A common question related to sociology has to do with the nature of the human being versus the way in which it is posed. Is it known if he is a boy or a girl at birth, or is this distinction made based on the actions and words of those around him? How does prison affect a person’s functionality once they are released into the world? These questions are strongly related to nature vs. nurture: does a human enter the world with a basic human function or do they develop these functions as a result of those around them?
One subject that sociologists can study is feral children. These are children who were abandoned at a very young age, with death usually intended by the parents, but who were raised and cared for by animals. Sociologists found that children raised by animals acquired the instincts and behaviors of the species that raised them. An example of this occurred in the 1700s, when scientists at the time discovered a wild child known as “the wild child of Aveyron”. It was found in France in 1798, and it was observed that it walked on all fours, it did not indicate pain related to low temperatures and it pounced on small animals, voraciously devouring them raw. Although most sociologists will dismiss the importance of feral children due to the paucity of cases, it still teaches us a lesson that children must learn how to act at an early age. This essential time of youth is when children develop many essential social behaviors.
A slightly more common study is on isolated children. These are children who were raised by one person or a small group of people in an isolated area with little or no contact with a typical society. A girl, Isabelle, was raised by her deaf mute mother in her grandfather’s attic. Upon being discovered at the age of 6, it was discovered that she was unable to speak and rather relied on her gestures to communicate with her mother. She also had a disease called rickets as a result of improper diet and lack of sun. This basically made her legs useless. Her behavior with strangers, especially men, was like that of a wild animal. She treated them with fear and hostility, and could only make noise in the form of strange squawks. Initially, she scored near zero on an IQ test, but because Isabelle was discovered at such a young age, she was able to reach the expected level of learning for her age in two years. It is possible that the results of isolation can be reversed if the child is under the age of twelve. The main problem, however, was the lack of language, which is basic to all human interaction. All other interactions can be divided into subcategories for vocal communication.
These first two studies, isolated and feral children, can be seen through one of Charles Horton Cooley’s theories of human interaction. Cooley, who lived at the end of the 19th century, created a theory that summarized how human development occurs, capturing the theory in the concept of ‘the mirror self’. This theory had three main elements: we imagine how we appear to those around us, we interpret the reactions of others, and we develop a concept of ourselves. The basic gist is that we look at those around us and base our appearance and social interactions on what they do and expect. If a wild child is raised by animals, he will acquire the attributes of those animals. Likewise, an isolated child will base her actions on other isolated individuals or none at all, and will develop little or no basic interaction skills.
Even more common than isolated or feral children are institutionalized children. Two or three centuries ago, orphanages were very different from what they are now. The children were raised with little to no care on a strict schedule. In addition to this, children were often beaten, ragged, and denied food. As a result, children from orphanages tended to have difficulty bonding with others and had lower IQs. In one account of a fine Iowa orphanage in the 1930s, the children were raised in the nursery until around six months. They were placed in cribs that had high sides, effectively limiting their view of the world around them. No toys were hung from the cribs, nor were they held closely by the mother. The interaction they had was limited to nurses changing diapers, bedding, and providing medication. Although everyone assumed mental retardation was a “just born that way” problem, two sociologists investigated and followed the lives of children who grew up in this Iowa orphanage. HM Skeels and HB Dye began to understand that lack of mental stimulation it was depriving these children of the basic human interaction skills they needed to be effective members of society. In one study, they took thirteen children who were obviously retarded and assigned a retarded woman to take care of them. They also chose twelve children who would be raised in the orphanage in the usual way, and tested the IQs of both groups. It was noted that the first group developed an intense relationship with their respective ‘mothers’, and received much more
attention than their counterparts. While all of the children studied were still mentally retarded, the first group’s IQ was observed to increase by an astonishing average of 28 points. In an equally startling statistic, the other group’s average was found to have dropped by an average of 30 IQ points. This study demonstrated the importance of human interaction at an early age.
One last lesson can be drawn from private animals. These are animals that were deprived of their mother at a young age and raised in isolation. A famous study on this subject was conducted by Harry and Margaret Harlow, who raised a baby monkey in isolation. They built two ‘mothers’ for their monkey, one that was a wire frame with a nipple from which the monkey could nurse, and one that was covered in soft cloth. They found that although the first mother provided food, the baby clung to the soft mother when he was frightened, showing that the monkey was most comfortable through intimate physical contact, or hugging.
When the monkey was introduced to a monkey community, he was shunned and had no idea how normal monkey civilization was structured. He didn’t know how to play normally with the other monkeys, nor how to have sex, despite several feeble attempts.
In conducting this study with female monkeys, they found that those who did become pregnant became ruthless mothers, hitting their babies, kicking them, or smashing them to the ground. These were monkeys that were raised in this isolated environment for years and had no chance of integration into society. Other monkeys were observed to overcome these disabilities with increasingly positive results: a corresponding relationship with the amount of time spent in isolation. Monkeys isolated for three to six months integrated relatively easily, while monkeys isolated for years suffered irreversible effects. When applied to humans, we understand that social interaction is key to a socially efficient product.
Ultimately, society makes us human. Babies do not naturally develop into adults, and social ideas are not transferred through DNA. Although the body can grow, the isolation makes them little more than animal mothers. In fact, a lack of language ability results in an inability to understand the relationships between people, such as father, mother, teacher, and friend. To become adults, children need to be surrounded by people who care for them. This process called “socialization” shows that we are created by those around us.
