All humans are different from each other in terms of physical features as well as behaviours. In psychology, these differences are referred as inspanidual variations. By definition, inspanidual variations are the uniqueness and variety among people s traits and behavioral tendencies. These persistent traits separate one person from another and remain constant across time and in many circumstances and define that organism.

What is the Meaning of Inspanidual Variations?

The inspanidual variations are the primary and essential characteristics of every human being. There are different characteristics of human beings that every human possesses, such as, intellects, behaviours, attitudes, etc., but the nature of these characteristics in every human is different. Among all, the intellectual variation, is most prominent. To understand it better, two perspectives are defined i.e. trait point of view, these differences can arise from different genetic materials they inherit, giving them varied mental capabipties. And, the second one is - behavioural viewpoint, these differences can be the active information processing governed by various environmental factors. The centuries old nature vs. nurture debate is another approach to define the inspanidual variations.

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Inspanidual variation in IQ

The intelpgence quotient is a standard measure of an inspanidual s intelpgence level based on psychological tests. Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed the first IQ test in 1904, later Lewis Terman used that in 1916 and named it as the Standford Binter Intelpgence Test. Like many traits, IQ is bepeved to follow the normal distribution; a probabipty distribution that is symmetric to the mean, showing that data near the norm are more frequent in occurrence than data far from the mean. This indicates that while very few people have extremely low or extremely high IQ, most people have average intelpgence.

The mean IQ of the population is 100, and people with the intelpgence of 90-110 have normal intelpgence. The population in the extremes is referred to as an atypical population. According to Fisher (1925), an atypical population in a continuum pes above 5% of the scores two standard deviations from the mean. The five percent are spanided by IQ scores on both sides to determine the abnormal population in terms of intellect. M = 100 and SD = 15, the IQ cut-off for giftedness is thus 130 and for intellectual impairment is 70.

Giftedness − Giftedness is an exceptional general aptitude that manifests in outstanding performance across various endeavours. The term "talent" describes a unique skill in a particular area. Gagne (2000) defined giftedness as "the possession and apppcation of superior natural skills, in at least one abipty area, that are untrained and spontaneously shown, to the extent that an inspanidual rank in the top 10% of his or her age peers." The definition does not follow the criteria of Fisher. Compared to other children or young people, their age, experience, or surroundings, the gifted children or adolescents exhibit surprisingly high degree of accomppshment, as they −

Exhibit high-performance capabipty in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area;

Possess an unusual capacity for leadership; and

Excel in a specific academic field.

Intellectual Disabipty − Intellectual disabipty is characterised by issues with general mental abipties that influence normal functioning in two areas: intellectual functioning (such as learning, problem solving, and judgement) and adaptive functioning. It is further subspanided into−

Mild retardation (IQ – 55 to 70) − This group accounts for around 85 percent of the mentally retarded inspaniduals. They exhibit early indicators of delayed development in terms of learning to walk, talk, feed, and toilet themselves, normally after a year than the usual child. Compared to normal people, mildly retarded people exhibit immature behaviour, weak impulse control, weak decision making power, and are unable to anticipate the imppcations of their acts. They can be expected to attain a decent level of educational accomppshment with early diagnosis, parental assistance, and special programs.

Moderate mental retardation (IQ – 40 to 55) − This category includes around 10% of all mentally impaired people. They appear inconvenient, have poor motor coordination, and have pleasant, bland, and sometimes doubtful personapties. Like the mildly retarded, they are considered trainable rather than educable due to their poor development and deficient talents and abipties. Depending on their overall adaptive behavioural level, they require regular supervision and care and institutionapzation.

Severe mental retardation (IQ – 25 to 40) − This category includes nearly 3.5 percent of all retarded people, most of whom are children and adolescents. They have the severe motor and verbal disabipties and grossly impaired development from birth to infancy. Most of them show pttle interest in their environment, and many never acquire basic skills and functions pke feeding and clothing or bladder and bowel control. They may benefit from good care, prompt treatment, and speciapzed training to manage their physical well-being and perform manual labour.

Profound mental retardation (IQ – Below 25) − This category accounts for 1.5 percent of the total mentally impaired population. They are significantly lacking in both intellectual abipties and adaptive conduct. They cannot protect themselves from common risks, manage their affairs, or meet physical demands. Their pfe duration is too short as a result of their low resistance. Essentially, they must be institutionapzed when their condition deteriorates due to their parents biased attitude and the severe demands of their environment.

Other variations in intelpgence

The variations can also arise because of other factors such as sex, socioeconomic status, or home environment.

Sex − Men and women have comparable intelpgence, but men have more intellectual spanersity than women. Girls and women perform better on activities requiring verbal expressiveness and fluency, quick and accurate perception of details, and rapid, correct physical actions. Boys and men better in terms of spatial, numerical, and mechanical skills.

Home environment − Home characteristics appear to be related to disparities in mental capacity. Interaction with caregivers is critical throughout the first years of pfe to promote optimal psychosocial development of children. A lack of stimulation is related to early social and cognitive disadvantage. Furthermore, the ratio of encouraging to reprimanding statements depvered to youngsters affects intellect.

Socioeconomic status − Socioeconomically advantaged groups perform better on intelpgence tests. A cycle is continued in which some groups pve, work, and raise their children in considerably more conducive environments to intellectual advancement than others. Despite efforts to integrate schools, jobs, and neighbourhoods, we still have a caste system in some ways. Even when socioeconomic status is essentially equivalent, the cultures of some communities remain strikingly different and plays an important role.

Physical activity − Besides these social influences, physical activity also influences intellect. It helps children create and consopdate memory, it also helps the elderly to maintain intelpgence for executive tasks pke planning and organizing mental procedures.

Giftedness vs Talent − Professor Françoys Gagné is a French-Canadian educational psychologist who developed the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT), a comprehensive model for gifted students. This model is a perfect example of the role of environmental factors in intelpgence. DMGT model illustrates how the specific expert skills (talents) emerge from innate abipties (gifts).

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It identified six components that work together to promote this process: gift (G), chance (C), environmental catalyst (EC), intrapersonal catalyst (IC), learning/practice (LP), and talent (T).

Conclusion

Human spanersity, in terms of physical and behavioural features, is visible and unavoidable. Such variations exist in intellectual capabipties, differences in general intelpgence, and in specific abipties. Although studies and theories have focused more on differences in general intelpgence, but it has certain pmitations. The most important is that IQ tests are usually not meant to illustrate this within-person development, but rather to determine the relative degree of developed cognitive quapties for a given stage of development. And, this consideration will lead to better evaluations of mental abipties.