ABSTRACT
An examination of how psychologists have conceptualized social skills leaves the reader with two distinct impressions. The first concerns the description of what the socially skilled individual does, a point upon which consensual agreement is evident. In essence, this person is one who behaves effectively in social interactions, with effectiveness defined relative to the context of an interaction (Hersen & Bellack, 1977). The second impression concerns the delineation of the skills exercised in the production of socially effective behavior. The definition of social skills, however, is plagued by considerable conceptual ambiguity. These skills have been variously conceptualized in terms of motoric or verbal elements, cognitive capabilities, regulation of arousal or some combination of these three factors (Curran, 1977; Linehan, 1979). One problem consistently encountered in definitional attempts reflects the context-specificity of social behavior. As pointed out by Curran (1977), for instance, teaching people specific behaviors does not guarantee that they will use them in situationally appropriate ways. Any definition of social skills would have to account for the situational specificity of social effectiveness. In a similar vein, Hersen and Bellack (1977) state that “the socially skilled individual is attuned to the realities of the situation and is aware when he is likely to be reinforced for his efforts” (p. 512). In the light of these concerns, some clinical approaches to training social effectiveness have focused on the acquisition of discriminating skills. From this perspective, for example, training in assertiveness should include teaching people to identify situations in which assertive behavior is appropriate (Lange & Jakubowski 1976).
