CRITERIA USED TO DEFINE AND EVALUATE SOCIALLY COMPETENT BEHAVIOR AMONG WOMEN

Criteria used to evaluate socially competent behavier of women are described and critiqued. Many definitions of social competence do not employ a process view of social behavier in which individual goals and values as well as specific verbal and nonverbal behaviers are considered. This may result in the imposition of artificial goals on consumers of assertion and social skills training programs and the neglect of individual goals. The relationship between the definition of competence used and the assessment methods relied on is discussed. The advantages of focusing on specific goals are noted and a checklist that consumers can use to review the content of training programs is provided.