Vygotsky's theory and the critical period hypothesis applied to Genie's language development

¶ … Vygotsky say about Genie's development? What would he think was the greatest harm that was done to her and why? Describe Vygotsky's theory in depth and apply it to Genie's situation.

A critical component of Vygotsky's concept of learning was the Zone of Proximal Development. Through social interactions with adults and peers, children are able to bridge the gap between what they currently know and new concepts. Learning is a social activity and requires social support. These interactions take place outside of as well as inside of the classroom. By depriving Genie of all social contact, she was deprived of the ability to acquire language and learn basic skills. Vygotsky's theory stands in contrast to Piaget's, who emphasized that biological development made children open to learning critical skills. For Vygotsky, social interactions were far more important at critical developmental junctures. Vygotsky would also see Genie as deprived of the ability to engage in higher level thoughts by virtue of being deprived of language. "According to Piaget, language depends on thought for its development (i.e. thought comes before language). For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the beginning of life, merging at around three years of age, producing verbal thought (inner speech)" (McLeod 2014).

Q2. Explain Genie's behaviors from the video in terms of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

There is one point in the video where she regresses after having a bad experience. Using the hierarchy of needs, how can you explain this?

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, if an individual's lower-order needs such as the need for security are unsatisfied, the individual will not be able to think about and pursue higher-level needs such as the need for social interaction. When Genie's lower-order need for security was threatened she was unable to focus on higher-order needs such as connecting with the interviewer in a social way. "According to Maslow, an individual is ready to act upon the growth needs if and only if the deficiency needs are met" (Huitt 1999).

Q3. Genie's language development seemed to hit a point where it was not going to develop any further. To what do you attribute her hitting this "wall"? Do you think she may have been able to develop better language skills if she had had more time to do so? Why?