ERIC Number: EJ1085743
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Apr
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2073-7629
EISSN: N/A
Social Emotional Competence--Too Much or Too Little
Gundersen, Knut K.
International Journal of Emotional Education, v6 n1 p4-13 Apr 2014
When we measure social competence, the scores indicate that a person can become better and better just as in other school subjects such as history or geography. In general, these scores also give an actual picture of the status and/or progress of the person's social competence. However, it might be preferable to portray many of the dimensions of social competence as a continuum where the optimal level could be in the middle rather than at one of the ends. That is to say, social initiatives could take place too often or too seldom, or a person could take others' needs into consideration too little, but also too much, to the detriment of his or her own needs. This implies that the overall purpose in a training social and emotional learning program might at the same time involve training some participants to do less of something and others to do more. The present article reflects on different continua involved in social competence training and suggests that the facilitator needs to analyse the needs of each of the participants in a group and adapt the training program accordingly. The implications for conducting a program, composition of programs and for the training of facilitators are also discussed.
Descriptors: Interpersonal Competence, Emotional Development, Social Development, Skill Development, Facilitators (Individuals), Needs Assessment, Training Objectives, Emotional Adjustment, Social Adjustment, Aggression
Centre for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health. Old Humanities Building (OH) Room 241, University of Malta, MSD 2080, Malta. Tel: +356-2340-3014; Web site: http://www.um.edu.mt/cres/ijee
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A