Hi George,
softproofing is meant to “preview” the image
( shown here with the profile for a matte paper )
… and allows the user to tweak the file accordingly
( then better work on a ‘print’ version ! ).
.
While the softproof itself does not change the image,
it would do this once you export with “Same as Softproof”
( this option is convenient when exporting e.g. to sRGB for online use )
As said before, it’s not recommended to export with the paper profile as you limit the color space to that of the paper. Then using the paper profile again in the printing process (where the paper profile normally is invoked) causes double profiling.
… so far in case you start printing yourself. 
greetings, Wolfgang