As per psychologists, individual differences refer to -
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Distinctiveness and variations among people’s characteristics and behavior patterns
Option (1) Diversity and inclusion among people’s characteristics and behavior patterns — Incorrect. Diversity and inclusion are words of social policy, about accepting different people into a group. Individual differences are about how people differ, not about including them.
Option (2) Internal and external factors of people’s characteristics and behavior patterns — Incorrect. Whether behaviour is shaped by personal traits or by situational factors is a question about the causes of behaviour. It does not define what individual differences are.
Option (3) Distinctiveness and variations among people’s characteristics and behavior patterns — Correct. For psychologists, individual differences refer to distinctiveness and variations among people’s characteristics and behaviour patterns. Each one of us is unique in the combination of traits we show.
Option (4) Strengths and weaknesses of people’s characteristics and behavior patterns — Incorrect. Strengths and weaknesses describe one person’s profile. Individual differences compare people with one another.
NCERT (2025-26): “Individual Differences in Human Functioning … The question which you may like to pose is how and why people differ. This, in fact, is the subject matter of the study of individual dif ferences. For psychologists, individual differences refer to distinctiveness and variations among people’s characteristics and behaviour patterns. While many psychologists believe that our behaviours are influenced by our personal traits, some others hold the view that our behaviours are influenced more by situational factors.…” |