Individual Differences in Human Functioning

Individual differences exist inside and across all species. Nature is more colourful and beautiful because of variations. Consider a universe where everything is of the same colour; what would your impression of the world be? Not a lovely one! Would you like to live in a world like this? Your response will undoubtedly be ‘no.’ People, like things, have many combinations of characteristics. Individuals are no exception to the rule of nature’s variability. Physical traits include height, weight, strength and hair colour. People also differ at a psychological level. Individual differences are, in reality, the study of individual differences. According to psychologists, individual differences are related to the uniqueness and variability of people’s features and behaviour patterns. 

Intelligence: Individual Differences

What makes some people more intelligent than others? Is it a result of their genes, or is it the result of environmental factors? 

Nature and Nurture’s Role in Intelligence

Studies on twins and adoptive children provide the strongest evidence for inherited impacts on IQ. Identical twins raised together had an IQ correlation of about 0.90. Twins that were separated as children show a lot of similarities in their intellectual, mental and behavioural features. Identical twins raised in different surroundings correlate 0.72, fraternal twins raised together correlate to approximately 0.60, brothers and sisters growing up together to correlate around 0.50 and siblings raised apart to correlate about 0.25. Another line of evidence comes from studies of adopted children, which reveal that the IQ of adopted children is more comparable to that of their biological parents than that of their adoptive parents.

The original approach involved dividing a person’s mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100. The other approaches entail comparing scores to those of others in the same age group as the individual.

Psychometricians use a procedure called standardisation in this method to make it easy to compare and evaluate the significance of IQ results. This is performed by delivering the exam to a representative sample of people and utilising their results to create standards or norms, against which all individual scores may be compared.

Experts can rapidly compare individual test results against the median to see where they lie on the normal distribution because the median score is 100. This signifies that half of the scores are above and half are below the median. When it comes to IQ scores, the mean and median are both 100. Although classification methods differ from one publisher to the next, many use a similar ranking system.

In terms of the environment’s effect, research has shown that as children become older, their cognitive level tends to converge with their adopted parents. When children from low-income households are adopted into families with greater socioeconomic status, their cognitive scores skyrocket. There is evidence that poor nutrition, an impoverished family background, and bad schooling diminish IQ, whereas good nutrition, a good family history, and good schooling raise intelligence. Psychologists generally agree that individual differences result from a complex interplay between inheritance (nature) and environment (nurture). Heredity is best understood as establishing a range within which an individual’s growth is affected by the environment’s support and possibilities.

Individual Differences and their Causes

There are a variety of factors that contribute to individual variances.

Heredity

Some hereditary characteristics differentiate one personality from another. Genetic traits determine an individual’s height, size, form, hair colour, the shape of face, nose, hands and legs, in short, the overall body structure. Hereditary factors influence intellectual disparities, too, to a large extent.

Environment

The environment influences individual differences in behaviour, activities, attitude and lifestyle. The term “environment” encompasses the physical surroundings and the many sorts of people, society, culture, customs, traditions, social legacy, ideas or values.

Sex

Gender also plays a significant role in shaping an individual’s personality. Men have a lot of physical strength and are more analytical. On the other hand, women are considered more resilient mentally and score over men in memory, language skills, and even aesthetic sensibility. Women are better at shouldering social duties and have better emotional control than men.

Age

Individual variances are caused by a variety of factors, including age. With age, one’s ability to learn and change naturally improves. Maturity comes with age, and we have greater control over our emotions and become more socially responsible.

Education

Individual differences are brought about by various factors, one of which is education. The actions of educated and illiterate people are vastly different. Through good education, most human characteristics, including social, emotional and intellectual, can be regulated and modified.

Our attitude, behaviour, appreciation and personality all change due to this schooling. People who are illiterate are guided by their instincts and emotions, but their reasoning power guides those who are educated.

Conclusion

As a result, multidimensional activities may be used to address the issue of individual variances. As instructors, we must be mindful of individual distinctions among pupils, such as culture, ethnicity, IQ, languages, learning styles, etc. It’s because it can improve or hinder pupils’ comprehension of the educational environment. If aptitude grouping is not possible, or if the current structure of class instruction does not allow for it, a particular coaching and guiding program for both dull and bright students is quite beneficial. When planning the teaching and learning process in the classroom, these variables should be considered.