Genie's Cognitive Development Theory

1) Genie lacked proper speech; her words were unorganized and distorted. She had trouble grouping words together in order to create grammatically correct sentences. Genie was successful in learning and understanding some words in English and in American Sign Language, but was not able to fully master a first language. In addition to her speech problems, Genie possessed inhuman behavior. When she was first found, she had a strange bunny-like walk. She spat, clawed, and made strange noises. Her caretakers also discovered she was insensitive to cold temperatures. Genie also displayed delayed cognitive skills. She did not understand “proper” interactions with the physical world, she was unable to describe things using verbal labels, and had child-like reactions to the world despite her age.
2) Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory reflects Genie’s level of development in various ways. In the beginning of the film when Genie was first found, a butcher would visit and bring Genie a piece of an object. Genie would carefully examine the object using motor movements and sensations. This is similar to Piaget’s sensorimotor stage. Infants in the sensorimotor stage are aged from birth to 2 years and explore the world through their senses. …show more content…
In this stage, children start to use language to communicate, but do not have logical thought processes. Genie was discouraged from speaking as a child, and she did not have meaningful connections with others. She was unable to logically understand people’s actions and although she understood language, she lacked syntax. Genie remained egocentric like a child in the preoperational stage. She was not able to distinguish her viewpoint from others. Genie could not reason using abstract concepts or think in an organized, logical way. This means she did not reach Piaget’s last stages, the concrete-operational and formal-operational