Abstract
The term “social skills” encompasses an array of learned behaviors that share the common goal of maintaining or increasing reinforcement within a social context. Deficits in social skills can occur at any developmental period and are not likely to improve spontaneously because impaired social skills impede interactions with other people. In turn, unsatisfying or disruptive interactions exacerbate social skill deficits by preventing the refinement of existing skills and limiting the acquisition of new ones (Hansen, Giacoletti, & Nangle, 1995; Kelly, 1982). Given the importance of functioning effectively within a social context, the amelioration of social skills deficits is sometimes an independent treatment goal. More often, the improvement of social skills is one component of the treatment plan for a variety of psychological disorders (see Campbell, Hansen, & Nangle, this volume).
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Smith, A.J., Jordan, J.A., Flood, M.F., Hansen, D.J. (2010). Social Skills Interventions. 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_7
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