SOCIAL VALIDATION OF COMPONENT BEHAVIORS OF FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS,ACCEPTING CRITICISM,AND NEGOTIATING

This study evaluated whether behaviors often taught as part of social skills training are judged favorably by others. Community judges evaluated the performances of people in various situations requiring one of three social skills: following instructions, accepting criticism, and negotiating to resolve conflicts. These skills were displayed in videotaped scenes by actors with and without mental retardation who acted out roles that had different types of authority relationships, and when different components or clusters of behavior (nonverbal, specific verbal, or general verbal behaviors) were performed well or poorly. The highest ratings by judges were of videotaped scenes that depicted correct use of all behaviors, regardless of which skill was being examined, whether or not the actor had mental retardation, or what the relationship was between the two actors. The lowest ratings were of videotaped scenes that depicted poor performance of all behaviors, and intermediate ratings were obtained when only some of the behaviors were performed poorly. These results, as well as the verbal responses of judges to questions, indicated that the different behaviors commonly used in teaching the skills of following instructions, accepting criticism, and negotiating are relevant to judgment of social performance, and are likely to be reinforced and maintained by social contingencies.     

Social skills training with adolescent male offenders: I. Short-term effects

The effect of a social skills training programme consisting of instructions, modelling, role playing, videotaped feedback and social reinforcement, was examined in a multiple baseline design with five adolescent male offenders. Training led to specific improvements in certain target behaviours. It was found that, whereas improvements in the performance of certain skills such as appropriate eye contact could be brought about relatively quickly, certain listening skills proved much harder to train. Where training was effective in producing improvements in the performance of a skill, these changes were generally maintained at two weeks follow-up.     

The Relative Effects of Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior,Appearance, and Social Skills on Evaluations Made in Hiring Interviews1

One hundred and two student volunteers were randomly assigned to either a lecture format interview training session or a no training condition. All subjects also completed a standardized measure of social skills. Each subject was then videotaped in a mock hiring interview. Groups of judges viewed the videotaped interviews and evaluated each subject's interview performance. Subjects were also rated on physical attractiveness and dress. Finally, a significant positive and negative verbal statements and a numbre of nonverbal cues occuring during the interviews were tallied. There were no significant effects for training on interview performance. The judges' evaluations were most strongly influenced by subjects' verbal behavior and appearance. Implications for interview training and interview evaluation processes are discussed.     

Success and failure in social skills training: individual differences

Four psychiatric out-patients with social dificulties were treated by social skills training and related treatments in a series of controlled within-subject designs. In all cases treatment produced predicted changes in social skills but these changes were not always sufficient to produce more general clinical change, which sometimes seemed to be more closely related to extra-therapeutic environmental changes. Several different treatment strategies were necessary in addition to social skills training including relaxation training, videotaped feedback and directive advice, and this emphasized important differences between patients which affected the choice of therapy. Three out of four cases improved; one reacted adversely to treatment and dropped out. Reasons for this failure are discussed. The study as a whole indicates the need to look more closely at individual patients, both in planning individual treatment and carrying out evaluative research.     

Individual response patterns and the effects of different behavioral methods in the treatment of social phobia

The importance of individual response patterns in the treatment of phobic patients was examined in the present study. Forty psychiatric outpatients with social phobia were assessed with a social interaction test which was videotaped. Heart rate was continuously monitored during the test. On the basis of their reactions in the test situation, the patients were divided into two groups showing different response patterns; behavioral and physiological reactors. Within each group half of the patients were randomly assigned to a behaviorally focused method (social skills training) while the other half received a physiologically focused method (applied relaxation). The patients were treated individually in 10 sessions. The within-group comparisons showed that both treatments yielded significant improvements on most measures. The between-group comparisons showed that for the behavioral reactors, social skills training was significantly better than applied relaxation on six out of ten measures, and for the physiological reactors applied relaxation was significantly better than social skills training on three of the measures. The results support the hypothesis that greater effects are achieved when the method used fits the patient's response pattern.     

Interview training with adolescents—A controlled group study incorporating generalization and social validation

Ten school-leavers were allocated either to an interview-training group (E) or a discussion control group (C) for three sessions. For E group a combination of modelling, coaching, roleplay, feedback and discussion was used to train both verbal and non-verbal interview skills. An attempt was made to programme generalization of treatment effect into training and subjective evaluations of interview skill were made by an experienced Personnel Officer to assess the social importance of the skills trained. After C group had completed three sessions to control for the non-specific effects of being in therapy, they received the same training as E group. Subjects were assessed using videotaped roleplayed interviews at the beginning and end of each training phase. After training E group showed significant improvements on both global and specific ratings of interview skill compared to C group; there was evidence of generalization and maintenance of treatment effect and the social importance of the skills trained was substantiated by the subjective evaluation data. C group then went on to replicate the changes in E group.     

VALIDATION OF SOCIAL SKILLS OF ADOLESCENT MALES IN AN INTERVIEW CONVERSATION WITH A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN ADULT

Seventy convicted young male offenders were videotaped during a 5-min standardized interview with a previously unknown adult. In order to determine the social validity of the behavioral components of social interaction for this population, measures of 13 behaviors were obtained from the tapes. These measures were then correlated with ratings of friendliness, social anxiety, social skills performance, and employability made by four independent adult judges from the same tapes. It was found that measures of eye contact and verbal initiations were correlated significantly with all four criterion rating scales. The frequencies of smiling and speech dysfluencies were both significantly correlated with ratings of friendliness and employability. The amount spoken was found to be a significant predictor of social skills performance whereas the frequency of head movements influenced judgments of social anxiety. The latency of response was negatively correlated with social skills and employability ratings and the frequency of question-asking and interruptions correlated significantly with friendliness, social skills, and employability ratings. Finally, the levels of gestures, gross body movements, and attention feedback responses were not found to influence judgments on any of the criterion scales. The implications of the study for selection of targets for social skills training for adolescent male offenders are discussed.     

Family Therapy Training: An Evaluation of a Workshop

This article describes the methodology and results of an evaluation of family therapy training workshops. Cognitive skills were measured by written answers about a case history and intervention skills by the rating of videotaped interviews. Improvement was found on both variables, but cognitive and intervention skill levels and development were not related. These results have implications for training and job selection procedures.     

AN INSTITUTIONAL STAFF TRAINING AND SELF-MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR DEVELOPING MULTIPLE SELF-CARE SKILLS IN SEVERELY/PROFOUNDLY RETARDED INDIVIDUALS

Although considerable attention has been given to the development of institutional staff training and management programs, the generalized effects of such programs on staff and resident behavior have seldom been examined. This study evaluated a program for teaching institutional staff behavioral training and self-management skills during self-care teaching sessions with severely and profoundly retarded residents. Following baseline observations in three self-care situations (toothbrushing, haircombing, handwashing), four direct care staff were sequentially taught to use verbal instruction, physical guidance, and contingent reinforcement in the toothbrushing program. During maintenance, staff were simultaneously taught to record, graph, and evaluate resident and their own behavior in the toothbrushing sessions. Staff were taught use of the training and self-management skills through a sequence of written instructions, videotaped and live modeling, rehearsal, and videotaped feedback. Observer presence and experimenter supervision were gradually decreased during the maintenance condition. Results indicated that during training and maintenance staff: (a) learned to use the training skills appropriately and consistently in the example situation (toothbrushing); (b) applied the skills in the generalization situations (haircombing and handwashing); and thereafter (c) maintained consistent and appropriate use of the skills with infrequent supervision. In addition, important changes in retarded residents' independent self-care responding occurred as staff training skills developed. Results are discussed in terms of their implication for future research and continued development of effective staff training and management programs.     

Social problem solving and mother-child interactions of educable mentally retarded children

Mothers of retarded children and nonretarded children were observed and videotaped as they interacted with their own child in a seminaturalistic situation, requiring teaching, cooperation, and free play. The child's social problem-solving abilities were assessed independently. The Vineland scale was employed to provide some convergent evidence of social problem-solving as a component of social competence. Twelve educable mentally retarded and 19 nonretarded 10-year-old children and their mothers comprised the sample. For the mentally retarded group, it was found that the higher maternal directiveness, the lower the child's social problem-solving skills. Mothers who often gave the child opportunity for decision-making and social influence had children with higher problem-solving skills. The retarded children produced significantly fewer different strategies for solving social problems, but gave a wider range of strategies than has been found in previous research. There was some support that social problem-solving skills are related to social maturity.     

Social skills training with hospitalized adolescents: an evaluative experiment

The effectiveness of social skills training on adolescent males admitted to a psychiatric hospital was evaluated through the use of empirically derived anger scenarios, blind raters, matched experimental and control treatment groups, and a repeated measures analysis. Results indicated that the social skills training effectively improved the dimension of verbal response and eye contact. Facial expression did not show measurable improvement. The use of specific skills components and scoring criteria in the social skills training was emphasized. Overall, support was found for the efficacy of social skills training for hospitalized adolescents.     

Cognitive changes associated with social skills training

Changes in locus of control and self-esteem during social skills training and at 6 month follow-up were investigated. Forty-four adolescent, male offenders were randomly assigned to a social skills training, attention-placebo, or no-treatment control procedure. The results showed that pre- to post-training increases in self-esteem were produced for both the social skills training and attention-placebo control groups, but not for the no-treatment control group. These increases did not continue during the follow-up phase; the social skills training group, which showed the greatest improvement during training, displayed a decrease in self- esteem during follow-up.The locus of control measures showed a statistically significant shift towards internality for the social skills training group during training, which was not found for the attention-placebo and no-treatment controls. During the follow-up phase, all three groups showed a statistically significant shift towards externality, suggesting a tendency for boys to view their behaviour and consequences as being under the control of chance factors or powerful others, during institutionalization. This effect was partly reversed during training for the social skills training group, but the effect was not long lasting. It seems therefore that social skills training is effective in producing an increase in self-esteem and a shift towards internal locus of control. These changes are, however, of short duration and the self-esteem shift may be the result of increased staff contact or other non-specific therapy factors.     

The effect of social skills training procedures on the acquisition of appropriate interpersonal skills for mentally retarded adults

A pretest/posttest control group design was utilized to examine the effect of social skills training on social interactions with peers, conversational interactions with a novel partner, and ratings of overall social functioning. The results failed to support the hypothesis that social skills training could increase the generalization of overall conversational responding of mentally retarded adults. The results showed that social skills training augmented with self-monitored videotape feedback could not optimize the effects of social skills training alone. The subjects did demonstrate acquisition of the targeted behaviors during training by meeting preestablished criteria for all of the training sessions. However, the subjects failed to generalize those behaviors across settings to in vivosocial situations.     

Training family therapists in observational skills

A study was conducted to develop procedures for training observational skills using concepts derived from structural family therapy. Experienced family therapists provided operational definitions of key concepts in family interaction, and videotaped segments of interactions were prepared which exemplified the concepts. A group of trainee family therapists was compared with a group of experienced therapists in the way they applied the concepts to interaction sequences in therapeutic sessions. In demonstrating that inexperienced trainees can be instructed relatively rapidly to identify and use structural concepts, the results suggested that this analytical approach to the training of family therapists shows considerable promise.     

Specifying the Nature of Social Skill Deficits Associated With Depression

According to the social skill deficit theory of depression, people who lack social skills are unable to obtain positive social reinforcement and thus become depressed. However, past research is replete with mixed findings on the social skill-depression relationship. The present research was designed to overcome two prominent shortcomings in this research: poor operationalizations of social skill and constraining experimental procedures. In Study 1, 67 depressed and 74 nondepressed subjects engaged in an unstructured interaction with knowledge that they were being videotaped. In Study 2, 40 depressed and 61 nondepressed subjects were surreptitiously videotaped as they waited with another student for a study to begin. Analyses of subjects' social skill in these interactions indicated that depression is associated with a partial social skill deficit, most notable in terms of excessive social anxiety, low motivation to communicate with others, low social expressivity, and diminished behavioral involvement in Study 2. Partners of depressed subjects also showed low behavioral involvement in Study 2. However, on some aspects of social skill, depressed subjects appeared no different from their nondepressed peers. Depressed subjects' social skill was most deficient when they were given no instruction to interact and had no knowledge that they were being recorded.     

Validation of a component model of social skill with outpatient adults

Little social skills research has been generated from applied outpatient settings. The present study examined the relationship of behavioral social skill components to independent judges' social skill judgments. A secondary question was whether nonverbal components would demonstrate a curvilinear relationship to social skill ratings. Forty-two outpatient adults at a community mental health center were videotaped role-playing eight scenes (four commendatory and four refusal). Videotapes were viewed in random order by community members who rated the subject's social skill in the situation. Trained raters scored the videotapes on standard behavioral components. While both nonverbal and verbal components accounted for significant portions of unique variance, the percentage of eye contact was an overwhelmingly large contributor to skill judgments. No curvilinear trend was evidenced for the nonverbal components. The study extended prior findings with psychiatric inpatients into applied outpatient settings and indicated that a component social skills model is equally applicable with outpatient adults. The findings replicated with a second sample of outpatient adults.     

EFFECTS OF CHARISMATIC INFLUENCE TRAINING ON ATTITUDES, BEHAVIOR, AND PERFORMANCE

This study investigated the effectiveness of training in 2 components of charisma (charismatic communication style and visionary content). Forty-one business students received charismatic influence training, presentation skills training, or no training. All participants prepared and gave a speech. Groups of 2-3 students ( N = 102) watched 1 of the videotaped speeches and then performed a task based on the speech instructions. Charismatic influence trainees performed better on a declarative knowledge test and exhibited more charismatic behaviors than those in the other conditions. In addition, participants who viewed a charismatic influence trainee performed best.     

Arresting youth crime: a review of social skills training with young offenders.

Social skills training has become a popular means of providing treatment for young offenders. This paper reviews the literature on social skills training with delinquent populations, with specific consideration of six questions. It was concluded that there is a lack of information on social skills training with young offenders in an outpatient setting. Future directions for research are discussed.     

Social skills deficits among the socially anxious: Rejection from others and loneliness

Based on evidence linking social anxiety with social skills deficits, it was hypothesized that socially anxious individuals would exhibit diminished social skills in a naturalistic interaction, relative to socially nonanxious persons, and that they would also elicit rejection from their conversational partners and experience loneliness. Socially anxious and nonanxious persons were surreptitiously videotaped while they waited with partners for an experiment to begin. Analyses of subjects' social skills indicated that, behaviorally, the socially anxious appear very similar to their nonanxious peers. At the same time, however, they exhibited a tendency to negatively misperceive their own social skills. Although socially anxious persons did not elicit significantly more rejection from their conversational partners, they did report being more lonely than nonanxious persons. Socially anxious subjects were also rated by their conversational partners as lower in social skill than were nonanxious subjects. Implications for further study of social skills among the socially anxious are discussed.We would like to thank Richard Davidson for his assistance in recruiting subjects: Dean Geller, Lynn Jorgenson, Joey Kaupie, and Karen Toft for their assistance with data collection; and Andrea Attebery, Monica Bannon, Noreen Checci, Heather Collier, Michelle Givertz, Perry Loeder, Lisa Meyer, Nancy Nell, Beth O'Keefe, Bruce Rist, Becky Sapinski, and Shaunda Wenberg for their assistance as coders.     

TESTICULAR SELF-EXAMINATION: VALIDATION OF A TRAINING STRATEGY FOR EARLY CANCER DETECTION

Testicular self-examination (TSE) can lead to early diagnosis and treatment of testicular cancer, the third leading cause of death in young men. We evaluated the effectiveness of a brief and specific checklist for teaching TSE skills. Ten men were videotaped while performing testicular self-examinations before and after training. The TSE training resulted in large and significant increases in the number of TSE steps completed and duration of the TSE. Two urological validation measures supported the improvements observed in the mens' self-examinations. Subjects reported continued performance of TSE during a follow-up telephone interview. This pilot study indicates that a brief and specific checklist is an effective strategy for teaching early cancer detection skills.