Anna, born in 1932, from a un-married mentally impaired mother. Her mother was known as the “illegitimate” for having a child without getting married, which was common in the old centuries. Anna’s grandfather didn’t want anything to do with Anna since he was ashamed of her daughter’s act. Anna was kept in the storage room for five years. He was given enough milk to survive. But she was completely deprived of social contact. It is obvious that mostly children depend on their elders to provide the care needed not only physical growth but for personality to develop also. Personality doesn’t develop at all without social experience. Nature, which refers to heredity, and the nurture, which refers to the environment, are two very reasonable explanations to why we are the people we are today. Nurture can be changed. In Anna’s case, nurture was presented through her cognitive development. When Anna was saved, she could not laugh, speak or even smile. She was completely unresponsive. But after receiving extensive social contact, she showed improvement. Nurture helped her change. Over the next year, Anna made steady progress. She was showing more interest in people and gradually learning to walk. After a year and half, she was able to fed herself and play with toys. Maltreated children have concentration difficulties and delayed academic growth. On the other hand, nature cannot be changed. Since Anna’s mother was mentally challenged, Anna was possibly mentally challenged too. Five years of social isolation had caused permanent damaged to Anna, which caused her mental development to be less than a two years old. Isolation in infancy causes permanent developmental damage. The author wrote that without denying the importance of nature, then, nurture matters more in shaping human behavior. More precisely, nurture is our nature.
• Primary Groups
Charles H. Cooley wrote about Primary Groups which are characterized by intimate face-to-face association and