The ideal communicator as the basis for competence judgments of self and friend

Theory suggests that our evaluations of an observed communicator's competence is a function of the similarity between the competence‐relevant characteristics we attribute to the communicator and the characteristics we would expect of the “ideal communicator.”; It follows that when we judge ourselves as communicators, we should also compare our own perceived characteristics with our conception of the “ideal.”; Research participants rated themselves, a friend, and the “highly competent communicator”; on items measuring their characteristics and evaluations of their communicative competence. Consistent with expectation, the reationship between judgments and evaluations of the friend and the “ideal,”; and the self and the “ideal,”; were both strong.

Notes

Charles Pavitt is an assistant professor of communication at the University of Delaware.

This study was supported by a grant‐in‐aid from the College of Arts at the University of Delaware. Thanks to George Borden, Cyndy Burggraf, Larry Haight, and Betsy Perse for providing research participants.