Great article. Thanks so much for linking to it. I interpreted the article to be about dealing with anxiety, though, not about learning skills from declarative knowledge. And yes, it's relevant for social situations as well, especially:

The irony is, competence is not a cure for the fear of incompetence. The courage to play incompetently is a cure for fear of incompetence.

And the courage to socialize incompetently is a huge part of what it means to have social skills.