Human Development
Chapters 10, 11, 12 and 13
Heredity vs.
Environment
O
Hereditary: characteristics obtained directly
from genes
O
Environment: a person’s surroundings, which
influences the person’s characteristics and development
O
Which has more of an effect on a person’s
development?
O
Nature/Nurture Controversy: contrasting views of
how people gain certain characteristics.
O
Nature is ,
while nurture is
The Role of Heredity
O
Genes: basic units of heredity
O
Chromosomes: structures containing genes: all
humans cells have 46 chromosomes
O
Zygote: fertilized egg, comprised of two sets of
23 chromosomes from parents
Twin Studies
O
Dizygotic Twins: “fraternal” twins; develop from
two different eggs fertilized by two different sperm
O
Monozygotic twins: “identical twins” twins that
develop from the same fertilized egg. Their DNA is identical.
Developmental
Patterns
O
First reflexes: grasping, sucking, and startled
flailing
O
Maturation: the automatic, orderly,
sequential process of physical and mental development
O
Toys are marketed to speed up development;
however, all babies will reach these milestones, the toys merely speed up the
process by perhaps a month
O
Growth Cycle: orderly patterns of developing
Critical Periods
O
Imprinting: a biological process in which the
young of certain species follow and become attached to their mothers
O
Imprinting occurs during the “critical period”,
which is a specific period of development that is the only time with a
particular skill scan be developed
O
Critical periods can include identifying a
mother figure, forming bonds to humans or other animals, or learning to
communicate.
O
Language is a major critical period for humans,
whether it is learning to communicate or learning a second language.
Please break into your groups to read
“Genie, the Wild Child” and answer the questions that follow within your cloze
notes on the next page.
1.
What is Eric Lenneberg’s theory?
2.
How many words could Genie use at once to
communicate?
3.
Why did Genie regress back into silence after
the research had ended?
4.
Did Genie prove or disprove Lenneberg’s theory?
Why?
The Development of
Language
: The first stage of language
development is known as the ,
babbling or cooing stage. During this period, which typically lasts from the
age of three to nine months, babies begin to make vowel sounds such as oooooo and aaaaaaa.
By five months, infants typically begin to babble and add consonant sounds to
their sounds such as ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma or da-da-da.
Words: The second stage is known as the one-word stage of language development. Around the age of 10 to 13 months, children will begin to produce their first real words. While children are only capable of producing a few, single words at this point, it is important to realize that they are able to understand considerably more. Infants begin to comprehend language about twice as fast as they are able to produce it.
Words: The third stage begins around the age of months, when children begin to use two word sentences. These sentences usually consist of just nouns and verbs, such as "Where daddy?" and "Puppy big!"
Multi-word
Sentences: Around the age of two, children begin to produce short,
multi-word sentences that have a
and .
For example, a child might say "Mommy is nice" or "Want more
candy.“
Reflect: Please use your book (pages 286-295), smart phones, and notes
to answer the following four questions.
1.
To what do the terms nature and nurture refer
to?
2.
What do genes and chromosomes have to do with
inherited traits?
3.
How do fraternal and identical twins differ?
4.
Given what we have discussed so far, what advice
would you give to a new mom on maturation, growth cycles, and critical periods?
The Family and Child Development
O
Nuclear family: and
O
Extended family: nuclear, plus /uncles,
cousins,
O
Culture will play a large role in who lives
under one roof.
What other types of families are there?
What are some major changes that can occur within a family?
What do children often feel when they have a new step
parent? What is the best advice to give to a new step-parent? Use a smart phone
or page 297.
Mothers/Fathers
working outside the home
O
There is evidence that a child will suffer from
attending day care versus staying at home with a parent.
O
There is also no evidence that a child will be impacted by being raised in a single parent
home, by parents of the same gender, or by a person other than their biological
parent.
O
The true issue is does the child have a attachment to the parent(s) or guardians.
O
In two parent homes, the generally does more of the child care, in
addition to what are considered “household tasks” as compared to the .
O
Each person has a separate way of raising their
child.
Please take a few moments to define the three following parenting types
and what effects may
be had on children. (pg 299)
O Permissive:
O
Authoritarian (dictatorial):
O
Authoritative:
Child Abuse
O
In 2012,
an estimated 1,640 children from abuse and neglect in the United
States.
O
2012:
286,000 child victims of abuse
O
2013,:294,000
child victims of abuse
O
An estimated children were victims of abuse and neglect
O
Children younger than year had
the highest rate of victimization of 21.9 per 1,000 children in the national
population of the same age.
O
Of the children who experienced maltreatment or
abuse, over 75% suffered ;
more than 15% suffered physical abuse; and just under 10% suffered sexual
abuse.
O
Approximately 80% of reported child fatalities
as a result of abuse and neglect were caused by one or more of the child
victim’s .
Sequences of
Development
Piaget’s Theory of
Development
O
Cognitive Development: the ways in which and grow and change
O
Please use pages 302 to 305 to document and
explain the four stages of development. Please include key vocabulary terms.
Sensorimotor Stage
Preoperational Stage
Concrete Operations Stage
Formal Operations Stage
Suppose you work with
children. What are some activities you could come up with for each cognitive
level? List several examples below.
Pause for Thought
1.
What is the difference between a nuclear family
and an extended family?
2.
What kinds of developmental problems does
divorce create?
Moral Development
O
Lawrence Kohlberg: psychologist who studied
children to determine when develop. He developed a three stage system.
O Please use pages 306 to 307
to complete the chart below.
Kohlberg’s Stages of
Moral Development
Preconventional Level (Younger than 6
Years)
Conventional Level
(7-11 Years)
Postconventional Level
(11 years on)
| “Every day at the end of class, your college professor has you drop off the attendance sheet at the department secretary’s office. One day, your good friend runs up and begs you to take his name off the “absent” sheet. He can’t tell you why he has missed class, but he says it is important. This is the 3rd class he has missed, meaning his average will drop a letter grade. |
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Adolescence
--The period of development between and .
(11-18)
Changes
O
What are some changes that occur during
adolescence?
Use your books (pages 322 to 324) or a smart device to
answer the following questions.
1.
How do hormones affect the body?
2.
What three glands are particularly active during
puberty and how?
3.
Do adolescents handle puberty and growth spurts
well? Is development orderly during a growth spurt?
4.
How do girls and boys react to being early
maturers? Late maturers?
Eating Disorders
Anorexia Nervosa
O
Condition where a person is unable to read the
body’s nutritional and eats or refuses to eat for the wrong
reasons
Bulimia Nervosa
O
Condition where a person will consume a massive
amount of food ( )
and then vomit or use laxatives to rid their body of the calories ( )
Who is most often
affected with these types of eating disorders?
Rites of Passage
O
A socially recognized and ritualized change of , such
as the passage from childhood into adulthood.
Psychological Issues
O
Because there is no “official” rite of passage
in American culture, teens often form
O
These subcultures come with sets of for conduct, attire, and attitudes, as well as
violations
O
Can you think of some American “subcultures”?
Using pages 330 to 334
or a smart device, please answer the following questions in your cloze notes.
1.
What are the differences between a crowd, a
clique, and a gang?
2.
Why are social groups necessary?
3.
What is a primary reason for adolescents joining
a gang?
4.
How does Erikson define fidelity and how is
fidelity related to identity?
Use pages 333 to 334 or a Smart
device to complete the chart below, concerning James Marcia’s work on the
identity crisis pattern.
Juvenile Delinquency: Please use pages 340 to 341 to answer the
following questions.
1. How
is juvenile delinquency defined?
- What
are several factors associated with juvenile delinquency?
- What
do preventive programs for juvenile delinquency try to teach parents?
Please read “Good
Communication” on pages 342-343 and respond to the prompt below.
O
What are several keys for good communication?
O
You have been given $1 million dollars to help
stop juvenile delinquency. You can only use this money for one single project It can be brand
new or an existing program. Describe the project you chose and provide a list
with why it is the most worthwhile.
O
You have fifteen minutes to read and respond. Be
prepared to share. Use a separate sheet of paper.
Adulthood and Aging
O
Early adulthood
O
Marriage and Divorce
O
Family Life
O
Midlife Transition
O
Middle Adulthood and Life Changes
O
Late Adulthood and Aging
O
Death
What is “Adulthood”?
O
Adulthood begins in the early -often when a person
leaves school
O
“Real” adulthood can begin at age 18, 21, 22,
24, 26, etc.
O
Gaining a sense of identity, being emotionally
invested in the welfare of others, taking responsibility for daily life
decisions, and making personal decisions about their own lives.
Early Adulthood
O
Completion of schooling or training
O
Living independently
O
First post-school job
O
Long-lasting personal relationships
O
Marriage/Divorce
O
What is the number one critical ingredient to a
successful marital relationship?
O
50% of marriages fail in the US
Use page 351 or a
Smart Device to answer the following questions
1. Who normally gets custody of the children after a
divorce?
2. What are some concerns when a couple (with children)
divorce?
Family Life
O
29% of will leave their careers to raise their
children until age 4 or 5.
O
19% will return to work part-time or full-time
when the children are in school, while 10% will continue to work within the
home.
O
2.7% of families, the works and the stays at home to raise the children.
O
The remaining 90% is spilt between a family
where both couples work and single parent homes.
Midlife Transitions
Please use your book
(351-354) to answer the following questions.
1. What kinds of issues are important to people during
midlife transitions? Is crisis inevitable?
2. What kinds of physical changes begin at around age 40?
3. How do priorities shift during middle adulthood?
4. Do most women actually experience empty nest syndrome?
5. What is menopause and how does it affect women physically
and psychologically?
Late Adulthood
O
:
branch of psychology that studies the aging process and the problems older
people experience
O
People become more as they reflect on their lives and what they
would like to do next
Interesting facts….
O
By age 80, there are three times as many women
as men
O
The majority of women over 70 are widows.
O
Aging does not automatically mean losing memory
or IQ; a decline in brain chemicals due to imbalanced diets is often to blame.
Medications and nutritious can keep the mind sharp.
O
When an elderly person begins losing their
memory, it is called .
Mental Ability
O
Senile dementia can result from poor
O
Can also be caused by:
:
blocked blood vessels in the brain
. :
loss of chemical nerve cell transmitters that results in mental deterioration
Concerns in Late
Adulthood
Please use your books
363-363 or a Smart Device to respond to the following questions
- What
are three major fears of the elderly?
- Are
most older people less active after retirement?
- Are most older people isolated and lonely?
- Why
do many older people view themselves as a burden?
The Study of Death
O
. :
The study of death and methods for coping with it.
Why is death so scary
for us?
O
What are terminally ill people most afraid of?
1.
2.
3.
Kubler-Ross: Stages
of Dying
O
You may have heard “The 5 Stages of Grief” in
terms of death. However, this deals with our OWN death, NOT the death of a
loved one.
O
Can anyone identify the 5 stages of grief?
|
Kubler-Ross: Stages of Dying:
The Monologue
|
|
|
There
must be a mistake-those can’t be MY test results. Are you sure? I want a
second opinion!
|
|
|
Why
me?! I exercise every day, I don’t smoke, I do all of those crazy healthy
things that are supposed to make you live longer-I’m a good person!
|
|
|
Please,
if you just let me live another year,
I’ll volunteer every week. I’ll donate all of my money to charity. Just one
more year.
|
|
|
I’m
sad at the thought of the friends I’m leaving behind; I grieve when I think
of losing my family, of leaving behind my parents, my children, my spouse.
|
|
|
|
I’m
not afraid anymore- I understand that death is just a part of life and I am
finally at peace about what will come next.
|
Help for the Dying
O
Dying away from home can make the process for
difficult for the patient and family alike
O
Hospice allows for in home care for the patient so
they can pass away at home.
O
Rituals can also aid in the acceptance of death
O
Amish Society: all Amish have sets of clothes, which they only wear in the event of
their death
O
Wakes: of a person’s life, often accompanied by food,
music, and telling of stories
Forgiveness and Grief
We will read the
article “Amish Forgive School Shooter, Struggle with Grief”. After, please
respond to the following questions in multiple sentences:
Using evidence from the article, why do you think the Amish
were able to forgive the man who murdered 5 Amish children? How did forgiveness
help with their own grieving process?
END OF ASSIGNMENT
“Affluenza” Teen
sentences to Rehab and 10 Years of Probation
May 8, 2014
(CNN) -- The family of a teen critically injured when
another teen, Ethan Couch, drove drunk last year has reached a settlement of
more than $2 million.
The case made national headlines after a witness claimed
Couch was a victim of "affluenza" -- the product of wealthy,
privileged parents who never set limits for the Texas boy.
For the crimes of driving drunk and causing a crash -- which
killed four people and critically injured two -- Couch received no jail time.
He was ordered to go to a lockdown treatment facility and sentenced to 10
years' probation.
The settlement, reached this month, involves the case of
Sergio Molina, who was riding in the back of Couch's truck the night of the
accident. He suffered a brain injury and can no longer speak, or move. He is
considered minimally responsive.
"They told us that, basically, that's as much as he's
going to rehabilitate," Sergio's brother, Alex Lemus, told CNN last year.
In the six months since the accident, which took place in
June, Lemus said medical bills had already topped $1 million.
The family filed the lawsuit against the Couch family and
the father's company because Ethan was driving a company-owned truck.
The settlement includes a cash sum of more than $1 million,
plus periodic payments, according to documents from the 96th District Court in
Tarrant County. Most of the payment will be made by a liability insurer.
An attorney for the Molina family declined to comment.
Earlier this year, a lawyer representing Couch, who was 16
at the time of the wreck last June, lashed out at the news media for their
focus on the use of "affluenza" to describe the boy's privileged
upbringing.
Of the two experts who testified in defense of the boy, only
one used the word and he used it just once, attorney Reagan Wynn told CNN's
"New Day."
"That term was not used by either of the lawyers that
represented Mr. Couch, and it was not our defense, simply put," said Wynn.
Last June, Hollie Boyles, and daughter, Shelby, left their
home to help Breanna Mitchell, whose SUV had broken down. Brian Jennings, a
youth pastor, was driving past and also stopped to help.
All four were killed when Couch's pickup truck plowed into
the pedestrians on a road in Burleson, south of Fort Worth. The vehicle also
struck a parked car, which then slid into another vehicle headed in the
opposite direction.
Two people riding in the bed of the pickup, including Sergio
Molina, were injured.
According to prosecutors, three hours after the crash, tests
showed Ethan had a blood alcohol content of 0.24, three times the legal limit.
Eric Boyles stated “‘I’m sorry’ would go a long way. I don’t
feel that he is actually sorry for what he has done. We (the victims’ families)
have not gotten any sense of remorse.”
END OF ASSIGNMENT
Amish Forgive
School Shooter, Struggle with Grief
by Joseph
Shapiro
It's been a week for quiet reflection in the Amish communities
around Nickel Mines, Pa., which one year ago experienced tragedy.
It was in the tiny community that a man stormed into a one-room
schoolhouse and shot 10 young girls, killing five. He then killed himself. That
old school has since been demolished. The new school was closed on the one-year
anniversary and families met privately in prayer.
Since the tragedy, people around the world have been inspired by
the way the Amish expressed forgiveness toward the killer and his family. But
while their acts of forgiveness were inspiring, they also caused a
misperception that the Amish had quickly gotten over the tragedy.
Forgiving
the Killer
Charles Roberts wasn't Amish, but Amish families knew him as the
milk truck driver who made deliveries. Last month, it was announced that the
Amish community had donated money to the killer's widow and her three young
children.
It was one more gesture of forgiveness, gestures that began soon
after the shooting.
Donald
Kraybill, is a sociologist at nearby Elizabethtown College and co-author of Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy.
"I think the most powerful demonstration of the depth of Amish
forgiveness was when members of the Amish community went to the killer's burial
service at the cemetery," Kraybill says. "Several families, Amish
families who had buried their own daughters just the day before were in
attendance and they hugged the widow, and hugged other members of the killer's
family."
Achieving
Forgiveness
The misperception that the Amish had quickly gotten over the
tragedy was one of many about the community, according to Jonas Beiler, the
founder of the Family Resource and Counseling Center.
Beiler says there's another myth about the Amish: that they don't
use electricity or drive cars, and that they don't seek mental health therapy.
Beiler's is one of the handful of counseling centers that have been used by
local Amish.
Beiler and his therapists have counseled many people in the Amish
community in the wake of the school shooting. A year later, some family members
are still startled by the sound of a helicopter overhead. Survivors, including
some of the older boys who were let go by the killer, now wonder if somehow
they could have stopped the massacre.
"We've talked to these people," says Beiler. "And
they're all dealing with this one day at a time, the best they can. There are
still nightmares. Some of the schoolchildren are dealing with what we would
call, emotional instabilities, and this will go on for several years yet."
Beiler says that over the last generation, Amish have become more
open to getting therapy. He and his wife Anne are examples. Thirty years ago,
their infant daughter was killed. The Beilers, like many people in the Amish
community at that time, kept their grief hidden, even from each other. Only
when they started attending counseling several years later, was their marriage
saved.
A
Commitment to Help Others
Beiler became such a believer in therapy that he set out to be a
marriage and family counselor himself.
"Obviously that didn't help put a lot of groceries on the
table because I was busy studying and counseling at the same time," he
recalls.
To make ends meet, Anne started an Amish food stand at the
farmer's market. The hand-rolled, soft pretzels she made were very popular. In
fact, they were so popular that the Beilers built a nationwide business selling
them. If you've been in an American airport, you probably know Auntie Anne's
Pretzels.
This business success allowed Beiler to help popularize counseling
among the Amish.
"Tragedy changes you. You can't stay the same," Beiler
says. "Where that lands you don't always know. I see that happening in
this school shooting as well. One just simple thing that the whole world got to
see was this simple message of forgiveness."
Beiler says that because the Amish can express that forgiveness,
and because they hold no grudges, they are better able to concentrate on the
work of their own healing.
Body Building Grandma
Ernestine Shepherd Bench Presses, Runs Marathons At 73
By Sarah Netter
Taut abs and rippling muscles aren't exactly the stuff grandmothers
are known for. But then again neither are marathons and cell phones that play
the theme to "Rocky."
At 73, Ernestine Shepherd is in
better shape than most people decades her junior. Up at 3 a.m. every morning,
she spends her days running, lifting weights and working out other
senior citizens at the Union Memorial United Methodist Church in Baltimore. She
also works as a certified personal trainer at her gym.
"I feel better
than I did at 40," she said. "I am very, very happy."
In less than 20 years, Shepherd has
morphed from a "prissy" woman who never exercised to the Guinness
Book of World Records' oldest female bodybuilder.
A die-hard "Rocky" fan --
"Sylvester Stallone is my man," she cooed -- Shepherd is preparing
for a body building competition this weekend.
"I feel now that I am a very
strong, positive and confident woman," she said. "Years ago I
concerned myself about what people said concerning me. But when you get
70-something and you don't have that many years in front of you, you don't
concern yourself with that."
Instead, Shepherd concerns herself
with her carefully formulated diet -- 1,700 calories a day, mostly comprised of
boiled egg whites, chicken, vegetables and a liquid egg white drink -- and
packing in the workouts needed to maintain her stunning physique.
Shepherd runs about 80 miles per
week and bench presses 150 pounds. Bicep curls are done with 15- and 20-pound
dumbbells.
Married for 53 years and grandmother
to a 13-year-old, Shepherd said she is exactly where she wants to be.
Well, almost. She's been looking for
an excuse to meet Michelle
Obama and even offered to train her.
"I've been trying to get to
that lady. And I can't get to her," she said. "It's so
difficult."
Shepherd sees her jaw-dropping
transformation as fulfilling a promise to her late sister, Mildred Blackwell,
who died in 1992 of a brain aneurysm just over a year into the training that
she believed would drive them to become the oldest living fitness competitors
in the world.
"I kept up everything she said
we were going to do," Shepherd said. "That's kept me so close to
her."
Twenty years ago, Shepherd was
working as a secretary in the Baltimore school system after 30 years with
AT&T. Exercising was not part of the picture.
"I was too prissy to
exercise," she said. "I just didn't want to have my hair messed up.
Didn't want my fingernails broken."
Then, at 56, Shepherd found herself
in a dressing room with her sister trying on swimsuits for a pool party.
"When we looked at each other
we both laughed because we didn't look too good in those suits," Shepherd
said. "She said 'Tina, we're going to have to do something about
this.'"
The allure of a swimsuit-ready body
sent Shepherd and her sister to aerobics classes. And as they began to slim
down, a trainer suggested lifting weights.
Shepherd and her sister, who she
says were "like twins," took to weight lifting immediately and
quickly saw their bodies start to change. But one day, Blackwell began
complaining of headaches. She died within a few hours.
Shepherd said she quit exercising,
holed up in her home and started suffering from panic attacks and high blood
pressure.
A close friend and trainer
eventually forced her out of the house, telling her, "You know your sister
wouldn't want you to do this."
She hit the gym, this time to keep a
promise to her beloved sister. In 2007, she began running. She now runs in the
park for two to three hours a day and has a 5K time of 28 minutes.
She has also completed eight
marathons and has her sights set on the New York and Boston races, warning
competitors that "the old lady's comin'."
Shepherd has snagged modeling gigs
and posed for Essence magazine. Even Oprah Winfrey came calling, she said, but
the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks took her off the lineup. She also took
first place in her class at the Tournament of Champions' bodybuilding
competition in 2008.
When Shepherd was named to the
Guiness Book of World Records, she took Blackwell's ashes to Rome with her.
"When I got to the Coliseum I
cried," she said. "I stood there and I spread her ashes."
She is now trained by former Mr.
Universe Yohannie Shambourger.
"She's special because no one
can have that kind of muscle at her age," he said. "Ernestine has a
body where she can compete against younger athletes and actually beat
them."
Standing nearly 5' 5" and
weighing between 118 and 120 pounds, Shepherd is adamant that she doesn't use
any performance enhancing drugs or even supplements other than vitamin D.
"I don't want to train my
ladies and give them the false impression of supplements," she said.
END OF ASSIGNMENT
Genie,
the Wild Child, by Kendra Cherry
There have been a number of cases of feral children raised in
social isolation with little or no human contact. Few have captured public and
scientific attention like that of young girl called Genie. She spent almost her
entire childhood locked in a bedroom, isolated and abused for over a decade.
Genie's case was one of the first to put the critical period theory to the
test. Could a child reared in utter deprivation and isolation develop language?
Could a nurturing environment make up for a horrifying past?
Genie’s Background
Genie's
story came to light on November 4, 1970 in Los Angeles, California. A social
worker discovered the 13-year old girl after her mother sought out
services. The social worker soon discovered that the girl had been confined to
a small room and an investigation by authorities quickly revealed that the
child had spent most of her life in this room, often tied to a potty chair.
The
girl was given the name Genie in her case files to protect her identity and
privacy. "The case name is Genie. This is not the person's real name, but
when we think about what a genie is, a genie is a creature that comes out of a
bottle or whatever, but emerges into human society past childhood. We assume
that it really isn't a creature that had a human childhood,” explained Susan
Curtiss in a 1997 Nova documentary titled Secrets of the Wild Child.
Both parents were charged with abuse, but Genie's father
committed suicide the day before he was due to appear in court, leaving behind
a note stating that "the world will never understand."
Genie's life prior to her discovery was one of utter
deprivation. She spent most of her days tied naked to her potty chair only able
to move her hands and feet. When she made noise, her father would beat her. Her
father, mother, and older brother rarely spoke to her. The rare times her
father did interact with her, it was to bark or growl.
The story of her case soon spread, drawing attention from both
the public and the scientific community. The case was important, said
psycholinguist and author Harlan Lee, because "our morality doesn’t allow
us to conduct deprivation experiments with human beings, these unfortunate
people are all we have to go on."
With
so much interest in her case, the question became what should be done with her.
A team of psychologists and language experts began the process of
rehabilitating Genie.
Teaching Genie
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) provided funding
for scientific research on Genie’s case.
"I think everybody who came in contact with her was
attracted to her. She had a quality of somehow connecting with people, which
developed more and more, but was present, really, from the start. She had a way
of reaching out without saying anything, but just somehow by the kind of look
in her eyes, and people wanted to do things for her,” said psychologist David
Rigler, part of the "Genie team."
Her rehabilitation team also included graduate student Susan
Curtiss and psychologist James Kent. Upon her initial arrival at UCLA, the team
was met with a girl who weighed just 59 pounds and moved with a strange
"bunny walk." She often spat and was unable to straighten her arms
and legs. Silent, incontinent, and unable to chew, she initially seemed only
able to recognize her own name and the word "sorry."
After conducting an assessment of Genie's emotional and
cognitive abilities, Kent described her as "the most profoundly damaged
child I've ever seen… Genie's life is a wasteland." Her silence and
inability to use language made it difficult to assess her mental abilities, but
on tests she scored at about the level of a one-year-old.
She
soon began to make rapid progression in specific areas, quickly learning how to
use the toilet and dress herself. Over the next few months, she began to
experience more developmental progress, but remained poor in areas such as
language. She enjoyed going out on day trips outside of the hospital, and
explored her new environment with an intensity that amazed her caregivers and
strangers alike. Curtiss suggested that Genie had a strong ability
to communicate nonverbally, often receiving gifts from total strangers who
seemed to understand the young girl's powerful need to explore the world around
her.
Critical Period and Language
Acquisition
Part
of the reason why Genie's case fascinated psychologists and linguists so deeply
was that it presented a unique opportunity to study a hotly contested debate
about language development. Nativists believe that the capacity for language is
innate, while empiricists suggest that it is environmental variables that play
a key role. Essentially, it boils down to the age-old nature vs
nurture debate. Do genetics or environment play a greater
role in the development of language?
Nativist Noam Chomsky suggested that the acquisition of language
could not be fully explained by learning alone. Instead, he proposed that
children are born with a language acquisition device (LAD), an innate ability
to understand the principles of language. Once exposed to language, the LAD
allows children to learn the language at a remarkable pace.
Linguist Eric Lenneberg suggests that like many other human
behaviors, the ability to acquire language is subject to what are known as
critical periods. A critical period is a limited span of time during which an
organism is sensitive to external stimuli and capable of acquiring certain
skills. According to Lenneberg, the critical period for language acquisition
lasts until around age 12. After the onset of puberty, he argued, the
organization of the brain becomes set and no longer able to learn and utilize
language in a fully functional manner.
Genie's case presented researchers with a unique opportunity. If
given an enriched learning environment, could she overcome her deprived
childhood and learn language even though she had missed the critical period? If
she could, it would suggest that the critical period hypothesis of language
development was wrong. If she could not, it would indicate that Lenneberg's
theory was correct.
Genie's Language Progress
Despite
scoring at the level of a one-year-old upon her initial assessment, Genie
quickly began adding new words to her vocabulary. She started by learning
single words and eventually began putting two words together much the way young
children do. Curtiss began to feel that Genie would be fully capable of
acquiring language.
After a year of
treatment, she even started putting three words together occasionally. In
children going through normal language development,
this stage is followed by what is known as a language explosion. Children
rapidly acquire new words and begin putting them together in novel ways.
Unfortunately, this never happened for Genie. Her language abilities remained
stuck at this stage and she appeared unable to apply grammatical rules and use
language in a meaningful way. At this point, her progress leveled off and her
acquisition of new language halted.
While
Genie was able to learn some language after puberty, her inability to use
grammar (which Chomsky suggests is what separates human language from animal
communication) offers evidence for the critical period hypothesis.
Of course,
Genie's case is not so simple. Not only did she miss the critical period for
learning language, she was also horrifically abused. She was malnourished and
deprived of cognitive stimulation for most of her childhood. Researchers were
also never able to fully determine if Genie suffered from pre-existing
cognitive deficits. As an infant, a pediatrician had identified her as having
some type of mental delay. So researchers were left to wonder whether Genie had
suffered from cognitive deficits caused by her years of abuse or if she had
been born with some degree of intellectual disability.
Arguments Over Genie’s Care
Psychiatrist Jay
Shurley helped assess Genie after she was first discovered, and he noted that
since situations like hers were so rare, she quickly became the center of a
battle between the researchers involved in her case. Arguments over the
research and the course of her treatment soon erupted. Genie occasionally spent
the night in the home of Jean Butler, one of her teachers. After an outbreak of
measles, Genie was quarantined at her teacher's home. Butler soon become
protective and began restricting access to Genie. Other members of the team
felt that Butler's goal was to become famous from the case, at one point
claiming that Butler had called herself the next Anne Sullivan, the teacher
famous for helping Helen Keller
learn to communicate.
Eventually,
Genie was removed from Butler's care and went to live in the home of
psychologist David Rigler, where she remained for the next four years. Despite
some difficulties, she appeared to do well in the Rigler household. She enjoyed
listening to classical music on the piano and loved to draw, often finding it
easier to communicate through drawing than through other methods.
The Beginning of the End
NIMH
withdrew funding in 1974, due to the lack of scientific findings. Linguist
Susan Curtiss had found that while Genie could use words, she could not produce
grammar. She could not arrange these words in a meaningful way, supporting the
idea of a critical period in language development. Rigler's research was disorganized
and largely anecdotal. Without funds to continue the research and care for
Genie, she was removed from Rigler's care.
In
1975, Genie returned to live with her birth mother. When her mother found the
task too difficult, Genie was moved through a series of foster homes, where she
was often subjected to further abuse and neglect. Genie’s birth mother then
sued the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the research team, charging
them with excessive testing. While the lawsuit was eventually settled, it
raised important questions about the treatment and care of Genie. Did the
research interfere with the girl's therapeutic treatment?
Genie’s
situation continued to worsen. After spending a significant amount of time in
foster homes, she returned to Children’s Hospital. Unfortunately, the progress
that had occurred during her first stay had been severely compromised by the
subsequent treatment she received in foster care. Genie was afraid to open her
mouth and had regressed back into silence.
Where is Genie Today?
Today,
Genie lives in an adult foster care home somewhere in southern California.
Little is known about her present condition, although an anonymous individual
hired a private investigator to track her down in 2000 and described her as
happy. This contrasts with the account of psychiatrist Jay Shurley who visited
her on her 27th and 29th birthdays and characterized her as largely silent,
depressed, and chronically institutionalized.
"What do we
take away from this really sad story?" asked Harlan Lee in the NOVA
documentary The Secret of the Wild Child. "Look, there's an
ethical dilemma in this kind of research. If you want to do rigorous science,
then Genie's interests are going to come second some of the time. If you only
care about helping Genie, then you wouldn't do a lot of the scientific
research. So, what are you going to do? To make matters worse, the two roles,
scientist and therapist, were combined in one person, in her case. So, I think
future generations are going to study Genie's case … not only for what it can
teach us about human development, but also for what it can teach us about the
rewards and the risks of conducting 'the forbidden experiment.'"
Please answer the following
questions in your cloze notes.
1.
What
is Eric Lenneberg’s theory?
2.
How
many words could Genie use at once to communicate?
3.
Why
did Genie regress back into silence after the research had ended?
4.
Did
Genie prove or disprove Lenneberg’s theory? Why?
END OF ASSIGNMENT
Real Stages of Grief
Moving
from Kubler-Ross to Sidney Zisook.
It is important
to understand the differences between the terms "grief/grieving" and
"bereavement". Grief is the psychological-emotional experience
following a loss of any kind (relationship, status, job, house, game, income,
etc), whereas bereavement is a specific type of grief related to someone dying.
This piece will be dedicated primarily to the larger grieving process, but is
completely applicable to those experiencing bereavement.
Kubler-Ross
to the Present
One of the key
things most people don't know about those original five stages, is that
Kubler-Ross was writing about people confronting their own death,
not the death of a loved one. Several groups of counselors later took the idea
and used it to help people understand the loss of someone else. However, almost
no scientific research has shown the existence of those stages, or that people
go through stages at all.
Components
of Grief
One of the most
influential researchers on grief and bereavement is Sidney Zisook (UC-San
Diego). His work has shown that there are 4 major components of grief that show
up in various forms depending on the person and the unique circumstances of the
loss:
1. Separation
Distress: this is a mix of feelings like sadness, anxiety, pain,
helplessness, anger, shame, loneliness, etc.
2. Traumatic Distress: this includes states of
disbelief and shock, intrusions, and efforts to avoid intrusions and the spike
of emotions they produce
3. Guilt,
remorse, and regrets
4. Social
withdrawal
People may also
experience some symptoms that are similar to depression such as loss of
interest in pleasurable activities, disruptions in sleep and appetite, low energy, irritability, and depressed
mood.
Acute
vs Prolonged Grief
Research is
starting to reveal that there is a natural and instinctive path that grief
takes that leads to the healthier outcomes. This type is usually called
"acute grief". However, others who suffer for very long periods of
time may be experiencing a block of that pathway, which has come to be known as
"prolonged grief", or "complex grief".
Acute
grief: this is a
transient, yet powerfully painful state that includes the aforementioned
components. As the grieving process continues over time, other things start
becoming mixed in, including a) positive emotions like warmth and joy in
remembering, or a sense of relief; b) acceptance, forgiveness, understanding, and compassion; and c) meaning-making about
the loss and circumstances.
Many of us
eventually move into something referred to as "integrated grief",
which is when we have a backdrop of bittersweet memories that can occasionally emerge for many
years into the future, but do not overwhelm us when they do. Once reaching this
place, many people say they have a better outlook on life, live more
intentionally, and rearrange their priorities. A growing number of therapists)
see this as one of the desirable end-points of the grieving process.
Prolonged
Grief: this is when a
person becomes emotionally paralyzed by grief for a very long period of time.
They experience the components of grief, but instead of the positive thoughts
and feelings emerging, they often experience:
-Strong fear of painful emotions and
the possibility of "losing control"
-In
bereavement, fear of forgetting the person or betraying them by moving on
-Strong
belief that they will "never be the same"
-Excessive
guilt or anger
-Persistent
sense of disbelief
-Rumination
and a commitment to avoidance
Prolonged grief
can often look a lot like depression,
and usually requires some kind of treatment like counseling. Another common
issue in prolonged grief is substance abuse. A lot of people get into problematic cycles
of alcohol, marijuana, or other substance use as a way to escape
some of the pain of grief, which can make move on even more complex.
What
Helps in Grief
Since we have
learned that grief is a highly individualized process, there is not a specific
set of practices that will help everyone. That being said, think of the
grieving process as a time of transition and adjustment, and things that are
related to positively adjusting to the loss are favorable. These can include:
1.
Staying physically healthy: depending on
what kind of grieving we are doing, it can be a trying physical experience. It
is essential to maintain the best diet, sleep schedule, and exercise as is possible
each day.
2.
Meaning making: this is a piece
of ancient wisdom that is deeply embedded in all spiritual traditions and existential philosophies.
Basically, when we can make sense out of what happened, derive meaning from it,
and put it into a context, we feel better.
3.
Honoring the loss: in bereavement,
a lot of people feel better when they find ways to carry on the legacy of the
person, and solidify a sense of remembering that will endure over time. Many
people do this through some kind of art, activism, prayer, or community
involvement. As a side note, it is also very common for people to maintain some
kind of connection to the person they have lost, often by continued
communication with them. This is only problematic when it becomes part of the
excessive avoidance in prolonged grief.
4.
Time for loss and time for life:
when we are really consumed by grief, it can seem impossible to continue living
as we normally do. My clients find it valuable to mark a difference between
focusing on the loss, and focusing on their daily lives. Many of them make sure
that they stay functional in their work and daily activities, and then also
make time to focus on the loss. This is not always clean and easy, but becomes
easier over time.
5.
Don't judge your feelings: In grief, above
anything else, it is very important to allow whatever feelings emerge, the
space to breathe. They don't necessarily need to be expressed or felt for long
periods of time, but allowing them to be valid in your own mind will go a long
way toward relieving tension and helping you stay on track.
END OF ASSIGNMENT----END OF UNIT
