parents or gaurdians. It is this kind of premeditated torture that makes it so hard for me learn about these cases.
Genie's story is such an eye opener. It makes me wonder if perhaps the same thing is going on somewhere else in the U.S. at this very moment. Somewhere, maybe even close to here, a child could be experiencing this same kind of abuse, but the most frustrating thing about that idea is the fact that there is no way to tell or to help. It is virtually an impossible thing to stop because when people have children or adopt children they are just given the benefit of the doubt, even though clearly not everyone deserves to be given that. I guess the only solution is to make an effort to raise a mentally sound generation so that when they are older they will not turn around and inflict the same abuse on a child that they themselves may have been victim to.
Posted by lcissullivan at 06:08 PM | Comments (2)
Genie
Searching information about Genie in calss today was very interesting. The website that I first found I think is very informative on matters that were not discussed in the documentary. If you want to check out the website feel free..the URL is: www3.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/hsbioethics/units/unit3_4.html
The article talks about how the social worker actually first saw Genie. I didn't realize that the mother escaped with Genie and ended up bringing her out in public. The social worker assumed she was six or seven years old and had autism. That is amazing considering she was thirteen. I have been told that I look like I'm still 15 or so but I'm only 18 not 23. Another thing that shocked me was the part where the father would sit with his loaded shotgun on his lap and wouldn't allow his wife or son to speak or to even leave the house most of the time. How awful, I can't even imagine what it would be like to be stuck in one place. It's bad enough for me waking up on a Saturday morning in my dorm room and wanting to get up and go out to my living room and sit on the couch to finish waking up but I can't because I'm not at home. I wouldn't be able to stay in one room for such a long period of time. It's so sad reading and watching the story on this girl. How can people be so cruel? especially to their own child, their own blood. It confuses me and I'm sure it will for a very very long time.
Posted by lcisnelson at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)