ABSTRACT
The social environment affects a child's educational development continually, particularly with regard to achievement. Motivation for achievement in any direction is intertwined with the child's self-concept. This in itself is largely dependent upon the opinions of people who are important to the child. Parents' expectations and aspirations for their children can have a remarkably self-fulfilling effect. A child's emotional reaction to success or failure, and indeed the scope of his frame of reference, as well as his self-confidence, may have other causes than parental approval or disapproval. These include inherited personality factors or the general social culture. Personality can be measured through behaviour, such as responses to a test situation. It has both inherited and socially induced aspects. Personality and environment react constantly, but conflict and frustration, such that a person can survive reasonably, are the source of continuing development and a creative life.
