Non-cognitive skills: what they are, types and examples

Let's see what non-cognitive skills are and how they influence people's development.

Non-cognitive skills are relatively independent of the subject's intelligence, and it is important to work on and train them from childhood in order to achieve good social, cognitive and emotional development.

In this article we will describe what is meant by non-cognitive skills, we will see examples of some of them, and we will present some techniques and programs that can be used to train and we will present some techniques and programs that are used to work and enhance them.

What are non-cognitive skills?

Non-cognitive skills, also known as socioemotional skills, cover a wide spectrum of aptitudes or traits such as empathy, resilience, self-control or even personality characteristics such as extroversion or openness to experience.

These skills are independent of cognitive skills, i.e., we can develop them even if the latter are altered, but they are related to each other, which means that non-cognitive skills are not related to cognitive skills.This means that non-cognitive skills function as a basis for the correct functioning of cognitive abilities.

Thus, non-cognitive skills enable us to learn and develop our knowledge and are essential for the child to develop well cognitively, emotionally and socially, keeping these components in balance. For this reason, given their characteristics, will be necessary for children to function and perform well in school and for adults to be successful in the workplace..

It is known that these skills, like most of the abilities and psychological characteristics of human beings, have a genetic component, although they are also influenced by the environment. Thus, it will be possible to work, to train them, to improve and enhance their presence in the subjects.

What are the non-cognitive skills?

There are many different non-cognitive skills that, as we have seen, will be fundamental for the development of the individual. Let's learn more about some of them.

1. Self-control

Self-control consists of the ability to master oneself, to manage our thoughts, emotions and behavior in general taking into account our interests in a global sense (and not only paying attention to the here and now). (and not only paying attention to the here and now).

To be able to speak of self-control, two characteristics must be present. The first is that at least two behaviors are involved, where one will be the controlled response, i.e. the one we want to increase, and the other or others the controlling ones, which allow us to increase the controlled response. The other necessary element is that there is a conflict of consequences between the different behavioral choices, which means that performing one or the other behavior entails different consequences, with important differences.

In this way we will speak of decisional control when the conflict is resolved in the act or prolonged self-control in which even when making the choice the conflicting responses are continuously evaluated, we must continue to maintain the self-control behavior for a longer period of time.

2. Motivation

Motivation is described as a union of forces that are in charge of initiating and directing the behavior of the individual. It is this way as by means of the motivation we can try to understand, to explain and to modify the conduct. It is the one that sets a goal and drives us to achieve it.

There are two main types of motivation; intrinsic motivation, which places its strength within the individual (i.e., the subject performs the behavior as an end in itself, for the simple fact of doing it); and extrinsic motivation, where the strength or motivation is fixed on the outside (the subject performs the behavior in order to get a reward, the activity alone does not motivate him/her).

3. Empathy

Empathy is the ability to put ourselves in the other person's place, to identify and feel the other person's emotions.. Thus, it goes far beyond understanding their abilities, it is necessary, as we have already said, to put oneself in the place of the other individual.

This ability will gradually develop as we socialize. It is also an important component of altruistic behavior.

4. Resilience

Resilience is defined as the ability that some people have, despite having been surrounded by risk factors, in adverse situations, they have developed psychologically in a healthy and correct way, with the ability to overcome different adversities and leading a positive, organized or as we have already said healthy life despite the complicated environment.

5. Self-esteem

Self-esteem refers to how we perceive, evaluate and value ourselves..

This capacity evolves and varies throughout the subject's life. Thus, generally during preschool and in the adult age it will be when the individual will have a higher self-esteem; on the other hand, this one tends to diminish when the subject initiates the school, during the adolescence and in the old age.

6. Perseverance

The perseverance is the capacity to** remain firm in the accomplishment for the attainment of some objectives**. In this way also we will say that it consists of being constant to obtain our fixed goals, that is to say, we must have a clear purpose that justifies our dedication to reach it.

In spite of the positive characteristics and benefits that this capacity brings us, a bad use of this or not controlling it, can end up being maladaptive and dysfunctional, since it can generate that the subject remains anchored in constantly carrying out an action, a behavior or in achieving an unattainable objective, affecting his normal functioning.

7. Social skills

Social skills are a set of abilities or competences that allow us to interact and act in a allow us to interact and act appropriately in society and that will be seen and valued positively by others..

It is for this reason that we must adapt them according to the context, for example, not all cultures perceive and value different social skills in the same way.

8. Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is self-confidence or self-assurance. the conviction that one can successfully perform the behavior necessary to achieve a desired goal or outcome. to achieve a desired goal or outcome.

9. Work ethic.

Work ethic is defined as the ability to perceive that hard work and effort has a moral benefit and helps to strengthen us for the achievement of goals.

10. Personality Traits

Personality traits refer to cognitions, emotions and behaviors.. In short, the behavior that subjects tend to behave consistently in different situations, maintained over time.

There have been different authors who have made different classifications of personality traits, we will focus on one of them which is the Big Five or the "big five".. As its name indicates, it describes 5 personality traits.

We fear extraversion, which is related to the amount and intensity of interpersonal interactions; neuroticism, which is linked to the degree of emotional adjustment; openness to experience, which is related to the taste for the unknown and for living new experiences; responsibility, which refers to the ability to organize, self-control and persist to achieve their goals; and kindness, linked to social interaction in a positive, empathetic way.

How to train and develop non-cognitive skills.

As we pointed out in the first section, non-cognitive skills have both genetic and environmental components. It is for this reason that it will be important to work and train them in order to achieve a better function of them..

Thus, it is recommended that both the school and parents teach and reinforce the use of non-cognitive skills from an early age, as these will be essential for a correct cognitive, emotional and social development.

Thus, different activities or programs have been proposed. For example, assemblies or debates where students can give their opinions about different aspects of their school or classmates, both positive and negative, and propose improvements. For this activity to be useful, the teacher must act as moderator and ensure that all students participate.

Another technique we can use is role playingthat is to say, to pose different situations to the students being them the actors and practicing which would be the most appropriate behaviors or conducts. We can also use the technique of emotional cards that consists of a knowledge and emotional work where each child expresses and represents the emotion of the card that has touched him/her and in this way a joint learning can be done.

To continue knowing and training the emotions, to achieve a good use of them and a certain stability, we can also practice relaxation. For example, we can work with children to know and locate where they feel the sensation of fear, in what place of the body and then be able to express what they notice, what they feel and share the experience.

Finally, the University of Murcia has proposed a program to work on non-cognitive skills called "Educate to Be". This is aimed at the first educational stages and ends in the last year of Primary Education. This program uses stories, videos and different activities where the different adventures of some protagonists are narrated to promote the learning of self-regulation skills.