Social skills and behavior analysis:

Historical proximity and new issues

Resumo

This paper focuses on issues that have been relatively neglected or scarcely emphasized in available literature regarding the interface between the areas of Social Skills and Behavior Analysis: (a) the contribution of the functional perspective of behavior analysis in the definition of social skills and in social competence criteria; (b) the understanding of social skills and social competence as resulting from the ontogenetic, phylogenetic and cultural selection of social behavioral patterns; and (c) the implications and potential contribution of social skills programs in the planning of cultural practices committed to survival and to quality of life in the complex contemporary society.