The ability to reflect upon oneself is called:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Reflexibility
Option (1) Subjectivity — Incorrect. Subjectivity means seeing things through one’s own feelings, opinions and position. It describes the viewpoint we start from, not the ability to turn round and examine that viewpoint.
Option (2) Objectivity — Incorrect. Objectivity means judging things without personal bias, by the facts alone. It is about how we look at the world outside, not about looking at ourselves.
Option (3) Reflexibility — Correct. Sociology can teach you how to look at yourself ‘from the outside’. This is called ‘self-reflexivity’, or sometimes just reflexivity: the ability to reflect upon yourself, to turn back your gaze, which is usually directed outward, towards yourself. This self-inspection must be critical, quick to criticise and slow to praise oneself.
Option (4) Socialisation — Incorrect. Socialisation is the process by which we are taught how to live in society by our families and community. It shapes us from outside; it is not the ability to reflect on ourselves.
Note: The concepts in Option (1), ‘Subjectivity’, and Option (2), ‘Objectivity’, are not in NCERT (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students.
NCERT (2025-26): “What may be of even more interest to you is that sociology can show you what you look like to others; it can teach you how to look at yourself ‘from the outside’, so to speak. This is called ‘self-reflexivity’, or sometimes just reflexivity. This is the ability to reflect upon yourself, to turn back your gaze (which is usually directed outward) back towards yourself. But this self-inspection must be critical – i.e., it should be quick to criticise and slow to praise oneself.” |