Deficiencies in social skills, important in the functional adjustment and rehabilitation of persons with schizophrenia, derive from inadequate learning experiences, disuse, anxiety, cognitive disturbances, and amotivational states. Social skills training programs should be specifically organized to compensate for these varied sources of deficiency in interpersonal competence. Assessment of social skills deficits can proceed along topographical, functional, and information-processing lines. Assessment technology is in its early stages of development and will require attention to the psychometric properties and multidimensional focus of evaluative instruments.