Psychosocial Skills: Essential Components of Development and Achievement in K–12

• In Event: Psychosocial Skills in the 21st Century: Theory, Research, and Applications

Abstract

It is now well-established that noncognitive factors are predictive of important outcomes at school (e.g., Poropat, 2009). Furthermore, importantly, noncognitive factors assessed in early childhood have been shown to be predictive of important outcomes throughout the lifespan (e.g., Judge et al., 1999). Several alternative terms exist for the factors encompassed by noncognitive factors, including, personal skills, personal qualities, character traits, and psychosocial skills (Kyllonen et al., 2014). Of these terms, psychosocial skills has seemed to gain the most traction in discussions in the K-12 research arena. In this presentation, we present a taxonomy of psychosocial skills that is organized by the predominant model of personality, the Five Factor Model (FFM; e.g., Tupes & Christal, 1961). Similar taxonomies have also been proposed by Kyllonen et al. (2014) and Roberts et al. (2015).

The FFM emerged from factor analyses of people’s ratings on the extent to which traits listed in the dictionary were descriptive of them. The idea of using dictionary trait terms follows from the “lexical hypothesis”, or the idea that all of the most important personality characteristics of people should be encoded into their language (e.g., Kyllonen et al., 2014), and we believe that these characteristics should also include psychosocial skills. The factors of the FFM of personality are 1) extraversion (tendency to be outgoing, assertive, and energetic), 2) agreeableness (tendency to be kind, cooperative, and generous), 3) conscientiousness (tendency to be organized, responsible, and hard-working), 4) emotional stability (tendency to be free from anxiety, worry, and tension), and 5) openness to experience (tendency to be imaginative, curious, and insightful). We suggest that most psychosocial skills can be grouped into this taxonomy. In addition, we incorporate a superordinate level to the taxonomy: 1) performance skills, 2) interpersonal skills, and 3) self-management skills. Psychosocial skills grouped into this taxonomy include:

Performance Skills: “Getting Along” with School
• Conscientiousness – time management, Grit, goal setting
• Openness to Experience – creativity, curiosity, intrinsic motivation, need for cognition/typical intellectual engagement
Interpersonal Skills: Getting Along with Others
• Extraversion – leadership
• Agreeableness – teamwork/collaboration
Self-Management Skills: Getting Along with Yourself
• Emotional Stability – self-efficacy, test anxiety, self-esteem, coping

Each of these constructs will be defined and discussed in terms of its importance for K-12.

We will also discuss an emerging construct we believe will be important in the near future; cross-cultural competence, or the ability to “(a) the ability manage psychological stress, (b) the ability to communicate effectively, and (c) the ability to establish interpersonal relationships” when interacting with a persona from another culture (Chiu et al., 2013, p. 848).

Finally, we conclude with a discussion of if and how these psychosocial skills can be improved and recommendations for future work in the area.

Authors

• Jeremy Burrus, Professional Examination Service

• Meghan Wilson Brenneman, ETS