Social competence


Social competence consists of social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral skills needed for successful social adaptation. Social competence also reflects having the ability to take another's perspective concerning a situation, learn from past experiences, and apply that learning to the changes in social interactions.
Social competence is the foundation upon which expectations for future interaction with others are built and perceptions of an individual's own behavior are developed. Social competence frequently encompasses social skills, social communication, and interpersonal communication. Competence is directly connected to social behavior, such as social motives, abilities, skills, habits, and knowledge. All of these social factors contribute to the development of a person's behavior.

History

The study of social competence began in the early 20th century with research into how children interact with their peers and function in social situations. In the 1930s, researchers began investigating peer groups and how children's characteristics affected their positions within these peer groups. In the 1950s and 1960s, research established that children's social competence was related to future mental health, as well as problems in school settings. Research on social competence expanded greatly from this point on, as increasing amounts of evidence demonstrated the importance of social interactions. Social competence began to be viewed in terms of problem-solving skills and strategies in social situations, and was conceptualized in terms of effective social functioning and information processing. In the 1970s and 1980s, research began focusing on the impact of children's behavior on relationships, which influenced the study of the effectiveness of teaching children social skills that are age, gender, and context-specific.
In an effort to determine the reason for some children's lack of social skills in certain interactions, new well developed social information processing models to explain the dynamics of social interaction. These models focused on factors such as behavior, the way people perceive and evaluate each other, and the processing of social cues. They also examined the selection of social goals, decision-making processes, and the implementation of chosen responses. Studies like these often examined the correlation between social cognition and social competence.
A prominent researcher of social competence in the mid-1980s was Frank Gresham. He identified three sub-domains of social competence: adaptive behavior, social skills, and peer acceptance. Research during this time often focused on children who were not displaying social skills in an effort to identify and help these children who were potentially at risk of long-term negative outcomes due to poor social interactions. Gresham proposed that these children could have one of four deficits: skill deficits, in which children did not have the knowledge or cognitive abilities to carry out a certain behavior, performance deficits, self-control skill deficits, and self-control performance deficits, in which children had excessive anxiety or impulsivity that prohibited proper execution of the behaviors or skills they knew and understood.
Despite all the developments and changes in the conceptualization of social competence throughout the 20th century, there was still a general lack of agreement about the definition and measurement of social competence during the 1980s. The definitions of the 1980s were less ambiguous than previous definitions, but they often did not acknowledge the age, situation, and skill specificity implicit in the complex construct of social competence.

Approaches and theories

Peer regard/status approaches

These approaches define social competence based on how popular one is with his peers. The more well-liked one is, the more socially competent they are.
Peer group entry, conflict resolution, and maintaining play, are three comprehensive interpersonal goals that are relevant with regard to the assessment and intervention of peer competence.

Social skill approaches

These approaches use behaviors as a guideline. Behaviors that demonstrate social skills are compiled and collectively identified as social competence.

Relationship approaches

According to these approaches, social competence is assessed by the quality of one's relationships and the ability to form relationships. Competence depends on the skills of both members of the relationship; a child may appear more socially competent if interacting with a socially skilled partner. Commentators on some online incel communities have advocated government programs wherein socially awkward men are helped or women are incentivized to go on dates with them.

Functional approaches

The functional approach is context-specific and concerned with the identification of social goals and tasks. This approach also focuses on the outcomes of social behavior and the processes leading to those outcomes. The importance of information-processing models of social skills in these approaches is based on the idea that social competence results from social-cognitive processes.

Models

Early models of social competence stress the role of context and situation specificity in operationalizing the competence construct. These models also allow for the organization and integration of the various component skills, behaviors, and cognitions associated with social competence. Whereas global definitions focus on the "ends" rather than the "means" by which such ends are achieved, a number of models directly attend to the theorized processes underlying competence. These process models are context-specific and seek to identify critical social goals and tasks associated with social competence. Other models focus on the often overlooked distinction between social competence and the indices used to gauge it.

Behavioral–analytic model

and D'Zurilla developed a five-step behavioral-analytic model outlining a definition of social competence.
The specific steps proposed in the model include: situational analysis, response enumeration, response evaluation, measure development, and evaluation of the measure.
  1. Situation analysis – a critical situation is defined on the basis of certain criteria, which include:
  2. #occurs with some frequency
  3. #presents a difficult response decision
  4. #results in a range of possible responses in a given population. Situation identification and analysis is accomplished through a variety of methods, including direct observation by self or others, interviews, and surveys.
  5. Response enumeration – a sampling of possible responses to each situation is obtained. Procedures for generating response alternatives include direct observation, role plays, and simulations in video and/or written formats.
  6. Response evaluation – the enumerated responses are judged for effectiveness by "significant others" in the environment. An important element is that a consensus must emerge, or the particular item is removed from future consideration.
In the last two steps, a measure for assessing social competence is developed and evaluated.

Social information-processing model

A social information-processing model is a widely used means for understanding social competence. The social information-processing model focuses more directly on the cognitive processes underlying response selection, enactment, and evaluation. Using a computer metaphor, the reformulated social information-processing model outlines a six-step nonlinear process with various feedback loops linking children's social cognition and behavior. Difficulties arising at any of the steps generally translate into social competence deficits.
The six steps are:
  1. Observation and encoding of relevant stimuli – attending to and encoding non-verbal and verbal social cues, both external and internal.
  2. Interpretation and mental representation of cues – understanding what has happened during the social encounter, as well as the cause and intent underlying the interaction.
  3. Clarification of goals – determining what one's objective is for the interaction and how to put forth an understanding of those goals.
  4. Representation of a situation is developed by accessing long-term memory or construction – the interaction is compared to previous situations stored in long-term memory and the previous outcomes of those interactions.
  5. Response decision/selection
  6. Behavioral enactment and evaluation

    Tri-component model

Another way to conceptualize social competence is to consider three underlying subcomponents in a hierarchical framework.
  1. Social Adjustment
  2. Social Performance
  3. Social Skills
The top of the hierarchy includes the most advanced level, social adjustment. Social adjustment is defined as the extent to which an individual achieves society's developmentally appropriate goals. The goals are conceived of as different "statuses" to be achieved by members of a society. The next level is social performance – or the degree to which an individual's responses to relevant social situations meet socially valid criteria. The lowest level of the hierarchy is social skills, which are defined as specific abilities allowing for competent performance within social tasks. The tri-component model is useful for doctors and researchers looking to change, predict, or elaborate social functioning of children.

The quadripartite model

The essential core elements of competence are theorized to consist of four superordinate sets of skills, abilities, and capacities: cognitive skills and abilities, behavioral skills, emotional competencies, and motivational and expectancy sets.
  1. Cognitive skills and abilities – cultural and social knowledge necessary for effective functioning in society
  2. Behavioral skills – knowledge of behavioral responses and the ability to enact them
  3. Emotional skills – affect regulation and affective capacities for facilitating socially competent responding and forming relationships
  4. Motivational and expectancy sets – an individual's value structure, moral development, and sense of efficacy and control.