Environment

The sociologists emphasize that the personality of the individual develops in a social environment. It is in the social environment, that he comes to have moral ideas, social attitudes and interests. This enables him to develop a social 'self which is another term for personality.

The important aspects of the environment are as follows:

(1) Physical Environment

It includes the influence of climatic conditions of a particular area or country on man and his living.

(2) Social Environment

The child has his birth in the society. He learns and lives there. Hence, the social environment has an important say in the personality development of the child.

(3) Family Environment

Family is the cradle of all social virtues. The first environment, the child moves in, is his home. Here the child comes in contact with his parents and other family member his likes, dislikes, stereotypes about people, expectancies of security and emotional responses all are shaped in early childhood.

The type of training and early childhood experiences received from the family play an important role in the development of personality.

Besides this, economic factors i.e., economic condition of the family and the type of relations between the parents also influence the personality of the child.

(4) Cultural Environment

The cultural environment refers to certain cultural traditions, ideals, and values etc., which are accepted in a particular society. All these factors leave a permanent impression on the child's personality.

(5) School Environment

Schools play an important role in molding the personality of the children because a significant part of a child's life is spent in school between the ages of 6 and 20 years. In the school, the teacher substitutes the parents.

The school poses new problems to be solved, new taboos to be accepted into the superego and new models for imitation and identification, all of which contribute their share in molding personality

In addition to the above there are many other social factors which influence the development of personality of a child which are as follows:-

(a) Language

Human beings have a distinctive characteristic of communication through language. Language is an important vehicle by which the society is structured and culture of the race transmitted from generation to generation.

The child's personality is shaped by the process of interaction through language with other members of his environment.

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