SOCIAL SKILLS: What are they, Types, List and Examples

Social interactions are very common in people's daily lives, and it is in these interactive situations that people people must develop and make use of their social skills, in order to maintain the most appropriate conversation or social situation possible. Would you like to know what these social skills are? Do not hesitate to continue reading this article from Psychology-Online: social skills (HHSS): what are they, types, list and examples.

Index

1. What are social skills: definition
2. Types of social skills
3. Social skills list
4. Social skills: practical examples
5. Social skills test

Social skills (HHSS) in psychology is a set of behaviors and habits observable and thoughts and emotions that foster effective communication, relationships satisfactory between people and respect for others, a fact that leads to a better feeling of welfare. In other words, it is a set of guidelines for the functioning of the people who

What are social skills for? The importance of social skills and social skills for relationships is undeniable. The HHSS are fundamental in the day to day of people because they provide well-being and quality of life, as well as facilitate the development and maintenance of healthy self-esteem. In contrast, people with poor social skills may feel stress, discomfort, and often negative emotions (frustration, anger, feeling of being rejected or undervalued ...), in addition, people with deficiencies in social skills are more predisposed to suffer psychological alterations such as anxiety and depression.

Thus, in order to define skillful behavior, three dimensions of social skill must be taken into account. First, the behavioral dimension, which refers to the type of social skill. Second, the personal dimension, linked to the person's cognitive variables. Finally, the situational dimension, referring to the environmental context.

1. Basic social skills

Basic social skills are the first skills that people acquire, and they are essential to be able to initiate communication and to maintain it. Some of these skills are: knowing start, maintain and end a conversation, knowing how to ask questions, and so on.

2. Advanced social skills

These are the skills that people learn after acquiring the basic social skills above. Among the complex social skills, we can find: knowing share an opinion, assertiveness, to know ask for help, knowing how to apologize, give and follow instructions, among others.

3. Emotional social skills

These skills are characterized by being closely linked to the management and identification of feelings and emotions. We can find: identify and express feelings and emotions, empathy, respect, among others.

4. Negotiating social skills

Are those social skills that promote conflict management in a proper way. We find skills such as the following: negotiation, conflict resolution, altruism, sharing with others, and so on.

5. Organizing social skills

These skills are beneficial to be able to organize the day to day of people in a correct way avoiding causing stress, anxiety and other negative aspects. Within this typology of social skills, we can distinguish: decision-making capacity, organizational capacities, among others.

The most important HHSS to be able to maintain healthy and quality interpersonal relationships are those mentioned in the following list of social skills:

• Empathy: it is the ability to understand what happens to other people (putting oneself in the shoes of others).
• Assertiveness: the assertiveness It is the ability to express one's opinions and thoughts based on respect and defending one's rights.
• I respect: ability to tolerate people, their opinions, their thoughts and their actions, even if these thoughts, opinions and so on are not shared.
• Active listening: the active listening It is the ability to listen carefully to other people, showing them that they are being listened to.
• Negotiation: ability to negotiate with other people on different interests or specific benefits, so that it is intended that all parties to the negotiation benefit.
• Communication and expressive skills: ability to communicate and express your own feelings in relation to certain situations. In addition, communication also includes the ability to listen to other people, being able to establish satisfactory conversations.
• Understanding: ability to understand social and personal situations and respond to them assertively.
• Self-control: ability to understand and interpret private feelings and respond to them by controlling one's own impulses.
• Conflict resolution: ability to understand the reality of a conflict and seek alternatives to solve it, escaping from aggressiveness. A good way to solve a conflict can be negotiation.

The HHSS are used constantly to interact with others. Depending on the level of social skill of the people involved, the situation will evolve differently. We can see it in the two practical examples of social skills presented below:

• Example 1: Marta decides to sell her motorcycle and she already has a potential buyer. Both must negotiate to resolve the situation so that everyone benefits. However, if these girls have a shortage of social skills, this negotiation will be hampered. For example, in this case, Marta could try to deceive the buyer by selling the motorcycle for a price of above the appropriate one and, if the buyer realizes it, she can react aggressively and excessively against Martha.
• Example 2: Marc's dog dies unexpectedly, which affects him emotionally. One of his classmates has a social skills deficit and is therefore not capable of put yourself in the shoes of Marc. When Marc decides to share his feelings with his classmates, the classmate responds inappropriately, a fact that leads Marc to feel worse.

The best known test for assess social skills of people is the Elena Gismero Social Skills Scale. It is a scale that is administered to people from the age of 12 and it is estimated that it can be answered in approximately 15 minutes. This scale is made up of 33 items that inquire into the habitual behavior of the individual in different situations. These 33 items are subdivided into 6 scales: self-expression in social situations, defense of one's rights as a consumer, expressing anger or disagreement, saying “no” and cutting off interactions, making requests, initiating positive interactions with sex opposite.

If you want to evaluate your social skills, in Psychology-Online you can find the social skills test Inspired by Elena Gismero's Social Skills Scale.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Social skills: what are they, types, list and examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Social psychology.

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