When members of a group compare themselves with members of another gr…

The correct answer is Option (2) → Deprivation

Option (1) Depersonalisation — Incorrect. Depersonalisation is a feeling of unreality and estrangement from one’s own self, one of the features of dissociative disorders. It concerns a single person’s experience, not a comparison between groups.

Option (2) Deprivation — Correct. This is relative deprivation, one of the major reasons for intergroup conflict. It arises when members of a group compare themselves with members of another group and perceive that they do not have what they desire to have, which the other group has; they feel they are not doing well in comparison to other groups. The option gives the second word of the full term, relative deprivation.

Option (3) Dissociation — Incorrect. Dissociation is the severance of the connections between ideas and emotions, with feelings of unreality and sometimes a loss or shift of identity. It is a process within a person, found in dissociative disorders.

Option (4) Displacement — Incorrect. Displacement is the phenomenon in which aggression caused by frustration is shown towards a weaker person who is unlikely, or unable, to react. It is about where anger is directed, not about comparing what groups have.

Note 1: Relative deprivation, as a cause of intergroup conflict, was there in the chapter ‘Social Influence and Group Processes’ of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, and is not there in the NCERT book (2025-26). Hence this question has been picked from the pre-rationalised NCERT.

Note 2: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2023 on 22-06-2023 (Slot 3).