Low, medium, high: find out your sociability level

What is sociability?

In psychology, sociability is understood as a person’s ability to establish contacts and conduct constructive dialogue with representatives of any social strata. This is an innate personality characteristic, depending on temperament and the type of nervous system. For example, choleric and sanguine people are sociable by nature, while melancholic and phlegmatic people have to make an effort to speak to a stranger.

This is the difference between sociability and sociability: sociability is an acquired skill that can and should be developed. Even an unsociable person can develop communication skills, easily establish personal and work contacts, have productive conversations and be considered a good speaker.

Advice from psychologists and practical recommendations

How to be sociable:

1. How to learn to communicate easily and freely with people?
   Practice best develops communication skills. The fear of rejection and/or condemnation disappears, and sensitivity to nonverbal signals develops.

   A person discovers the benefits of communication and develops certain behavior patterns that he can successfully apply in similar situations in the future.

2. How to become a more open, sociable and interesting person? First of all, you need to abstract yourself from the negative and try to look at the world with a positive outlook. People who only discuss problems, complain about life and judge others cannot claim to be an easy and interesting conversationalist. It is also necessary during the dialogue to try to hear and understand the interlocutor, try to open it up and correctly decipher the signals. This can be turned into an interesting game that will make you fall in love with communication. Well, the love of communication will develop into ease and openness. Giving up an evaluative perception of reality will also help you become a more open person to communicate.
3. How to become talkative, cheerful and sociable? Interaction requires at least awareness of common topics and erudition. By expanding your horizons, you can make progress in your ability to build relationships with others. If a person has his own opinion, a wealth of knowledge and up-to-date information, he automatically becomes a pleasant interlocutor.

Levels of sociability

In psychology, there are several levels or types of sociability. Let's take a closer look at them.

Experts attribute the peculiarities of sociability to the fact that it should develop together with other character traits: empathy, tact, attentiveness, and the ability to listen. If a person is sociable but not friendly, most likely, others will perceive him as an aggressor or a bore, an unpleasant person.

Free consultation with an EDPRO coach

Get access

What does it mean to be a good communicator?

Communication is a complex process consisting of a set of verbal and non-verbal means.

The ability not only to speak in order to break the ringing and awkward silence, but also the ability to interact, develop a conversation and go deeper into a topic, while sensing the mood of the opponent.

Full communication must meet three requirements:

• awareness;
• openness;
• receptivity to feedback.

A sufficiently high degree of awareness ensures the continuation of the conversation.

After all, a conscious person, receiving a question or answer, passes it through himself, immediately forming an attitude or opinion on this topic.

An unconscious person will be confused, trying to respond in the “right” way rather than in a natural way.

Openness erases boundaries and prohibitions. There are no longer thoughts in your head that it’s better to talk about work with colleagues, or about school pranks with a former classmate. Any communication (regardless of the form) is perceived positively.

Responsiveness to feedback indicates that the individual not only listens to his interlocutor, but also reads non-verbal signs (intonation, facial expressions, gestures, postures, etc.).

All these nuances together help direct communication in the right direction , reveal or change the topic if necessary, smoothly flowing from one informational occasion to another.

Submission of information

To win over your interlocutor, you need to skillfully formulate your thoughts , speak clearly and use body language.

Otherwise, the listener simply will not understand what information they want to convey to him.

As a result, he will perceive what was said as informational garbage, and then rush to end the conversation.

Development of sociability

The formation of sociability is influenced not only by the type of temperament, but also by the model of interaction adopted in the family. For example, authoritarian, tough parents can “suppress” the sociability and love of life of a sanguine person and, conversely, attentive parents inclined to cooperate with the child will help a sensitive melancholic person come out of his “shell.”

You can improve your sociability at any age. If you don't like to communicate, but understand that you need it for social success, work on the so-called “professional sociability” or sociability.

Follow these guidelines:

1. Read more books and watch educational videos. Then you will be able to carry on conversations on a wide range of topics.
2. Make contacts first. Communicate with sellers and taxi drivers, but do not be intrusive. If you feel that your interlocutor does not want to talk, leave him alone.
3. Interact with people of different ages, social status, gender. This way you will learn empathy, understanding, and strengthen your communication skills.
4. Learn to give compliments and actively listen. You can read more about the features of proper business and personal communication in the “Coaching” section.

It is better to work on sociability simultaneously with other character traits: for example, tolerance, attentiveness, friendliness. Then you will truly become a pleasant conversationalist to whom people are drawn.

General rules

What is sociability

Sociability
is the ability to quickly and easily establish contacts with other people. It is difficult to imagine an uncommunicative social worker. For a group committee manager who deals with living people every day and hour, this quality is simply necessary. The organizer should be alien to any manifestation of isolation. How busy Komsomol members are with work, how much a newcomer earns, in what conditions a Komsomol member lives - all this cannot pass the attention of the group committee. Komsomol grouporg | I. Ilyinsky

Sociability reflects the individual's need to interact with other people. A sociable person is characterized by talkativeness, sociability, as well as the ability to express his feelings and thoughts openly, without tension or constraint. Communication with others like oneself is the most important human need, playing a fundamental role in the development of personality. For full mental and spiritual development, it is important for a person to be heard, understood, realized and integrated into society. Through knowledge and assessment of other people, a person comes to self-knowledge and self-esteem.

Sociability is not only the ability to establish contact with a person: it is also the ability to find the right words and express your thoughts accurately, delicately and tactfully. A sociable person is capable of empathy, the ability to perceive the point of view or alien worldview of the interlocutor. It is respect, empathy and sincere interest in communication that make it possible to distinguish empty talkativeness from virtue.

The degree of sociability is important in many areas of life - business, professional, everyday and intimate-personal, allowing for dialogue, finding common ground and eliminating conflicts. Success in professions such as manager, teacher, guide, journalist, doctor, event organizer and many others directly depends on a specialist’s ability to listen, ask questions and share knowledge, which is part of his communicative competence. The ability to communicate in family life is no less important, because, as you know, the closer people are to each other, the more painfully they can hurt.

With a lack of politeness, tact and sensitivity, sociability can turn into intrusiveness, talkativeness and idle talk. A sense of proportion, good manners and adherence to the rules of etiquette will allow you not to cross the line between dignity and vice.

• Sociability is a qualitative and systematic property of Homo sapiens.
• Sociability is the tendency to establish social contacts.
• Sociability is the ability to listen, hear and understand others.
• Sociability is the ability to express your thoughts and feelings clearly and clearly.
• Sociability is curiosity and interest in people.
• Sociability is one of the characteristic traits of an extroverted personality.

Conclusion

Communication skills are rightfully one of the most in-demand skills today. Without effective communication, it is difficult to make acquaintances, create a personal brand, build a career, and achieve high goals. It is logical that employers want to see communication skills in a candidate’s resume. But how to indicate it if the concept itself is so multifaceted? We have prepared a small checklist for you.

How to write about communication skills in an application: a checklist for applicants

1. Take a piece of paper and a pen. Draw a table with two columns.
2. Take an inventory of your communication skills. Write down everything you own in the first column.
3. Analyze the vacancy, highlight and move keywords related to sociability into the second column.
4. Match the information in both columns. Any coincidences? This is exactly what you need to include in your resume.
5. Didn't find anything in common? Then study the vacancy again and mark the points that need to be worked on.
6. Put key skills on your resume, but start developing them now. This way you won't deceive anyone. And the recruiter will certainly appreciate your efforts during the interview.

How can being sociable reduce stress at work?

Work can be stressful and frustrating at times for everyone. Stress can cause physical symptoms, such as headaches or stomach pain, or mental symptoms, such as depression or irritability. But people who have a strong support system at work may experience less stress, perhaps because they feel like they are part of a team working toward a common goal. You'll be more likely to build a support network if you have outgoing traits.

Research has shown that increased peer support in the workplace is positively correlated with improved health, less burnout and less pain.

Who is a leader?

While we can agree that most of the above traits are essential to being a good leader, we can also argue that sociability is not essentially required to be a great leader.
With that said, it is not necessary for a leader to have outgoing traits to be effective. What I want to emphasize is that there are many leadership qualities that, while important for specific leadership situations, do not always clearly define the effectiveness of a good leader. Take, for example, the military, where there is virtually no social contact between different levels of leadership or ranking levels.

There is a fraternization policy that reduces social contact between parties, it is discouraged and in some cases against the law in order to maintain social relationships with subordinates. This is because military leaders must be able to lead others by providing purpose, direction and motivation, and must be able to ask people to do things that the vast majority of people would never be asked to do. Ordering someone to risk their life would be much more difficult if there were social relationships between the parties. There is no need for the leadership trait of sociability or social skills within this particular well-defined leader-follower relationship.

In most professional work situations, the leader is the person who is ultimately responsible, the direct representative of the organization. He provides leadership while ensuring standards are met. His job is to influence and build trust. Sometimes he is required to resolve conflicts. This person must lead by example and do so with confidence even under adverse conditions. He is responsible for his competence and has communication skills appropriate for the level he leads. Again, it can be argued that communication skills are not essential to performing these tasks as a leader.

Is sociability an important personality trait or not?

Is sociability really an important trait in a person’s character for his success, be it in a professional career or position in society?

A study has been conducted to examine this issue. Using an extensive systematic scientific approach, it was revealed that in order for a person to be perceived by others as a successful individual or leader, he must have such traits as intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and communication skills . Personally, I am not attracted to leadership, but in life I have realized that I am an informal leader to the extent of my personal qualities. So the answer is yes. This is an important personality trait of any person. If you want to become successful, without it the path to success is closed. Let's consider several areas of activity in a person's life where communication skills are important or not.

How does sociability affect friendship?

Most people spend most of their waking hours at work.
Sometimes you may not have enough time to make friends outside of the workplace. Having outgoing traits can increase the likelihood of developing friendships in the workplace, and can also help you make lifelong friends with whom you enjoy spending time outside of work hours. Creating meaningful office friendships can help improve job satisfaction. In fact, research has found that having a close friend at work has been positively correlated with employee loyalty and higher levels of job performance. We examined the concept of sociability from several perspectives. What do you want to achieve in life and why do you need to be sociable ideally? Answer this question for yourself. The choice is always yours!