The ability to put up with a situation in which individuals would have to compete with many others for even basic resources, including physical space is known as ______.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Competition tolerance
Individuals differ in how they react to crowding, and two kinds of tolerance explain these differences: crowding tolerance and competition tolerance.
Option (1) Crowding tolerance — Incorrect. Crowding tolerance is the ability to mentally deal with a high density or crowded environment, such as a crowded residence; people who grew up in a large family in a small house develop more of it. It is about living with many people around, not about competing with them for resources.
Option (2) Substance tolerance — Incorrect. Tolerance in substance use means the body needs ever greater amounts of a substance to feel its effects, as when people who abuse alcohol build up a tolerance for it. It has nothing to do with crowded settings.
Option (3) Competition tolerance — Correct. Competition tolerance is the ability to put up with a situation in which individuals would have to compete with many others for even basic resources, including physical space. A crowded setting raises the competition for resources, so the reaction to it is influenced by this tolerance.
Option (4) Density — Incorrect. Density is the number of persons within the available space, a feature of the setting, not an ability of the person.
Note 1: Crowding tolerance and competition tolerance were there in the chapter ‘Psychology and Life’ of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, and are not there in the NCERT book (2025-26).
Note 2: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2022 on 05-08-2022 (Slot 2).
NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “Crowding … Individuals differ in the degree to which they show negative effects of crowding, and also in the nature of these reactions. Two kinds of tolerance can be mentioned that may explain these individual differences, i.e. crowding tolerance and competition tolerance. Crowding tolerance refers to the ability to mentally deal with a high density or crowded environment, such as a crowded residence (a large number of persons within a small room). … Competition tolerance is the ability to put up with a situation in which individuals would have to compete with many others for even basic resources, including physical space. Since there is a greater possibility of competition for resources in a crowded setting, the reaction to that setting would be influenced by the extent of tolerance for competition for resources.…” “…It is related to density, that is, the number of persons within the available space.…” |