Dr. Angharad is a specialist in Psychology from Valencia, expert in Clinical Psychology, Child Psychology and Couples Psychotherapist, especially from the cognitive-behavioral perspective. She graduated in Psychology in 2006 from the University of Valencia and continued her training with the completion of several Masters among which include: “Master of Clinical Psychology Applied to Health” and the “Master in Child Psychology” and various courses.
Keys to be more sociable and be more successful in life
For a social relationship to be successful there must be effective and productive communication, but it can also be on the contrary, ineffective and lead to confusion.
There are people who have innate social skills, they do not find it difficult to relate. On the other hand, there are others who find that relating or simply communicating with people they have just met is a huge effort or insecurity prevents them from communicating in a relaxed and effective way.
Social skills can be learned, they can become your best ally to be happier and get rid of that fear and frustration.
Social skills could be defined as: the communication tools, verbal or non-verbal, that we use to relate and communicate effectively.
1- Assertiveness: It is the way we express our feelings, needs or opinions in an appropriate way and always respecting others. It will help us to develop and improve our self-esteem.
2- Active listening: Active listening can be as complicated as knowing how to speak. It is the form of communication that shows that the receiver has understood the sender.
3- Emotional intelligence: It is the social ability that people have to manage feelings and emotions, discriminate between them and use this knowledge to direct their own thoughts and actions (Salovey Mayer, 1990).
4- Understanding: It is a type of social ability to understand the feelings of others, to know how to identify and interpret situations.
5- Respect: People are more willing to relate to each other if we show respect for the beliefs, values or ideas expressed by others. Respect can be expressed through active listening that expresses that we are interested in and respect what the other party communicates to us, whether we agree or not. Lack of respect is one of the attitudes we like the least.
6- Empathy: Empathy is to put oneself in the other’s place, the intention to understand the feelings and emotions, trying to experience objectively what the other feels.
7- Know how to express: We have to use a clear message to get across what we want to express. It is a key skill when we relate to others.
Nowadays, with the emergence of new information technologies, they are doing a lot of damage to both writing and interpersonal relationships, internet, social networks, connectivity and mobile devices have generated a great change in the way we relate and communicate.