Genie: A Scientific
Tragedy
Book: Russ Rymer
Presentation: Courtney Neis
Irene
 Genie’s Mother
 Atlus, OK
 Felt she had 2 sets of parents – Mamaw an Dadaw
 Close to her mother
 Drought
 Move to Southern California
 Father found job at filling station, little hope for kids
 Non-traditional solution to poverty
Clark
 Genie’s Father
 Rough life
 Unemployed
 WWII – worked in aircraft assembly line
Marriage and Kids
 Early years appeared to be happy
 Clark was jealous and overprotective
 “My life came to an end on my wedding day” – Irene
 Clark didn’t want kids
 Four children – only 2 survived
 Child 1
 Irene beat during pregnancy
 Crying infuriated Clark
 Died at 2.5 months
 Child 2 - RH blood poisoning
 Child 3
 Healthy boy
 Development hindered – Neglect
 Saved by paternal grandmother
 Child 4 – Genie
 RH blood poisoning
 Development hindered
Clark’s Mother
 Clark was largely attached to his mother, despite not being there during
childhood.
 Supported him until he got job as a machinist
 Irene thought she was making a pest of herself
 December 1958 – The Accident. Clark’s mother got hit by a car while
crossing the street with her grandson to buy an ice cream cone.
 Afterwards, Clark started to change and was severely depressed
 A world without his mother, a world that did not care to adequately punish his
mother’s murderer, was a world he could live without
 Clark quit job and moved his family into his mother’s house
Home Life
 Irene was largely dependent on
Clark because of her blindness
 Son was allowed outside of house for
very little
 Sleeping arrangements – living room
 Clark dreaded people taking
advantage of his daughter
 Pediatrician pronounced her “a
retarded little girl with kernicterus”
 Clark believed his daughter was
profoundly retarded and needed
protection from evil of the world
Genie’s Home Life
 Confined to a small bedroom in back of house,
harnessed to an infant’s potty seat
 Left to sit on a chair – unable to move her fingers,
hands, feet, or toes
 At night, placed in sleeping bag which was
stationed to hold her arms stationary and placed in
a crib with wire mesh sides and a wire mesh cover
on top
 Little auditory stimulation – no TV or radio.
 Wasn’t allowed to make any noises
Genie’s Home Life cnt.
 Little to look at or touch – no carpet or pictures in room, windows covered
 “Entertainment”
 Two raincoats, “Partly Edited” copies of TV log, Cottage Cheese containe, Spool
of thread
 Diet
 Baby foods, Cereal, Soft boiled egg
 Clark was convinced she’d die before 12
 Promised Irene she could seek help for Genie if she lived past 12
Found
 Irene was searching for office of “Service for Blind” but accidentally
stumbled into the general social services office
 90% blind in left eye and 100% blind in right eye
 Social worker originally thought Genie was autistic
 Genie’s condition when found
 50 lbs
 Incontinent – no control over urination/defecation
 Couldn’t chew solid food/could hardly swallow
 Couldn’t focus eyes beyond 12 feet
 Salivated constantly
 Had almost 2 complete sets of teeth
 Showed no perception of heat/cold
 Couldn’t do anything requiring full extension of legs (hop, skip, climb)
 Vocab – probably less than 20 words
The Aftermath
 Clark and Irene were arrested and charged with child abuse
 Admitted to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles
 Clark committed suicide on the court date
 He left 2 notes – nothing for his wife or daughter
 For the police: “My son is out front with friends. He hasn’t the slightest idea of
what is going to happen”
 For his son: “Don’t take that shirt back. It’s for my funeral. You know where my
blue shirt is. Underwear in hall closet. I love you. Good bye and be good – Dad”
 Irene got off on a not guilty plea
New People in Genie’s Life
 Susan Curtiss & Victoria Fromkin
 Susan was a 1st year grad student in
linguistics department studying
language acquisition when her faculty
advisor, Victoria Fromkin, invited her into
the case
 David Rigler
 David was a professor of pediatrics and
psychology at University of Southern California and
the chief psychologist in the hospital’s psychiatric
division
New People in Genie’s Life
 James Kent (top right)
 One of the hospital psychologists
who visited Genie the first day she
arrived
 “As far as I’m concerned Genie was
the most profoundly damaged child
I’ve ever seen”
 Jay Shurley (bottom left)
 One of the first outside consultants
to visit Genie from Texas
 Brought 600 lbs of equipment for
investigating brain activity
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLCqeYKPnpc
:30 Bunny Walk
5:40 Talking
12:30
19:10
Critical Period & Language Acquisition
 Nature or Nurture
 Noam Chomsky – Language Acquisition
Device (LAD)
 Eric Lenneberg – Critical Period
Genie’s Progress in the Hospital
 Mental and physical abilities improved quickly
 She seemed oblivious to the people fighting over her
 After 2 weeks she was released to the hospital’s rehabilitation center
 Starting to develop a sense of self
 Starting to obtain speech
 Showing remarkable progress on intelligence tests
 May 1971 – consultants got together to consider her future under the terms
of the NIMH contract
 Therapy or Research? Opinions?
The Testing Begins
 June 4, 1971 – Genie meets Curtis and Fromkin
 New linguistic examinations
 One of the most tested children in history
 Genie spoke very little – whimpers or squeaks
The first publicly released picture of Genie,
taken just after California authorities took
control of her care at the age of 13.
Genie’s Summer with Jean Butler
 Jean volunteered to take Genie on
field trips
 Jean developed Rubella
 July 7 – “Isolation” Genie went to life
with Jean
 Genie was happy and progressing well
 Dispute with the “Genie Team”
 Jean – overprotective, restricting visits
 Genie Team – ambitious and insensitive
 Jean applied to be Genie’s foster
parent
Genie with David and Marilyn Rigler
 Genie’s new home – scientist
on the case
 3 children, a cat, golden
retriever puppy
 Genie was regressing
 Grant money and funding
 David Rigler released from
work at hospital
More Progress at the
Rigler’s
 Curtiss visited daily
 Uncooperative
 Compressing sentences
 “Monday Curtis come” = “Munkuh” – The Great Abbreviator
 Verbally slow
 Marilyn Rigler – unofficially in charge of teaching Genie how to behave
 Taught Genie how to chew food
 Enrolled in nursery school and later public school for the mentally retarded
 Speech therapy and some sign language
 “Genie Happy”
Annual Convention of the American
Psychological Association
 Anniversary of Genies arrival in foster home
 Symposium – chaired by David Rigler
 Howard Hansen – paper of Genies early life
 James Kent – 8 months in hospital
 Marilyn Rigler – the past year “Adventure: At Home
with Genie”
 Fromkin, Curtis, and Krashen – Genie’s language skills
 Development indicated language acquisition can
occur after 5 and the onset of puberty
 Dubunk Eric Lenneberg’s theory?
 Lenneberg had no interest in studying Genie
Summary of Progress
 Difference between singular and plural nouns
 Difference between positive and negative sentences
 Some prepositions
 Understood yes/no questions
 Somewhat use possessives
Summary of Progress Cnt.
 Normal children quickly learn how to form negative sentences – Genie was
stuck in the beginning stage for almost 3 years
 Couldn’t ask a real question
 Ex: “Where is may I have a penny?”
 Problem with pronouns
 “I” her favorite
 “You” and “Me” were interchangeable
 Skill leveled out almost immediately
 Failures made many believe Genie was retarded
 Curtis was not convinced – she was smart
 She could categorize – some thought key to learning language
 Advanced in mental age
 “Being with Genie wasn’t like being with a retarded person. It was like being with
a disturbed person. She was the most disturbed person I’d ever met. But the
lights were on. There was somebody home.” - Curtiss
Video
(7:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjZolHCrC8E#t=382
 Trips to Temple City
 Most promising case of 20th century to perhaps one of the most tested
children in history
 NIMH found the lack of progress troubling
 One year extension
 Rigler applied for another grant
 Application was denied
 “Very little progress has been made”
 “The research goals projected probably will not be realized”
 On the “bright” side…
 Without funds, Riglers would have to terminate their foster relationship with
Genie
New Homes For Genie
 Home to Irene
 Irene found it difficult to live with her daughter
 Riglers had some money to help – summer camp
 November 7 – new foster home
 Irene’s visits were seen as disruptions
 Genie regressed – seemingly intentionally
 Quit speaking – fear of vomiting
 At a poolside BBQ they saw how bad Genie had regressed
 “I want live back in Marilyn house”
 A new grant – more testing
 Genie was placed back in the hospital for two weeks and then entered a
new foster home
 Temporary home over the Christmas holiday
 Another “permanent home”
 One home refused visitation
 Curtis advocated for Genie
 Letter to John Miner
 March 20, 1978 – Irene regained control of her daughter
Curtiss’ Dissertation
 Irene’s reaction
 Hurt by the term “Wild Child”
 “It made me sick at the stomach. I was sick you know, when I saw those things,
you know, in print. It takes a lot to make me sick” – reaction to description of
Genie’s home life
 Irene’s “corrections”
 I was not frequently beaten, 2 times in the last year. He did try to kill me 1 time
 Genie was able to move her arms, legs, bend forward and to the side
 Genie was able to move her arms with the sleeping bag on, it was not a
straitjacket. It was an oversized infant’s crib with wire screen around the sides.
There was a wire screen on top but I never used it.
 Genie did hear speech, our home is very small.
 Her father did not beat her
 Her father did not bark to her face
 Most Importantly: Genie was not forgotten
The Lawsuit
 October 1979 – lawsuit accusing –
Hansen, Knapp, David Rigler, James
Kent, Susan Curtiss, and the children’s
hospital
 Accused them of multiple infractions
of patient-therapist and patientphysician confidentiality
 Accused scientists of performing
unethical human experimentation
 Faulted John Miner for not protecting
Genie from harm while he was her
guardian
 Asking for compensatory and punitive
damages
Reactions to the Lawsuit
 Testing regimen of 60-70 hours/week
 It was fun, Genie thought most of this as a game
 Susan Curtis - “My test periods were never more than 45 minutes on a given
day, the rest was playing, going for walks, just being friends”
 Scientists were shocked
 David Rigler – The mystery became clear for him
 Jean Butler
 Jean stayed in the shadows
 Irene didn’t sound like herself
Lawsuit (continued)
 Case lasted 6 years
 Time dulled the complaint
 Case finally almost settled – Jean wanted Irene to decline the offer
 Complaint was “dismissed” or rather “upheld”
 Curtiss agreed to direct a program for Genie
 Children’s hospital agreed to give yearly physical and psychiatric
evaluations
 Full access to and use of Genie’s records were granted
 Curtis relinquished the fund she had set aside for Genie
 No other financial penalties
Where is Genie now?
 Adult foster care home
 Southern California
 Little is known about current condition
 Private investigator - happy
 Jay Shurley’s visits
 Largely silent
 Depressed
 Chronically intitutionalized
Discussion
 Reactions/Thoughts?
 What kind of problems do you think arose having Rigler as a scientist on her
case and one of her primary care givers?
 What could they have done, or what would you do differently, that would
have benefited Genie in better ways?
 If this were a case today, how do you think it would be handled?
 How should the ethics of a case such as this be handled?