A flexible control theory of SEB skills

We propose a definition of social, emotional, and behavioral skills (SEB skills; Soto et al., 2021, 2022) that addresses some of the deficiencies of current conceptualization, at least within personality and social psychology. Drawing on ideas from control theory, we propose that the critical feature of SEB skills is flexibility. We use this distinction to distinguish it from related constructs such as abilities and personality traits. We discuss the implications of our perspective for the study and measurement of SEB skills.