ASSIGNMENT ON

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES - CONCEPTS

AND DETERMINANTS

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY – LEARNER

M.A. EDUCATION – 1ST SEM

(2020 – 2022)

SUBMITTED BY
HOPE WILSON AGBEZUKE

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

UNVERSITY OF LUCKNOW
Introduction

An English biologist in the 19th century, Thomas Huxley, opined that

“individuals play out their lives in different ways”. This means that

the life of every person is dissimilar or not the same. No two persons

are alike. All individuals differ from each other in many ways.

Children born of the same parents, and even identical twins are not

alike. They differ in such aspects as temperament, height, weight,

complexion, strength, intelligence, achievement, interest, attitude,

aptitude, learning habits, motor skill, etc. Every person has the

emotions of love, anger, fear and feelings of pleasure and pain, but

how each person responds to it varies.

Differential psychology is linked with the study of disparity in

individuals. Wundt, Cattel, Kraepelin, Jastrow and Ebbing Haus are

some of the advocates of differential psychology.

Definition

The definitions of individual differences point out the reality of traits

that distinguish individuals. For example, The Encyclopedia of

Social Psychology (Baumeister & Vohs, 2007) defines individual

differences in terms of enduring psychological characteristics as

“the more-or-less enduring psychological characteristics that

distinguish one person from another and thus help to define each

person's individuality”. Among the most important kinds of

individual differences are intelligence, personality traits, and values.

The Sage Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Sullivan,

2009) has a definition of individual differences that is particularly

geared towards learning.

They define individual disparity as “how individuals differ in traits

such as skills, aptitudes, and abilities to learn and perform”. Learners

may vary in their personalities, motivations, and attributions for their

successes and failures when learning—all of which may affect how

and why they learn. Additionally, they differ in their preferences for

learning and their willingness to learn.

Some traits may be more adaptive, whereas others are stable and less

malleable, or resistant to change, especially as an individual matures

to adulthood. Examples of stable traits are gender, culture, and race.

Traits that may be more malleable, or adaptive, could include effort

 and attributions of success and failure, among others. Individual

differences may be considered in making learning environment

educationally appropriate, interesting, and relevant.

Determinants of individual differences

Causes or determinants of dissimilarity in people can be broadly

categorised or classified into two headings. They are hereditary or

inheritance, and environmental or acquired.

1. Hereditary

These are mostly characters that are passed on to children by their

parents through genes. Thus, the individual inherits these features

from his parents. They are also called genetic traits.

Some hereditary traits bring a change from one individual to the

other. An individual’s height, body size, shape and colour of hair,

 shape of face, nose, hands and legs, or the entire structure of the

body is determined largely by his hereditary qualities. Intellectual

differences are also to a great extent influenced by hereditary factor.

How the individual applies his cognitive prowess in approaching and

solving problems has a history from the genes he received from his

parents. It should be noted that some of these characters could also

be inherited from grandparents or great grandparents.

Emotionally, there are some people who are highly temperamental

whiles others are not. Heredity has an influence on such behaviour

traits as well.

2. Environment:

Environment brings individual differences in behaviour, activities,

attitude, and style of life characteristics and also the individual’s

entire personality. Environment does not refer only to the physical

surroundings but also, it refers to the different types of people, the

society, their culture, customs, traditions, social heritage, ideas and

ideals.
 The individual’s race and nationality also are contents of the

environmental factors. Religion as well as educational settings also

influence the various patterns and style of life of a person.

“The entire personality or lifestyle of a man is the sum total of

his hereditary and environmental contributing factors”

Educational Implications

The school, educational administrators, curriculum developers,

teachers and even the students themselves have a role to play in the

structuring of the educational system to accommodate the concept and

importance of individual differences. This could be made possible

through the following ways.

a) Aims of education, curriculum, method of teaching, etc. should

be linked with individual differences considering the variations

in abilities and traits of the individuals.

b) The use of different teaching methods should be highly

embraced to carry every student along with lessons being taught.

 c) Introduction of such co-curricular activities as drama, music,

literary activities (Essay & Debate Competition) and different

forms of sporting activities to nurture individual talents.

d) In case of vocational guidance, the counsellor is to plan the

guidance technique keeping in view the needs and requirements

of the students.

e) Students should be encouraged to accept themselves and their

abilities and get motivated to improve on them. The world is not

stationary.

Reference

Aggarwal, J. C. (2003). Essentials of Educational Psychology, 3rd Edition. Vikas.

Santrock, J. W. (2018). Educational Psychology (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Boyle, G. J., Matthews, G., & Saklofske, D. H. (2008). The SAGE Handbook of Personality

Theory and Assessment: Personality Theories and Models (Volume 1) (1st ed.).

SAGE Publications Ltd.

Shrivastava, T. (2016, June 18). Individual Differences: Meaning and Causes | Educational

Psychology. Psychology Discussion - Discuss Anything About Psychology.

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