Similarity to a model and self-evaluation.

"An adult model was presented to groups of grade school children as being either highly similar or of little similarity to the children in background and other attributes. To half of the groups he described himself as being high in abilities necessary for deep-sea diving. To the other half he described himself as being deficient in these abilities. He also described a number of his preferences relevant to deep-sea diving." Ss evaluated themselves on these abilities before and after being exposed to the adult, and expressed their own preferences regarding diving. Ss tended to agree with the preferences of the diver when he was perceived as being similar to themselves. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4FC57B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)