In this article we will talk about the case of John Ssabunyaa character unknown to many, but with a curious and fascinating story.
After all the reflections in the debate on this strange case of the Ugandan boy who spent a long period of his life at the age of 5 in a community of vervet monkeys, it is clear that the final and general conclusion is that in the development Neither the human nor the biological, nor the social, nor the systems, nor the ecosystems, by themselves, would have achieved the conformation of an individual, which in its development becomes increasingly complex (Autopoiesis).
All of them in close interrelation are the causes of the conformation of each one of us throughout life, since as it has been well said in the module: “the human being is a being without a final stage”.
John built his new reality through his interaction with the environment, adapting his behavior to external demands and external stimuli (exogenous factors) that he received in his new ecological-social niche, assimilating new patterns of behavior and action.
The influence of both endogenous and exogenous factors, not only in children, but also in the constant development that, in my opinion, every human being has, is proven. From birth, in the growth and development of the child there is an interaction between heredity (endogenous factor: genetics, which determines its size, morphology, etc.) and the environment (psycho-affective environment, lifestyle, etc…). The child is related to the objects of culture (exogenous factors), but in these relationships he is not alone, but rather they are mediated by those established with other people and with the environment in which he develops.
The internal (endogenous) already formed plays a role at a certain moment, acquiring important strength and independence as a condition for the continuity and further complex formation of psychological systems. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, that the child is immersed in an environment of adequate external stimulation that leads to a developmental education as a human being.
Therefore, biological development is ruled out as the only determining factor in the ontology of the child, even though this marks the different times in which it matures. If it were otherwise, the differences between siblings would only be physical, because they come from the same parents, but their personalities as long as they developed in the same environment would be the same or almost the same, and the reality is not like that.
Likewise, it should not be neglected that the influence of endogenous and exogenous factors can be positive but also negative. In the case of John, the environment in which he was immersed: the family member, with an unstructured, very aggressive and unstable environment, had a negative influence on him, causing him the need to flee, with no return, to a completely unnatural and hostile environment for him. In the first instance. Although he reacted by imitation to what he had seen on previous occasions, the boy knew that he could return to the tribe once the danger had passed, but he did not.
And why didn’t he come back? In my opinion, when he entered into a community of monkeys (vervet), who did not reject him but accepted him as one more, playing tag with him, he preferred to remain there. It is at this moment, when the influence of endogenous and exogenous factors begins to take place in his new environment, as his body has to adapt to the new diet, to climb trees (by imitation), etc…
The influence of a medium, which was not his natural one, could also be an influential cause in the delay in the development of abilities typical of his species, such as the development of the quality of language, reasoning, according to the author’s words , “suffers a certain mental retardation” and of his adoptive parents Paul and Molly, “the boy is still shy and not very talkative.” Could we point out that the cause of this behavior is because it is his “personality”, what we colloquially call “his way of being”? Or is the “certain” delay, mentioned by Ferrer, a product of the influence of the environment? (exogenous factor) that, in a fundamental stage of his life, did not offer him the necessary stimuli for him to continue his development, maturation?.
Following the systemic approach (L.Von Bertalanffy and Weiss), “organisms, especially children, are open systems, changes being produced by the interaction between their state and an external disturbance”. Weiss talks about restoration – of this regulation of organization and behavior after non-destructive disturbances. In John’s case, there was a change of status, at the time he left for the vervet community, triggered by the “disturbance” of the unnatural environment for him. Once back in the village, it would be the autopoietic system or production of the organization, the key to the “reorganization” of its development in its different stages. What one might ask is if those disturbances he suffered while in the jungle were destructive and prevented the reorganization of systems in John. From what the author says, it seems that they were not so. John has even participated in a children’s soccer championship, representing Uganda. Although we cannot deny that the absence of adequate external stimuli at such an important moment of development in his life, can be decisive in the appearance of emotional, language, psychomotor disorders, etc…
Making a brief reference to the structure-behavior loop in development: many of these changes are ruled by biology, programmed by the evolutionary history of our species (language, sexual maturation…) but others are triggered by socialization. Both involve transformations in the organic structure and in the apparatus of the mind.
As genetic development progresses, changes in behavior occur. Thanks to his progress in his ability to master a certain skill, his adaptation to the environment will be better, becoming more and more efficient, by giving himself what has come to be called “feedback”, that is, improving behavior entails an experience that reverts to the organic structure (recursive loop).
In the case at hand, we can see this phenomenon reflected in John’s words when he says: “at first I couldn’t run like the monkeys, but then I did”.
As a final reflection, I would say that in the natural environment of human beings there is an eminently social dimension that produces different stimuli and disturbances. The impact of both gives rise to a considerable diversity of development pathways. Biology will define and develop the abilities of language, locomotion, etc…, but socialization will be what triggers mental development, the learning of rules, both explicit and implicit, of behaviors, modes of mental operation, etc… Genetically, the innate capacities are there, but the use of one or the other for cultural reasons, the external stimulation of one or the other, will result in their development or inhibition.
As Piaget and Vygotsky point out: reality is built by the human being in constant and continuous interaction with his environment, although the former approaches it from internal processes and Vygotsky explains it through the mediation of the environment.
And also, following Vygotsky, “personal humanity depends not only on genes but on the relationship and interaction with more people.”
One last note, a very interesting reflection of this story is the question of what it means to be human, and if one of us can exist outside of the social context. And then again, what would those monkeys think?