ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with an examination of the nature of skill, and in particular with the perspective that interpersonal communication can be viewed as a form of skill. In order to evaluate this perspective, it is necessary to relate the history of the study of interpersonal skill directly to the study of motor skill, since it was from the latter source that the concept of communication as skill eventually emerged. The extent to which this analogy can be pursued is then discussed, together with an analysis of the nature of social skill per se. Overall, therefore, this chapter provides a reference point for the entire book, by delineating the nature and defining features of interpersonal skill.
