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Social-Cognitive Models and Skills

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Practitioner's Guide to Empirically Based Measures of Social Skills

Part of the book series: ABCT Clinical Assessment Series ((ABCT))

Abstract

Researchers studying social competence have been interested not only in specific social skills but also in the types of social-cognitive processes that might underlie individuals’ behavioral choices. A variety of theories propose that individual differences in social information processing skills may help explain why people confronted with the same social situation may choose to act in very different ways. For example, two children may be teased by a peer. One child may perceive this as harmless play and may laugh, whereas another child may interpret this as mean and threatening and may choose to act aggressively toward the peer. Many theorists (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1994; Dodge, 1986; Ladd & Crick, 1989; Lemerise & Arsenio, 2000) suggest that distortions or deficiencies in social information processing may lead to maladaptive behavior. Thus, in addition to focusing on improving specific social behaviors in social skills intervention programs, it seems that social-cognitive variables can be an important target for treatment as well (e.g., Guerra & Slaby, 1990; Hudley & Graham, 1993).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Maine, 5742 Little Hall, Orono, ME, 04469, USA

    Cynthia A. Erdley, Michelle S. Rivera, Elizabeth J. Shepherd & Lauren J. Holleb

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  1. Cynthia A. Erdley
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  2. Michelle S. Rivera
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  3. Elizabeth J. Shepherd
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  4. Lauren J. Holleb
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Psychology, University of Maine, Little Hall 5742, Orono, 04469, U.S.A.

    Douglas W. Nangle

  2. Dept. Psychology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Lincoln, 68588-0308, U.S.A.

    David J. Hansen

  3. Dept. Psychology, University of Maine, Little Hall 5742, Orono, 04469, U.S.A.

    Cynthia A. Erdley

  4. Dept. Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, 77204, U.S.A.

    Peter J. Norton

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Erdley, C.A., Rivera, M.S., Shepherd, E.J., Holleb, L.J. (2010). Social-Cognitive Models and Skills. In: Nangle, D., Hansen, D., Erdley, C., Norton, P. (eds) Practitioner's Guide to Empirically Based Measures of Social Skills. ABCT Clinical Assessment Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0609-0_2

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