Measuring Verbal Behaviour and Social Competence with the Verbal Interaction Analysis System: Further Validation

Abstract

Abstract The Verbal Interaction Analysis System (VIAS) is a recently developed measure of social competence which also enables target behaviour to be selected and treatment gains assessed. A brief description of the VIAS is followed by a further investigation of its validity, three high competent and three low competent male adults were selected from a larger sample on the basis of the combined global competency ratings of a participant and an independent observer of conversations with two unknown female confederates. Extracts from these conversations were randomly presented by means of videotape to 36 undergraduate psychology students who were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. Conditions were designed to manipulate the information presented by varying the auditory and visual channels on the videotape recordings. Thus some subjects saw and heard the target males in both conversations, whereas others did not receive visual information for one or both of the conversations. Results st...