What does “Genie’s” final outcome tell us about language (and emotional) development?

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ASSIGNMENT

Chomsky’s Theory of Language Development discusses “critical periods” for learning language. Following from this theory, disruptions during critical periods should negatively affect the development of language.

Unfortunately, there are some examples from real life to demonstrate this hypothesis. Please link to and read the following regarding both a very recent and an historic case:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4758945&page=1

Here are some additional, optional resources on Genie:

http://documentarystorm.com/secret-of-the-wild-child/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2112gchild.html

Obviously, these are both horrific cases of child abuse.

1.) What does “Genie’s” final outcome tell us about language (and emotional) development?

2.) What cues can educators take from these tragic cases?

Introduction

This lesson will explore the emotional and communication development of children. Firstly, we will discuss the theories of emotional development. We will then look at how emotion develops in two main stages: primary emotions which include joy, anger and fear, and secondary emotions which comprise the self-conscious emotions. We will then move onto attachment theory where we investigate how the different kinds of caregiver-infant relationships either create secure or insecure attachments, and the impact of these attachments on child development. In the second part of the lesson, we will explore language and communication development. We will cover how this development is socially facilitated, as well as the components of language and communication. Lastly, we will discuss the social use of language.

Emotional Development

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· Emotions

Emotions have many important functions and have a significant impact on child development. Emotions are internal responses to the environment, that are accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes. For instance, sadness may be accompanied by a change in heart rate and release of cortisol, a stress hormone. Learning how to interpret other’s emotions is also a key aspect of development.

Development of Emotional Expression

While most mothers agree that they can detect emotions in the first month of their baby’s life (Johnson, Emde, Pannabecker, Stenberg, & Davis, 1982), the Maximally Discriminative Facial Movement (MAX) coding system developed by Izard, Fantauzzo, Castle, Haynes and Slomine (1995), determines infant emotions based on their body movements and facial expressions.

PRIMARY EMOTIONS

JOY

GENDER AND NATIONALITY DIFFERENCES

LAUGHING

Fear and Other Emotions

· FEAR

· STRANGER DISTRESS

· INTERACTIONS

· OTHER EMOTIONS

Fear is the second predominant primary emotion. Fear of strangers emerges around the same time that infants begin to show positive emotion to familiar people. According to Sroufe (1996), at around three months, infants begin to be wary when they are exposed to new situations because they have difficulty assimilating and comprehending the unfamiliar. From around seven months, this wariness turns into outright fear and distress.

Knowledge Check

1

Question 1

Please select the two correct statements that refute the genetic-maturational perspective’s argument that biological factors determine how children react and regulate their emotions.

The rate of infant smiling is related to the rate of caregiver stimulation.

Babies begin to smile at 46 weeks from conception, whether they were born premature or full-term.

Stranger distress is not universal since it does not occur in cultures in which caregiving is shared among multiple relatives.

From about eight weeks, babies begin to look a lot at the mouth and respond to smiles.

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Secondary Emotions

Secondary emotions function to identify and coordinate the role of the individual’s responsibility in a situation that involves other factors and/or people. Secondary emotion are self-conscious emotions that describe the individual’s perception of their relatively superior or inferior position. Secondary emotions emerge from around the second year (Saarni et al., 2006).

Emotional reactions differ from child to child, and are a consequence of temperament and environmental factors – particularly parental modeling. High negative emotionality results in more adjustment difficulties, depression and behavioral problems, while children with positive emotionality have high self-esteem, social competence and less adjustment issues.

PRIDE AND SHAME

GUILT

JEALOUSY

JEALOUSY OF PARENTAL ATTENTION

Identifying Emotions in Others

Infants initially learn to interpret other’s emotions by observing caregiver facial expressions. Research suggests that babies recognize caregiver joy before they are able to recognize anger – similar to how babies first express joy and only later express anger (Izard et al., 1995). As children get older, they more accurately discern between genuine and inauthentic smiles (Del Giudice & Colle, 2007).

Experiences Impact Emotions

Children’s early experiences impact their ability to recognize emotions. For example, children who have experienced high levels of threat and hostility recognize anger more quickly and sadness more slowly than other children (Pollak & Sinha, 2002). Children from cultures that value group harmony and focus on other’s feelings, such as China and Mexico, are more capable than Australian and U.S. children at recognizing other’s emotions (Cole & Tan, 2007).

Emotional Regulation