Final Discussion

Abstract

It is clear from the preceding chapters that the exercise of social skill always takes place within a continuously developing process. The participants are communicating and learning. Their behaviour is governed by other events which took place before they met and the consequences of the meeting extend into the future, not only for those concerned, but also for others who are not personally involved. To make sense of their highly integrated and very complex interaction it can be examined in terms of context, communication and learning. It must be accepted at the outset that this separation in the interests of clarity may not do complete justice to the essential unity and homogeneity of the interactive process.