Personality and Sociocultural Retardation

Abstract

This article presents some of the evidence indicating the importance of noncognitive variables in determining how well the socioculturally retarded child will achieve in structured testing and scholastic situations. Socioculturally retarded children come from intellectually and experientially restricted environments, and such environmental restrictions appear to influence the personality structures of these children. They approach formal testing and scholastic situations with poor achievement motivation, with little expectation for success and high expectation of failure, with heightened anxiety, with poor self concepts, and with a need for emotional nurturing. These noncognitive variables influence learning so that consideration must be given these factors along with the consideration given to cognitive variables in formal academic programs.