Human variability, or human variation, is the range of possible values for any measurable characteristic, physical or mental, of human beings. Differences can be trivial or important, transient or permanent, voluntary or involuntary, congenital or acquired, genetic or environmental. This article discusses variabilities that characterize a person for all or much of his or her lifetime, and are perceived as not purely learned or readily changed (such as religion, language, customs, or tastes). Each person being different is so essential a part of human experience that it is difficult to even imagine a human existence in which other people are identical. Furthermore, the social value put on these differences by the society in which one lives affects every aspect of a person's life.
Read more about Human Variability: Sources of Human Variability, Social Significance and Valuation of Human Variability, Common Human Variations
Famous quotes containing the words human and/or variability:
“... everybody who is human has something to express. Try not expressing yourself for twenty-four hours and see what happens. You will nearly burst. You will want to write a long letter or draw a picture or sing, or make a dress or a garden.”
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985)
“The grand points in human nature are the same to-day they were a thousand years ago. The only variability in them is in expression, not in feature.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)