The 6 types of social skills, and what they are for

Throughout our day to day we are forced to face a series of social situations in which we must interact with other people. To effectively solve each of these situations, people must implement what is known as social skills.

These capabilities allow us to relate to others and resolve situations and conflicts in our interaction with others. In addition, there are different types of social skills They are classified according to their complexity and according to the functions they perform.

• Related article: "Assertive communication: how to express yourself clearly"

What are social abilities?

At the moment there is no single consensus within the world of psychology to define the concept of "social skills" in a unique and egalitarian way. However, if we take into account both their characteristics and their functions, we can define the skills social as the set of tactics or behavior maneuvers that people learn naturally and that are used in situations of interaction with other people with the aim of solving a social situation successfully.

The fact that these skills are not innate, but spontaneously learned throughout our lives makes them capable of being trained and improved through the use of skills learning techniques social.

Good development of social skills allows us to express our emotions and feelings in a proper and satisfactory manner. In the same way, it also gives us the possibility of expressing our opinions and thoughts in a manner consistent with the situation we are experiencing.

Thanks to them, we enjoy favorable and positive interpersonal relationships; we feel better about ourselves and facilitate the achievement of our goals in our social life.

These abilities are also observed in the animal world. In nature we can observe communication and communication skills. relationship between members of the same animal species, these abilities are analogous to what we know as abilities social.

Finally, and by way of summary, social skills have a series of their own characteristics that distinguish and differentiate them from other types of properly human skills. These characteristics are:

• They are learned and therefore susceptible to be trained and improved.
• They are necessary if we want to enjoy good mental and psychological health.
• They are not rigid patterns of behavior, but rules that are adjusted to each situation.

Types of social skills

There are different ways of grouping the different types of social skills based on the classification criteria used. In this case, we are going to stick to the classic classification of social skills, within which there are 6 different sets, as we will see.

It is necessary to add that all these categories are modulated by two basic attitudes when establishing interpersonal relationships. These skills are assertiveness and empathy, which have the ability to condition the rest of the skills that we will see below.

1. Basic social skills

They are the first to be acquired, being essential when generating and maintaining satisfactory communication. These include:

• Know how to start a dialogue.
• To know hold a conversation.
• Skills active listening.
• Question formulation.
• Present oneself.
• Give the thanks.
• Ability to pay compliments.
• Empathic skills.

2. Advanced social skills

Once the person has acquired the basic social skills, they have the necessary base to work on the advanced social skills, which provide us with strategies to conveniently manage relationships social. This category of types of social skills includes the following skills:

• Ability to offer an opinion.
• Ask for help.
• Ability to apologize.
• Participation.
• Suggest and give instructions.
• Follow instructions.
• Capacity for conviction.

3. Affective social skills

These types of skills are related to the ability to identify and manage, effectively, both our feelings and the feelings of others. Within this category you will find:

• Identify and know the emotions and feelings.
• Understand the feelings of others.
• Capacity of express feelings and emotions.
• Expression of affections.
• Respect the feelings of others.
• Capacity for cope with the anger of others.
• Self-reward capacity.
• Management of afraid to talk to people.
• Ability to encourage others.
• Capacity for comfort others.

4. Negotiation skills or alternatives to aggressiveness

The social skills related to negotiation are those that allow us to avoid conflict or manage it appropriately. They consist of the ability to solve problems within interpersonal relationships without using aggressiveness or violence. These are:

• Knowing how to ask for permission.
• Ability to share.
• Ability to help others.
• Ability to love yourself.
• Ability to tolerate and respond to jokes.
• Negotiation skills.
• Self-control capacity.
• Ability to defend one's rights.
• Not get into fights.
• Ability to avoid problems for other people.

5. Skills to cope with stress

These types of skills are necessary for the successful resolution of conflicts in contexts of tension or stress. Within this group are:

• Ability to manage the feeling of shame.
• Ability to defend the other.
• Tolerance for failure.
• Ability to respond to persuasion.
• Ability to respond to an accusation.
• Ability to make complaints or claims.
• Ability to respond to complaints or claims.
• Sportsmanship.
• Know how to cope with the pressures of the group.
• Manage a complicated conversation.
• Tolerance to be ignored or scorned.
• Ability to confront contradictory messages.

6. Planning skills

Within the category of social skills related to planning we can find:

• Recognition of one's own abilities.
• Ability to make decisions.
• Determination of objectives.
• Identify the cause of problems and solve them.
• Information gathering.
• Ability to concentrate on a task.