differentiation in psychology can refer to different concepts depending on the context. It can mean the ability to balance autonomy and attachment, and to separate oneself from destructive influences. It can also mean the branch of psychology that studies individual and group differences in behaviour along a continuous scale. Additionally, it can mean the developmental process when a skill becomes more sophisticated and broken into subsets. Finally, it can mean the fundamental tenet of differential psychology that individual differences are worthy of study in their own right.
