Case study

The case of an isolated child

Socialisation is the means by which, in one sense, we become human and acquire the aptitudes and skills that allow us to function in society. If we are deprived of meaningful human contact and interaction the effects are often disastrous. There have been various myths about abandoned children reared by animals. However, there are few documented cases of individuals so isolated from human contact that the usual processes of socialisation were absent.

One such documented case of child isolation is that of ‘Anna’, an unwanted child who in the first weeks of her life was moved between various agencies and her grandfather’s farm where her mother lived (Davis 1988, p. 73). Anna was kept in the dark attic of her grandfather’s house for the first six years of her life. When she was found Anna was tied to a chair so she could hardly move, she was filthy, barely alive and could neither talk nor walk, as her mother had never talked to her, held her or played with her, rarely bathed her and had given her only enough milk to keep her alive. Anna did not laugh or cry, did not speak or know how to dress herself or even how to chew food. She was placed in a foster home and eventually began to walk and talk, play with other children, and wash and dress herself. Unfortunately, she never overcame the early neglect and died when she was ten years old (Davis 1947).

The story of Anna tells us something important about how we develop as human beings and about the importance of social interaction. Children who have endured social isolation at an early age show damage to their social, motor and language skills (Pines 1981). Without social interaction we are unable to learn our culture and acquire language.

References

Davis, K. 1947, ‘Final note on a case of Extreme Isolation’, American Journal of Sociology, 52, 5: 432-7.

Davis, K. 1988. ‘Extreme Isolation’ in J.M. Henslin (ed) Down to Earth Sociology Introductory Readings 5th edition, The Free Press, New York.

Pines , M. 1981, ‘ The Civilization of Genie’, Psychology Today, Vol. 15, September: 28-34.

Discussion questions

1. With reference to the work of Cooley and Mead discuss some of the reasons why ‘Anna’ failed to develop normally.
2. Visit the feral children website at www.feralchildren.com. What are the common developmental problems of some of these children?
3. After reading the above case study and those in the website cited above, state the case for the social constructionist version of the socialisation of children.

Case Study

Resocialisation and the Stanford Prison experiment

In 1971 an infamous experiment was conducted by Philip Zimbardo and colleagues in the psychology department of Stanford University, California. Twenty-four young, white men, all of them undergraduates, were selected from a group of volunteers for an experiment on prison conditions, responses to captivity and prison life. They were arbitrarily divided into two groups – the guards and the prisoners. The guards wore military style uniforms and carried batons while the prisoners wore loose smocks and wore thongs. Within a very short time the experiment got out of hand; the guards began to abuse their prisoners in a sadistic manner and the prisoners became distressed and depressed, and eventually a ‘prison riot’ erupted. The planned two-week experiment was called off after only six days.

While ethical guidelines today would prevent such an experiment being conducted, there has been continuing debate over whether any valid conclusions could be drawn from the study (particularly because the situation was highly contrived and the guard behaviour manipulated to create conflict with prisoners. Nonetheless, Zimbardo claimed that the experiment showed people’s behaviour could change drastically in response to environmental stimuli, particularly when supported by ‘legitimate’ and institutional authority. Put simply, a dehumanising environment can make good people do bad things, and thus deviant behaviour need not be the result of individual character traits.

References and further reading

Haney, C., Banks, W. C., & Zimbardo, P. G. 1973, ‘Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison’, International Journal of Criminology and Penology, Vol. 1, 69-97.

Haslam, S. Alexander & Reicher, Stephen 2003, ‘Beyond Stanford: Questioning a role-based Explanation of Tyranny’, Bulletin of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 18, 22-25.

Musen, K. & Zimbardo, P. G. 1991, Quiet Rage: The Stanford Prison Study, Stanford, CA: Psychology Dept., Stanford University. Palo Alto, CA, Documentary film. 

Stanford Prison experiment – official site: www.prisonexp.org/

Discussion questions

1. Go to one of the web sites that detail the Stanford Prison experiment. Using the work of Erving Goffman on resocialisation, discuss the ways in which imposed social conditions can change behaviour.
2. More recently parallels have been drawn between the Stanford Prison experiment and the abuse of prisoners in Iraq at the Abu Ghraib prison. Can you think of other instances of resocialisation leading to major changes in behaviour?