Are You a Good Friend? Assessing Social Relationship Competence Using Situational Judgments

Abstract

Individual differences in social relationship competence (SRC) should have significant implications for social relationship success and well-being. Ability-based measures of SRC are scarce, though, particularly in social-personality psychology, and these considerations led to the present research. In specific terms, a situation judgment method was used to create and examine the correlates of a scenario-based assessment of SRC termed the Social Relationship Competence–Ability Measure (SRC-AM). Four studies (total N = 994) were conducted. Study 1 used item-total correlations and factor analyses to select scenarios from a larger pool. Studies 2 and 3 then showed that the SRC-AM predicted outcomes consistent with social relationship success (Study 2) as well as psychological well-being (Study 3). Study 4, finally, linked SRC levels to peer ratings of social competence and popularity. The research highlights a class of social inferences and abilities that possess novel implications for social relationship success.

Aligning the self and reaping the benefits: Ego effectiveness in romantic relationships

“…To quantify effectiveness knowledge, we used a proportion consensus scoring system of the type detailed in Persich et al. (2020), using the effectiveness norms collected by Robinson et al (in press‐b). Using this system, individuals receiving a score of 0.2000 or below could be said to possess no effectiveness knowledge.…”

Toward a theory of ability‐based friendship competence: Agentic and communal substrates

“…Friendship competence (FC), like social competence more generally (Dirks et al, 2007; Rose‐Krasnor, 1997), is an elusive entity. One suspects that there are individual differences in friendship competence, though ability‐based measures of it, at least among adults rather than children or clinical populations, are relatively recent (Persich et al, 2020; Persich & Robinson, 2020). Although such tests can align individuals along a friendship competence dimension, they cannot say much more about the relevant skills and abilities, which could be isolated ones (e.g., the high FC individual might be less prone to jealousy in some very specific circumstances).…”

“…Participants were asked how likely it is (1 = not at all likely; 5 = very likely) that they would respond to each of 10 friendship‐related scenarios (e.g., one in which a friend seems to be ignoring them) in each of 4 ways (e.g., they could “confront the friend” or “ignore the friend in return”). The test is scored not in terms of self‐likelihood ratings per se, but rather in terms of the extent to which those ratings track the effectiveness norms collected by Persich et al (2020). Simply stated, the participant would receive a high FC score to the extent that he or she gives high self‐likelihood ratings for effective actions and low self‐likelihood ratings for ineffective (or problematic) actions.…”

“…Participants completed a recent measure designed to assess variations in friendship competence (FC), defined in terms of responding to friendship‐related scenarios in ways that suggest high (versus low) levels of competence in the friendship domain. Scenario development and selection procedures are described in Persich et al (2020) and the measurement and scoring procedures that were used are described in Persich and Robinson (2020). Participants were asked how likely it is (1 = not at all likely; 5 = very likely) that they would respond to each of 10 friendship‐related scenarios (e.g., one in which a friend seems to be ignoring them) in each of 4 ways (e.g., they could “confront the friend” or “ignore the friend in return”).…”

“…Thus far, Persich and colleagues (Persich et al, 2020; Persich & Robinson, 2020) have primarily focused on questions related to measuring creation and validation, relative to arguably more important questions related to how variations in friendship competence operate. Friendship competence, we think, involves key problem‐solving skills as well as behavioral tendencies that should matter in developing and maintaining high‐quality friendships.…”