Social skills training: some ideas on its origin, nature and application

This paper stems out of my current involvement in the Teaching of Social Skills training to health professionals mainly concerned with mental health. It is hoped this paper will stimulate exchange of ideas and experiences amongst health professionals, particularly other teachers and practitioners in mental health. The paper starts with a historical overview (antecedent conditions) highlighting some early views, early successes and failures in the areas of psychological intervention. The advent and purpose of Social Skills training is then presented in the light of these early experiences. The work of a notable British Social Psychologist (Michael Argyle) and his colleagues is selected to achieve two purposes: 1. to describe a range of, personal and interpersonal skills now considered under social skills training, 2. to demonstrate how all these social skills may be taught or learned using key elements of one model. The paper also briefly addresses some ostensive similarities between social skills and motor skills as depicted in the key elements of this one model. It finishes by offering a summary of the model's application plus some hints on training techniques.