Download Social Skills Training

Social Psychology
(Spring 2003)
Jane Clarbour
Room PS/B007
Email J.Clarbour@ psych.york.ac.uk
Course overview
• Block 1 – Social Interaction (wks 2 – 4)
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–
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Practical 1: Interpersonal perception task
Practical 2: Quantitative analysis of equivocation
Tutorial 1: Social skills and interventions
Tutorial 2: Communication
• Block 2 – Attitudes (wks 5 – 6)
– Practical 3: Ratings of attraction
– Practical 4: Repertory grids and factor analysis
– Tutorial 3: Attitudes
• Block 3 – Groups (wks 7 – 8)
– Tutorial 4: Groups
Tutorial 5 (optional): Revision (Wk 9)
Lectures
Block 1: Social Interaction
1. Models of social interaction & social
skills training* (L2)
2. Accuracy in person perception* (L4)
3. Prosocial behaviour & aggression
4. Social psychology of language* (L6)
5. Facial expressions of emotion
6. Self-esteem and social identity (L1)
Lectures
Block 2: Attitudes
7. Attitude similarity & interpersonal
attraction
8. Theory of attitudes & behaviour
9. Attitude change: advertising & fear
appeals
10. Cognitive dissonance
Lectures
Block 3: Groups
11. Group performance
12. Intergroup relations
13. Group conformity & majority influence
14. Obedience & social learning
Tutorial 1
• Social Interaction: Jo Clarke/Mike Rennie
– Social skills and interventions
– Transferable skills:
• Cognitive skills
• Social skills
Tutorial 2
• Communication: Chris von Wagner
– Discourse Analysis and Equivocation
– Transferable skills:
• Critical Analysis
Tutorial 3
• Attitudes: Pam Wells
– Transferable skills:
• Group planning/preparation
• Presentation skills
Tutorial 4
• Groups: Mike Rennie
– Transferable skills:
• Ingroup discussion
• Interactive white-board
Lecture 1
Models of social interaction and
their application to social skills
training
Jane Clarbour
(Spring 2003)
Objectives
• Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of social
skill
• Identify differences between social behaviour and motor
skills
• Give an account of the revision to the social skills model
• Describe the application of the social skills model in relation
to social skills training and social deficits
• Specify the basic principles of social skills training
• Specify the principles of assertiveness training
Social skills model Argyle & Kendon, 1967
• Social interaction as a skill –
– like driving a car or a game of tennis
• Much is known about motor skills
processes
– this knowledge is transferable to social
interaction
Applications of the social skills
model
• A person’s behaviour affects other
people’s
– Physical proximity
– Posture
– Language & speech
– Patterns of looking at other people
– Bodily movements
– Facial expression
Skills in social interaction
• Knowledge that actions are
related to consequences
– Watch for signs of emotional disturbance
– Watch for signs of appropriate action
– Apply appropriate tone of voice/choice of
words
– Make appropriate gestures
Distinctive goals
Driving:
• Main goal
getting somewhere
• Sub-goal
Steering
Changing gear etc…
Interviewing:
• Main goal
Gathering information
• Sub-goal
Establishing rapport in
order to obtain that
goal
Identification of relevant cues
• Motorists:
– concentration on movement of traffic &
edge of road
• Making friends:
– selective attention of cues relevant to
intended goal
• Psychiatric disorders:
– Some people particularly bad at selecting
social information.
Central translation processes
(‘planning’)
Translation of Perceptual Processes
•
Motor skill:
Translation of information relating to car and the
kerb into appropriate steering response.
•
Social skill:
People learn certain behavioural strategies in
response to social situations.
Motor responses
This refers to the actual behaviour.
Motor skill:
Initially very awkward (like driving a car – each action
requires much practice, but then becomes
automated)
Social skill:
Initially difficult or awkward – but like driving, with
practice becomes more automated.
Artificial
behaviour
natural
behaviour
Feedback & corrective action
Motor skill:
Skilled performer uses perceptual cues to take
corrective action (e.g. steering a car.
Social Skill:
Skilled performer corrects performance in
relation to social feedback from others.
(Note importance of non-verbal feedback).
Argyle’s social skills model
(Argyle & Kendon, 1967)
Feedback loop
Perception
Motivation,
goal
Translation
Motor responses
Changes in
outside
world
Application of motor performance to social
skills model (cited in Hargie, 1997)
• Motivation
– Sitting in a rather warm room
• Goal
– Desire to cool down
• Translation
– Devise plans of action
• Response
– Carry out chosen plan
• Perception
– Monitor change
Perceptual processes
• Perceptual processes are selective.
– Perceptual cues vary according to each
situation
• Skilled performance is related to:
– accurate perception of relevant features of
specific situation
Translation processes
• Skilled translation
– entails adequate interpretation of perceived
cues as requiring specific action
– May become automated as relevant social
‘schemata’, or translations.
– Skilled performers require vast repertoire
of translations
Actions/motor responses
• Hierarchical basis of behaviour
– General level (plan)
• Contains many sub-plans of behavioural
– Sub-plans (activities)
• Different ways might obtain same outcome
– Fine details
• Body posture, proximity, utterances,
Application of SSM to social context
• Person A meets person B
– A is attracted to B (motivation)
– A wants to know B’s name (immediate goal)
• Person A translates social context
– A devises plans of action & considers consequences
of various alternative plans
– A carries out plan
– A gets response from B
• Person A perceives B’s response
• Person A translates social context….etc.
Weakness of the SSM
• Emphasis on the individual within the
interaction
• Ignores feedback from external sources
• Cognitive bias
• ignores role of emotion
Revisions to social skills model
(Hargie & Marshall, 1986)
• New model accounts for goals of both
interactors
• Feedback from self & other
• Replace ‘central translation processes’
with
Inclusion of emotion and retrospective
cognition relating to action
Summary of social skills model
• Social interaction likened to motor skill
• SSM sees interaction as
– skilled performance
– A matching process
• Behaviour is directed and adaptive
• Social inputs are translated
– (non-verbal behaviour, proximity, language etc)
and matched with actions related to
consequences
• Revised SSM includes emotion and
cognition
– instead of central translation processes
– interpreting the model within the personsituation context.
Social Skills Training
• Research into the SSM has highlighted fine
details of social interaction
– making it easier for people to learn to change
their own behaviour
• But Social Skills Training and Assertiveness
Training are designed to change how people
communicate
Social competence
• Establishing and maintaining friendly
relationships
• Being cooperative and helpful
• Clear communication
• Persuasive
• Perceptual sensitivity
• Warmth
• Flexibility
Social Skills Training
• Social skills training is based on the
assumption that communication is a form of
skill that can be learned and improved like
any other
• Based on principles of:
– Demonstration
– Practice
– Feedback
Explicit vs. Implicit feedback
Implicit feedback
(‘I think you could do a little better’)
– Ineffective because unclear to which behaviour
referring.
Explicit feedback
(‘you need to maintain more eye contact’)
– Effective as the client is explicitly told of good or
bad performance, and why the performance has
improved
Effective feedback
• Effective feedback may be
– Verbal
– A tape recoding
– A videotape recording
• Most effective feedback is
–
–
–
–
Immediate
Not enjoyed!
Acceptable
Essential for learning
Assertiveness Training
• Aims to:
– Effectively communicate own position
– provide feedback to other person about how
they should behave in future
– Be firm, clear, and convincing
• Assertiveness is not aggression!
– Aggression involves and may invoke hostility
(not the purpose of assertiveness
Assertiveness Training is…
•
•
•
Direct – stating explicitly what the problem
is.
Specific – an assertion should be clear &
focused (avoid generalisation).
Respectful – avoid blame, attack and not
demeaning.
(RAKOS, 1990)
Refusal Assertion (Kelly, 1982)
• Poor refusal assertion may lead to:
– feelings of helplessness
– loss of control
– low self-esteem
– Depression
• Skilled refusal assertion may lead to:
– Changes in the behaviour of others
– Increased perception of self-efficacy
– Higher self-esteem
Application of Refusal Assertion
• Socially passive/unassertive individuals
• Highly aggressive/violent individuals
(lack of skills necessary for anger and
aggression control)
Minimal Effect Response
(Rimm & Masters, 1987)
– Use least amount of effort to obtain objective
• e.g. apologise (as violation of an individual’s rights may
be unintended/accidental
• Excessive assertion may be counter-productive
(producing hostility rather than compliance)
– Be persistent
– Sometimes the minimal response may be
insufficient.
– Incremental increase in degree of assertion.
Poor social skills and social anxiety
• Social anxiety
– An emotion experienced due to concern
with interpersonal evaluation (Leary & Kowalski,
1995)
• Self-oriented concern
– Fear of negative reaction from others
invokes self-fulfilling prophecy (Pozo et al,
1991)
• Avoidance of eye contact
• Appearing nervous or jittery
Poor social skills and loneliness
(Franzoi, 2000)
• Loneliness (Jones et al, 1982)
• Lonely people spend more time talking about
themselves
• Show less interest in others
• Expectation of failure in social interaction
Poor social skills and mental disorder
(Argyle & Kendon, 1967)
• Poor social skills may lead to mental
disorder
– Social failure may lead to social rejection
and failure to cope
– Poor coping skills and rejection may lead
to anxiety disorders
Conclusions
• Emphasis on learned behaviour
• Links between social skills training and the
social skills model
• Considered social skills training for:
– Interview techniques
– Assertiveness training
– Refusal assertion
• Shown to be effective and long lasting
• May be beneficial in raising self-esteem