The aims of this article are to argue for an alternative approach to theorizing about social skill and to apply a model developed within this alternative perspective in identifying the mechanisms that give rise to various performance deficits. Theorizing about social skill is currently dominated by models that emphasize the role of knowledge and motivation in skilled behavior. Despite this, it should be clear that people may possess adequate knowledge and motivation and still fail to perform skillfully. For this reason, it is desirable to examine the mechanisms of behavioral production that give rise to nonoptimal behavior even when knowledge and motivation are sufficient. Toward this end, a particular model of the behavioral‐production system, action assembly theory, is presented, and its implications for understanding performance deficits explore