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Skill in Social Situations: The Essence of Savoir-Faire

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Social Intelligence and Nonverbal Communication

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Abstract

This chapter introduces a measure of savoir-faire that represents the abilities required to engage others in interaction and to behave tactfully and successfully in social situations. Drawing on research in nonverbal and social skills, savoir-faire (which translates as “to know (what) to do”) is a combination of abilities in expressing oneself verbally, engaging others in interactions, and sophisticated social role-playing. We assert that savoir-faire represents a core element of social intelligence and that it is associated with social effectiveness, broadly defined. Using data from a self-report measure of social skills, we extracted the measure of savoir-faire. We demonstrate how savoir-faire, so measured, predicts interpersonal behavior in laboratory-based social situations as well as important social outcomes (e.g., likability, breadth of social networks, attainment of leadership positions).

Data gathering for this chapter was supported by the National Institute for Mental Health Grant R01-MH42427 to David C. Funder.

Correspondence concerning this chapter can be addressed to Ronald E. Riggio, Kravis Leadership Institute, Claremont McKenna College, 850 Columbia Avenue, Claremont, CA, USA, 91711, ron.riggio@cmc.edu.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kravis Leadership Institute, Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA, USA

    Ronald E. Riggio

  2. State University of New York College, Cortland, NY, USA

    Leslie G. Eaton

  3. University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    David C. Funder

Authors
  1. Ronald E. Riggio
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  2. Leslie G. Eaton
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  3. David C. Funder
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Correspondence to Ronald E. Riggio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Robert J. Sternberg

  2. Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, The University of Niš, Niš, Serbia

    Aleksandra Kostić

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Riggio, R.E., Eaton, L.G., Funder, D.C. (2020). Skill in Social Situations: The Essence of Savoir-Faire. In: Sternberg, R.J., Kostić, A. (eds) Social Intelligence and Nonverbal Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34964-6_12

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