One hundred and eleven (111) university undergraduates (25% male) reporting difficulties in making requests or refusing, participated in one of two cognitive behavioral social skills programs which included behavior rehearsal, modeling, coaching, cognitive restructuring, and emphasis on the transferability of skills. The participants were randomly assigned to the facilitative condition, which stressed individualized attention, informality, and emotional understanding and support, with attention to the personal needs of each participant, or to the didactic condition, which was more leader-centered, more formal, and less focused on personalizing the content. Dependent measures included self-reported Conflict Resolution and College Self Expression scores, and judges’ ratings of global verbal and nonverbal request and refusal behavior in standardized role-play scenarios with a live actor. In addition, participants provided anin vivo measure of request and refusal behavior. Results indicated neither self-report nor behavioral outcome differences between the facilitative and didactic approaches. On the other hand both programs produced impressive self-report and behavioral gains in comparison to pre-test scores; these gains were maintained one/two years after the program. The results are discussed as supporting the impact of cognitive behavioral training program elements which are compelling in themselves so that they operate independently of differences in training format. It may be that relationship factors may be less important in the treatment of reasonably functioning undergraduates when behavioral techniques are employed.