Interpersonal Differentiation

On numerous occasions, psychology studies the basic cognitive processes that occur in all human beings in a similar way, albeit with certain nuances. We can affirm that in these cases psychology seeks the link of union between individuals in order to obtain a general vision of man. However, there are some cognitive processes that determine interpersonal differentiation, for example personality.

The discipline that deals with studying these factors is the psychology of individual differences or differential psychology.

It is a scientific discipline that tries to answer why human beings are very similar to each other, but at the same time they are very different. In other words, its goal is to explain which processes and factors underlie interpersonal differentiation .

If there were no studies on this, in fact, we would encounter considerable difficulties when explaining human conduct. This is due to those factors that largely modulate behavior and cognition. Studying the differences helps us to understand their causes and to identify the higher processes that determine them.

The factors of interpersonal differentiation

According to the various studies conducted, the two factors of interpersonal differentiation par excellence are personality and intelligence. Depending on the type of personality or the distinct cognitive abilities, we observe one conduct or another. There are, however, other factors of interpersonal differentiation that we will see below.

The interests

Interests are a very important factor in the study of interpersonal differentiation. We can define them as affective inclinations or preferences for certain activities, areas, knowledge or pastimes. With certain nuances, interests somewhat predict the perceived direction and agreeableness of conduct.

Interests have three basic characteristics:

• They are of a directive or conative nature, that is, they induce the person to perform a certain action.

• They have a certain degree of intensity. This will depend on the energy invested by the individual in a conduct, as well as on the affective reaction and activation deriving from it.

• They are dynamic. They appear, change, are strengthened or lose strength through the continuous interaction of the individual with the environment.

The study of interests has a strong impact in educational psychology, as knowing the interests of pupils helps to make education more interesting and to a great extent improve educational quality. Their study is also useful for us to understand why children show different interests and different degrees of attention towards the same subject.

Cognitive styles

This interpersonal differentiating factor arose from the need to explain the different levels of performance shown by people in various fields.

Traditional intelligence tests hardly explain individual variability when we approach different activities. An attempt was also made to explain it through the personality, an attempt that proved equally insufficient. Following this, the construct of cognitive styles was formulated.

Cognitive style refers to the habitual way of processing information and using mental resources, such as perception, memory or learning. In summary, it represents the habitual model with which the individual faces a problem or an activity. Different cognitive styles determine greater effectiveness in certain activities than others.

Here are some examples of different dimensions that we can come across in reference to cognitive styles. Due to their breadth, there is not enough space in this article to define them, but they serve as an introduction to the concept.

• Field dependence vs field independence
• Leveler vs sharpener
• Impulsive vs reflexive
• Viewer vs recorder
• Visual vs apathetic
• Serial vs holistic

Learning styles

Just as the cognitive style represents the habitual model through which we face a problem, the learning style is the habitual way in which we approach the task to be learned. In other words, they are those learning strategies and resources that we use when we are about to acquire new knowledge or new behaviors.

These styles arise from a strong interaction between the person and the context. The influence of socialization and natural preferences for one style over another seem to be the factors that explain the genesis of different learning styles.

Psychologist David A. Kolb has formulated a taxonomy of learning styles, which has gained great recognition from the scientific world. It’s the following:

• Divergent. They are those profiles who adopt many points of view, are good at generating ideas, have broad cultural interests, etc. These are people who are effective in artistic activities or tasks.

• Assimilative. They are people who contemplate a wide range of information, logical, interested in the world of ideas and abstract, but not in the practical aspects of theories and ideas. They are proficient in science or information-based disciplines.

• Convergent. They stand out for the practical uses of ideas and theories. They tend to be more adept at solving technical problems than interpersonal ones; finally, they are very well versed in technological subjects.

• Accommodating. They are those people who handle information in a practical way. They plan, are looking for new experiences, and tend to be visceral and good at interpersonal relationships. They are skilled action-oriented professionals (sales, marketing…).

The psychology of individual differences offers us numerous ideas to better understand ourselves. In this article it was possible to learn what are the factors of interpersonal differentiation, or those elements that most distinguish us from each other. However, this branch of human study is extremely broad and much more remains to be discovered.