TO ACT WISELY IN HUMAN-RELATIONS - EXPLORING THE DIMENSIONS OF SOCIALCOMPETENCE

An individual-differences approach to social competence is presented. People generated a large number of operational indicators of social co mpetence. The dimensions that underlie those indicators were then dete rmined. Seven interpretable dimensions of social competence were ident ified, each with a distinct pattern of correlations with personality a nd cognitive ability variables. Major personality dimensions are close ly related to social competence, whereas cognitive ability (as operati onalized by academic performance indicators) is less related to social competence. A profile approach to social competence is proposed becau se (a) social competence is a compound trait, all of whose dimensions do not covary, and (b) some social competence dimensions may be curvil inear such that, after an ideal point has been reached, higher standin g on the dimension may hinder rather than enhance socially competent p erformance. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.