Ravi and his best friend Sameer, both in Class XII, take part in an interpersonal judgment exercise. On a sheet, each boy first rates himself and then the other on qualities such as friendly, tense, sincere, pleasant and open to new ideas. They use a five-point scale that runs from very low to very high on the quality. Ravi rates himself 4 on 'Friendly', but Sameer rates Ravi only 2 on it. Later the two boys exchange sheets, copy each other's ratings and work out the gaps between the ratings.
Suppose all of Ravi's Column 4 entries turn out to be zero. What would this show?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Sameer sees Ravi on every quality just as Ravi sees himself
Option (1) Ravi has rated himself very high on every quality — Incorrect. A zero gap says nothing about how high the ratings are. Ravi could rate himself 2 and still get zero if Sameer also gives 2.
Option (2) Ravi rates Sameer exactly as Sameer rates himself — Incorrect. Ravi's ratings of Sameer are in Ravi's Column 2 and are not part of Ravi's Column 4. Matching on that side would show up on Sameer's sheet.
Option (3) Sameer sees Ravi on every quality just as Ravi sees himself — Correct. Column 4 is Column 3 (Sameer's rating of Ravi) minus Column 1 (Ravi's rating of himself). A zero on every quality means the two views match, so Sameer knows Ravi well.
Option (4) Sameer has rated Ravi very low on every quality — Incorrect. Low ratings from Sameer give zero only if Ravi rates himself equally low. Zero shows agreement.
NCERT (2026-27): “After you and your friend have completed the ratings, copy Column 2 ratings from your friend’s sheet on your sheet, under Column 3. Compare Column 3 ratings with” “Column 1 ratings in the case of each quality. Ask your friend to do the same task – that is, copy Column 2 ratings from your sheet on her/his sheet, under Column 3, and compare these ratings with her/his Column 1 ratings. Enter Column 3 minus Column 1 under Column 4.” |