Secret of the Wild Child, Essay Example

In the course of the fall of the year 1970, the social workers embraced the opportunity of taking the care of a child who was at he age of 13. the majority of the life of the young girl was spent in a chain  composed of a potty chair that was positioned in the bedroom. It was a difficult situation for the girl to utter any word in addition to give a response to the rest o f the people. The name of the girl was Genie. The case of the girl was an attraction to the psychologists due to their interest in the identification of the ability of the girl to speak. It was believed by most of the linguistics that the speech of the human was an ability that was genetically programmed. It was however identified that with the lack of the potential of speaking at the time of the adolescence of a person, then it had the implication of a permanent loss of learning language in the entire lifetime. This was a very important theory to merit the reference of the title “critical period hypothesis. (Announcer, (1997).

The situation of Genie was so important o merit for a significant experimental candidate. She was at her age of puberty and although the people disregarded her integrity, she merited for a favorable treatment for the purpose of the development of the humans in as far as the treatment of the humans are concerned. In the situation of the considerations of the ability of the girl to learn the skills of language, the doubt attributed to the hypothesis of the critical period hypothesis could not have been applied in the situation of Genie and it was unfortunate that the experimenters combined the research involving the girl with her treatment which has no justifications

Although Genie’s situation was one that scientists would never create intentionally to test their theories, her unfortunate circumstances made her a prime candidate for experimentation. Genie was past puberty. If she could still learn language, it would cast doubt on the critical period hypothesis. Ultimately, Genie’s caretakers were criticized for combining their research with her treatment.

Reference

Announcer, (1997). Tonight on NOVA, the Emmy Award-winning story of a girl who spent her childhood locked in a bedroom.