The Case Of Genie Wiley

The lives of children are greatly influenced by the environment they grow up in, and the people they come in contact with. For years, psychologists, researchers, and social workers have studied children, and why they do what they do. All have developed many different perspectives on how to view social problems and the development of individuals.

In the case study, Sara had several issues with social interaction. Sara prefers to read and write her books alone. She doesn’t understand the use of figurative language, and she struggles with recognizing which behaviors will be

Vygotsky proposed that children’s development is affected by their culture and social interaction. He also suggested that children are not born with knowledge but they gain it through their social interactions with peers and adults; he does not rule out the importance of biological processes but proposes an interdependent relationship between biological development alongside social activity and cultural interaction.

In a social context, it can be observed that children will follow the direction of other children (Harris) and will learn how to act in a society (Harris). They also tend to stay within the same peer group and that is why moving a lot can cause problems in different aspects (Harris). Theses example help Judith prove her point that peers have a much larger influence on a child’s development then

Even though socialization theories are not explored in the nearly 400 pages of this book, the most significant and understandable piece of information comes from a brief dialogue between Fran and

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry D. Thoreau – rejected societal norms as a whole and supported individual independence. Controversial, though they gained many followers.

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development was one of the first steps in understanding how children become who they are as adults. In early childhood, children begin to understand symbols and representations (Berk, 2014, p. 227). Their learning shifts from sensing the world as in the sensorimotor stage to trying to find commonalities like symbols. According to Berk (2014), Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory focused on “social context of cognitive development” (p. 234). Vygotsky incorporated social context and social interactions into childhood development; in other words, who, how, and what children interact with in their everyday social environment contributes to their mental and emotional development. When it comes to both of these cognitive theories, there are many similarities and differences between Piaget and Vygotsky.

In the film Room (2015), Jack a five year old boy who lives with his mother in a shed discovers that the there is a world beyond the room they live in changing his perception of his reality. Socialization is based on how a person was raised, paving a pathway to their society’s culture. In which, nurture depicts socialization rather than nature. The film does reflect what researchers witnessed about feral children. Language as a part of socialization influences why Jack only believes that their room is all that is real. The film Room (2015) is able to define socialization through nature versus nurture in the demonstration of the influence isolation has on children and how language can also influence perception.

There was sadness and wrong-doing on so many levels, yet this rare forbidden case study of child development and language was one that helped further our knowledge on the subject. Straddling the line between caretaker and therapist proved to be a tough job for all the professionals involved in Genie’s case. On one hand, Genie deserved to be genuinely nurtured and cared for by someone that was separate from the scientific experiments being conducted. On the other hand, she needed scientists and therapists who were dedicated to studying her behavioral growth patterns without having her become so dependent on them. That would be the case in a perfect world, but the reality is things are hardly ever even close to being perfect. And Genie’s story was no

The nurture both of these girls experienced was very neglectful, but it just shows how much nature and nurture both impact a child’s development. Without interacting with people in the world starting at a young age, it puts the children at risk of not being on the correct developmental path. They fall behind the rest of the children their age, and this is a critical period for learning to talk and socialize properly. This is a stage where branching and pruning happens. Which is when the neurons start branching and making connections to new things they are learning so they can develop properly. Then, the neurons that the children aren’t using prune away. If a child doesn’t experience social interaction, speech, or even something as simple as learning to walk properly in this critical period then it will make it very hard for them to develop those skills later in life. When they do start to learn those skills it might take them twice as long, or they may never even fully learn or understand. For example, Rapunzel didn’t experience the world outside the tower until she was a teenager, so when she finally had to socialize with people she was very awkward and didn’t exactly know how to react at first. Later on in the movie, she began to grow and learned how to socialize and maintain social interaction. In a real life situation, Genie on the other hand didn’t know how to socialize at all because she had been cut off from society for basically her whole life. She grew

The approach is based on the idea that an individual’s activities occurs in a cultural context and can be best understood in their historical development (Kagitcibasi, 2012). Vygotsky developed this theory with the intent of coming up with a way to explain human behavior. The theory examined various subjects including the psychology of art, thought and language; and also focused on education of students with special needs. Vygotsky believed that caregivers, parents, peers, and culture at large play an important role in developing an individual’s higher order functions. There are various modern time interpretations of this theory with one focused on explaining human development. In this context, the sociocultural theory explains that learning is a social process and the society makes a significant contribution to individual development. The theory states that learning is based on interactions with other people and once this has happened, the information is then incorporated on a personal level (Hutchison,

A wide variety of theories and methods attempt to explain early childhood learning and development. Erickson and Maslow both have theories that focus on social and personality development, as well as a person’s motivation to learn throughout their lives. Their theories are helpful in understanding Jeannette Walls’ development of self. Erickson and Maslow also help clarify why her mother, father, and living in New York City were such influential factors in the development of Jeanette’s sense of self.

The child I observed was a seven-year-old girl in Year 2 who sat on the second highest ability table in a mixed class. While not in school, she lived a substantial distance away meaning she travelled to and from school by car and was often the first child to arrive in the morning and the last to leave in the afternoon. I will focus on the social and emotional development of this child who, from now onwards, will be referred to as C.

3. Become aware of the “alive versus the inanimate” and “familiar versus unfamiliar” and develop rudimentary social interaction.

Humans are unique creatures simply due to the fact that every person grows up in a different environment. I know for a fact that the way I grew up is different compared to the way my friends grew up, and it is different compared to how others grew up and will grow up in the past and future. This paper covers the subject of sociocultural context, what it is, how it can impact a child, and how it impacted my own development.