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Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, 54-61 (1997)
DOI: 10.1207/s15327957pspr0101_4

The Proxy Model of Social Comparison for Self-Assessment of Ability

Ladd Wheeler

Department of Psychology University of Rochester

René Martin

Jerry Suls

Department of Psychology University of Iowa

One purpose of the social comparison of abilities is to determine action possibilities— "Can I do X?" By comparing ourselves with a proxy who has attempted X, we can determine our likelihood of success. A good proxy is one who has performed the same as us on an initial task requiring the ability. In addition, however, a good proxy must be similar on related attributes so that we can be confident that the proxy's performance on the initial task was maximal. In the case of a task requiring multiple abilities, more than one proxy may be used.


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