Social competence
Social competence refers to the ability to effectively navigate social interactions and public situations. It encompasses a range of skills, including the capacity to adapt communication to meet the needs of listeners, demonstrate empathy, and engage in perspective-taking. The importance of social competence is recognized across various psychological and developmental theories, highlighting its role in social adaptation and interpersonal relationships. Research on social competence began in the early 20th century, initially focusing on children's social interactions and their impact on behavior and relationships in school and beyond.
Throughout the years, the concept has evolved, with scholars exploring its correlations with other constructs like critical-thinking skills and mental processing. Various models and measurements have been developed to assess social competence, particularly in children, to identify those at risk of social difficulties. Factors such as culture, gender, and parenting styles are acknowledged as influential in shaping social competence. Additionally, interventions aimed at enhancing social competence often focus on developing problem-solving skills, emotional intelligence, and collaboration. Overall, while definitions and methods of measurement may vary, the core elements of social competence remain central to understanding successful interpersonal interactions.
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Subject Terms
Social competence
Social competence is the ability to behave in a satisfactory manner in public or interpersonal situations. In order to be socially competent, one must be able to able to adapt to listeners’ needs when speaking, have empathetic skills, be able to engage in perspective-taking skills, and be able to build upon their past interactions with others. Social competence is usually associated with other characteristics such as social skills, interpersonal communication, and social ability. Most psychological and developmental theories recognize that social ability is important for social adaptation and interpersonal relationships.
Background
Social competence research began in the early twentieth century to examine how children socialized with their cohorts. Researchers noticed that a child’s ability to socialize with others also affected their behaviors in school and later in adulthood. Early researchers viewed social skills as separate from social competence. They defined social competence as having rewarding interactions with others. Social competence was analyzed in various ways with other constructs such as critical-thinking skills, social cognition, and mental processing. Most of the studies done during this time period had validity and reliability issues. For instance, some studies were conducted in a lab setting where children had to identify emotions or to interact with the experimenter. Because there was not an agreed-upon definition of social competence, it was hard to compare the findings of other studies. Some scholars started to use the term relational competence interchangeably with social competence because they were very similar to each other.
It was posited that relational competence communicators are empathetic, they are committed to the message, and they can adapt appropriately to the communication. It was believed that relational competence happens when the focus is on the receiver of the message.
Researchers devised a relational competence component model, which includes skills, outcomes, knowledge, and motivation. Motivation is regarded as a means between rewards and costs in the conversation. Knowledge is defined as a trait construct that is viewed in terms of the information of the subject or the context of the conversation. In regard to skills, communication scholars believed that there are five common skills in regards to relational communication competence: Immediacy is a nonverbal concept that is related to how psychologically close a person feels toward the other person. This concept is related to closeness, bonding, affection, and inclusion. A person who is immediate will display behaviors of interest, attraction, and intimacy. Social anxiety is viewed as behaviors that display discomfort or fear in social interactions, such as shakiness or sweating. Interaction management is considered to be the way that individuals respond to each other and take turns communicating with each other. Expressiveness is the nonverbal and verbal behaviors that show that the participants are engaged in the interaction. Other-orientation is the ability to be attentive to and interested in the other person during the conversation.
There are many different models and measurements of social competence. Many of these models have been used to explain why some children do not display age-appropriate social skills and some have been used to describe how children obtain information in social interactions with others. These models were based on behaviors that help children gain peer acceptance or better relational outcomes with others. It is believed that children could recognize a social situation and select what strategies or behaviors they wanted to engage in during that time. Hence, most models of social competence explained how situations are presented, what behaviors are deemed appropriate and effective, and the implementation of those behaviors. By having this information, teachers and psychologists can help children improve their social knowledge and become more socially competent with others.
Overview
Social competence research has mainly focused on recognizing children who may have problems in schools or with their peers. Sociometric scales have been shown to be effective. The children identify other peers with whom they would like to interact, and scholars figure out which kids are considered positive, popular, negative, or rejected. After children fill out the scales, teachers rank their adaptive behaviors and social skills. This can help researchers classify the children who may be at risk. However, these results are highly subjective. Other studies looked at peer acceptance and adaptive behavior. However, these studies were criticized because children could be successful in interactions due to other factors, such as the receiver of the message (teacher, peer, friend, or family member), the setting (home, school, church, park), and the language used in the interaction (perceptions of empathy, friendliness, punishment, etc.).
Researchers have noted that social competence can change over a period of time based on increased awareness and education. Individuals become more socially competent with better language and cognitive skills, which also affects perceptions of the quality of our interactions with others.
However, researchers still have not agreed on a definition for social competence. The measurements used to examine the construct actually measure a variety of other characteristics. Despite the differences among the definitions and measurements, many commonalities do exist. These include interpersonal, academic, and self-regulation skills. Today, research trends indicate that the impact of culture, gender, and ethnic differences can influence social competence and relationships with others.
Some of the factors that influence social competence are temperament, parenting style, and attachment style. There are interventions that help people become more socially competent. These interventions emphasize problem solving, self-regulation, emotional intelligence, and collaboration.
Bibliography
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Ladd, Gary W. “The Fourth R: Relationships as Risks and Resources Following Children’s Transition to School.” American Educational Research Association Division E Newsletter 19.1 (2000): 9–11. Print.
May, Gary L. “The Effect of Rater Training on Reducing Social Style Bias in Peer Evaluation.” Business Communication Quarterly 71 (2008): 297–313. Print.
Saleebey, Dennis. The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Seabury, Brett A., Barbara Seabury, and Charles Garvin. Foundations of Interpersonal Practice in Social Work: Promoting Competence in Generalist Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2010. Print.
Sherr, Michael E., and Johnny Jones. Introduction to Competence-Based Social Work. New York: Lyceum, 2013. Print.
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