What Are SEB Skills?
Social, emotional, and behavioral skills (SEB skills) are capacities that people use to maintain their social relationships, regulate their emotions, manage their goals, and learn from experience. Like other kinds of skills, we believe that SEB skills can be learned, practiced, measured, and improved over time.

​There are many specific SEB skills, known as skill facets. Most of these facets can be organized into five major skill domains. The figure below shows how the 32 skill facets measured by the Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI) can be organized into these five skill domains:
Click on the buttons below to see how these skills are defined.
Self management Skills
Capacities that people use to effectively pursue goals and complete tasks

Skill Facets
​Task Management: Working persistently to complete tasks and achieve goals
Time Management: Using time effectively while accomplishing goals
Detail Management: Doing careful and thorough work
Organizational Skill: Organizing personal spaces and objects
Responsibility Management: Fulfilling promises and commitments
Capacity for Consistency: Reliably performing routine tasks
Goal Regulation: Setting clear and ambitious personal goals
Rule-following Skill: Following instructions, rules, and norms
Decision-Making Skill: Making well-reasoned, deliberate decisions
Social engagement Skills
Capacities that people use to actively engage with others in one-on-one and group interactions

Skill Facets
Leadership Skill: Asserting one’s views and speaking in a group
Persuasive Skill: Presenting arguments effectively
Conversational Skill: Initiating and maintaining social interactions
Expressive Skill: Communicating one's thoughts and feelings to other people
Energy Regulation: Channeling energy in a productive way
Cooperation Skills
Capacities that people use to maintain positive, harmonious, and satisfying social relationships
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Skill Facets
​Teamwork Skill: Working effectively with other people to achieve shared goals
Capacity for Trust: Forgiving others and seeing the good in people
Perspective-Taking Skill: Sympathizing with and understanding how others feel
Capacity for Social Warmth: Making people feel comfortable and happy
Ethical Competence: Behave ethically, even in difficult situations
Emotional resilience Skills
Capacities that people use to regulate their emotions and moods

Skill Facets
Stress Regulation: Regulating stress, anxiety, and fear
Capacity for Optimism: Maintaining a positive attitude in difficult situations
Anger Management: Regulating anger and irritation
Confidence Regulation: Maintaining a positive attitude toward oneself
Impulse Regulation: Intentionally resisting impulses
Innovation Skills
Capacities that people use to create, engage with, and learn from new ideas and experiences

Skill Facets
Abstract Thinking Skill: Engaging with abstract ideas
Creative Skill: Generating new ideas
Artistic Skill: Creating and appreciating art
Cultural Competence: Understanding and appreciating different cultural backgrounds
Information Processing Skill: Processing and applying new information
Compound SKills
Skills that combine aspects of multiple skills domains

Skill Facets
Adaptability: Trying new things and adapting to change
Capacity for Independence: Thinking, working, and making decisions by oneself
Self-Reflection Skill: Understanding one’s own thoughts and feelings

Why Do SEB SKILLS MATTER?
Every person has both strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has skills that can help them succeed in life. For example, research on SEB skills shows that Self-Management Skills can help students stay engaged and earn higher grades. Social Engagement and Cooperation Skills can help people maintain satisfying relationships and attain higher social status. Emotional Resilience Skills can help people maintain a sense of well-being and satisfaction with life. And Innovation Skills can help people pursue their interests in the arts and sciences.
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Everyone also has skills that they’d like to develop over time. Things that they struggle with now, but might want to spend time and effort on improving. Therefore, models and measures of SEB skills can help people identify their current strengths and weaknesses, and also help them think about ways to develop new skills or build on existing ones.