The role of social perception in social skill

doi:10.1016/S0005-7894(81)80107-4

Behavior Therapy

Volume 12, Issue 1, January 1981, Pages 69-79

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(81)80107-4 Get rights and content

The literature on social skills has emphasized the behavioral response components necessary for competent interpersonal functioning. Little consideration has been given to the role of social perception. However, recent findings have suggested that the response skill model is inadequate to explain the complexity of interpersonal behavior. The ability to receive and process relevant interpersonal stimuli adequately is essential for effective social performance. The present paper reviews findings concerning sensitivity to emotional cues in specific child and adult populations. Implications for training social skills, conducting behavioral analyes which consider social perception skills, and developing techniques for the assessment and training of social perception are discussed.

Reference Note (1)

MorrisonR.L. et al.
The relationship of social perception to effective assertiveness
(1979)

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Several studies have reported impairments in decoding emotional facial expressions in intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators. However, the mechanisms that underlie these impaired skills are not well known. Given this gap in the literature, we aimed to establish whether IPV perpetrators (n = 18) differ in their emotion decoding process, attentional skills, and testosterone (T), cortisol (C) levels and T/C ratio in comparison with controls (n = 20), and also to examine the moderating role of the group and hormonal parameters in the relationship between attention skills and the emotion decoding process. Our results demonstrated that IPV perpetrators showed poorer emotion recognition and higher attention switching costs than controls. Nonetheless, they did not differ in attention to detail and hormonal parameters. Finally, the slope predicting emotion recognition from deficits in attention switching became steeper as T levels increased, especially in IPV perpetrators, although the basal C and T/C ratios were unrelated to emotion recognition and attention deficits for both groups. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying emotion recognition deficits. These factors therefore constitute the target for future interventions.
Diversos estudios hablan de carencias en la descodificación de expresiones emocionales faciales en aquellos sujetos que cometen violencia de pareja (VP). No obstante, no se conocen bien los mecanismos subyacentes al déficit de estas capacidades. A la vista de esta laguna en investigación, hemos intentado establecer si las personas que cometen violencia de pareja (n = 18) se diferencian en el proceso de descodificación emocional, capacidad de atención y niveles de testosterona (T), cortisol y cociente T/C, comparados con los controles (n = 20), así como analizar el papel moderador del grupo y de las variables hormonales en la relación entre capacidad de atención y proceso de descodificación emocional. Nuestros resultados han demostrado que quienes perpetran violencia de pareja muestran un peor reconocimiento emocional y mayor coste en el cambio de atención que los controles. No obstante, no había diferencias en la atención a los detalles y en las variables hormonales. Por último, la pendiente que predice el reconocimiento emocional a partir de los déficits en el cambio de atención era más pronunciada a medida que aumentaban los niveles de testosterona, sobre todo en los sujetos que perpetran violencia de pareja, aunque el cortisol basal y el cociente T/C no guardaban relación con el reconocimiento de emociones y déficit de atención en ambos grupos. Estos resultados contribuyen a explicar los mecanismos que subyacen a los déficits de reconocimiento de emociones. Estos factores son pues el objetivo de intervenciones futuras.
Enhancing emotional performance and customer service through human resources practices: A systems perspective
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Citation Excerpt :
Focusing on abilities tied to emotional performance, there is evidence that emotional intelligence can be improved via training (Boyatzis, Stubbs, & Taylor, 2002; Groves, McEnrue, & Shen, 2008), with programs such as the Micro-Expressions Training Tool (Ekman, 2002) being useful to help increase recognition of emotional displays. More generally, research has found that emotion recognition training is successful in occupations such as law enforcement and counseling psychology where detecting appropriate emotions is critical (e.g., Ennett, 2013; Morrison & Bellack, 1981). Performance management, compensation, and incentive systems are all believed to enhance employee motivation on the job (Jiang, Lepak, Han, et al., 2012; Jiang, Lepak, Hu, et al., 2012) by clarifying expectations related to emotional labor and offering proper rewards for displaying appropriate emotions with customers.
Although many scholars and practitioners articulate the importance of managing employee emotions in service-based organizations, research related to the intricacies surrounding human resource (HR) practices targeted at employee emotional performance has failed to keep up. This is surprising, given the strong links established between employee emotional performance (i.e., expressive behaviors congruent with emotional expectations) and customer service outcomes such as customer satisfaction, intentions to return, and recommendation intentions. In light of this gap, in the current review we adopt a systems perspective of HR and develop an integrated model highlighting how HR practices related to three broad HR domains—skill-, motivation-, and opportunity-enhancing—should elevate emotional performance by increasing the motivation and ability of service employees to engage in intrapersonal and/or interpersonal emotion regulation. Departing from a “more is better” approach, we theorize how different combinations of the three HR domains may yield beneficial outcomes depending upon (1) the extent to which rewards are tied to emotional labor and (2) the nature of typical employee-customer exchanges. In doing so, we articulate which HR practices are likely mandatory, and which can be viewed as substitutable. Implications for measurement and applications to customer service are discussed.
Social communication mediates the relationship between emotion perception and externalizing behaviors in young adult survivors of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI)
2013, International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience
Citation Excerpt :
Furthermore, while the deleterious consequences of socio-cognitive and communication impairments may not be experienced by survivors of childhood TBI until later in life (McDonald et al., 2012; Yeates et al., 2007), few studies have investigated whether impairments in lower-level social functions may be related to externalizing behaviors that are shown to persist, or even worsen with time since injury (Alderman, 2003; Bloom et al., 2001; Cattelani et al., 1998; Guerico and McMorrow, 2002; Watson et al., 2001; Ylvisaker et al., 2005). Though there exists a dearth of studies that have examined relationships between emotion perception and pragmatic communication in children with TBI, studies of adults with TBI support a link between these social functions (Croker and McDonald, 2005; Hammond et al., 2004; Morrison and Bellack, 1981; Spell and Frank, 2000). In a sample of 12 adults with severe TBI, Watts and Douglas (2006) found that impaired facial emotion perception was related to more frequent social communication difficulty reported by close-other proxies.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common cause of childhood disability, and is associated with elevated risk for long-term social impairment. Though social (pragmatic) communication deficits may be among the most debilitating consequences of childhood TBI, few studies have examined very long-term communication outcomes as children with TBI make the transition to young adulthood. In addition, the extent to which reduced social function contributes to externalizing behaviors in survivors of childhood TBI remains poorly understood. The present study aimed to evaluate the extent of social communication difficulty among young adult survivors of childhood TBI (n = 34, injury age: 1.0–7.0 years; M time since injury: 16.55 years) and examine relations among aspects of social function including emotion perception, social communication and externalizing behaviors rated by close-other proxies. Compared to controls the TBI group had significantly greater social communication difficulty, which was associated with more frequent externalizing behaviors and poorer emotion perception. Analyses demonstrated that reduced social communication mediated the association between poorer emotion perception and more frequent externalizing behaviors. Our findings indicate that socio-cognitive impairments may indirectly increase the risk for externalizing behaviors among young adult survivors of childhood TBI, and underscore the need for targeted social skills interventions delivered soon after injury, and into the very long-term.
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^*: Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by NIMH Grant 1R01 MH 28279 to the second author.

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The role of social perception in social skill*

The relationship of social perception to effective assertiveness