What does it mean when the standard deviation is 1?

A standard deviation is a statistical measure of the variation there in a population or group. A standard deviation of 1 means that 68% of the members of the population are withing plus or minus the value of the standard deviation from the average. For example: assume the average height of men is 5 feet 9 inches, and the standard deviation is three inches. Then 68% of all men are between 5' 6" and 6' which is 5'9" plus or minus 3 inches. [Note: this is only to illustrate and is not intended to be a real/correct statistic of men's heights.]