Molar/Molecular Assessment in an Analogue Situation: Relationships among Several Measures and Validation of a Behavioral Assessment Instrument

Abstract

The molar/molecular problem has been present for a long rime within behavioral assessment and especially in the field of social skills. Our study performed a series of molar and molecular assessments based not only on amount/frequency measures but also on measures of adequacy. The study concerned the behavior showed by a group of 65 university subjects in an analogue situation of extended interaction with a member of the opposite sex. To achieve the molecular assessment of behavior based on adequacy, an assessment instrument (the Social Skill Behavioral Assessment System) was constructed. This instrument was composed of 21 elements which are widely used in the literature of social skills. A series of relationships was found between the assessments based on adequacy and those based on amount/frequency. Our data also lend criterion validity to the behavioral assessment test constructed in this study (Social Skill Behavioral Assessment System). The application of this instrument in assessing situations different from those used in the present work could evaluate its wider validity and also assist in finding the most significant molecular elements within those situations.