Genie's Case Study

The critical periods that a growing child undergoes is perhaps the most important factor of aging. These critical periods are necessary for language, behavior, and the ability to interact with the surrounding people and objects. If a critical period is missed or not handled with properly there can be major consequences. Genie, for example, was a thirteen-year-old girl who spent all of her life in a dark room, strapped to a potty char. Genie was spoken to very rarely and knew of only artificial light until she was discovered. These circumstances hindered Genie from ever being able to live a normal life. Compared to a normal six year-old, Genie was very much lagging in every aspect of development. When Genie was discovered she was still in diapers,
Nature and nurture. Nature is the biological energy that is involuntary; it guides every action, the thoughts, and the personality of someone. Nurture on the other hand is the influence of the world, society, parents, etc. An adopted child has more in common with its biological parents than it does with the adopted parents. Nature and nurture work together in every person and one without the other makes for a hard time. For example, Genie was extremely neglected for years; she could have been a very anti-social girl who had no desire at all to interact with the people and environment around her. Instead, Genie was a very happy and social person; the circumstances of her childhood lived within her but she was by nature a happy person. With this being said, just because she was happy does not mean that she had forgotten about her life of isolation. Neither nature nor nurture has more of an influence on a person than the other does. Someone could come from a family with hateful, bad personalities, and be raised in a situation where there is nothing but love and affection, therefore squashing the need for those bad traits but it will still live within that person,