Perceptions of self and spouse play a central role in marital relationships. Using data from 219 newlywed couples, we examined the relative importance (to marital well-being) of partners' similarity and understanding of conflict styles. These data include reports of behaviors of the self and spouse during their most recent disagreement. Behaviors were categorized as either constructive or destructive to resolving the conflict, and data from each category were analyzed separately. Measures of perceptions of similarity based on one spouse's report, actual similarity between spouses' separate reports and spouses' accuracy in reporting (or `understanding' of) each other's behaviors were derived from these reports. Consistent with earlier studies, perceived similarity was shown to be higher than actual similarity and was a stronger positive predictor of marital well-being. This finding highlights the importance of partners believing that they are similar. The strongest predictor of marital well-being for wives was wives' understanding of their husbands. For husbands, both spouses' self-reports of their own behaviors were the strongest predictors. These gender differences are discussed with regard to differences in orientation toward and power in relationships.

Motives for achievement, affiliation, power as fear of weakness, and power as hope of power were assessed using thematic apperception in two representative national surveys of adults, one in 1957 and the other in 1976. Comparison of the results allows us to mark changes and stable features of national character over the 19-year period. Controls for education and age differences were introduced into the year comparisons for men and women separately. Among men, the achievement motive has remained stable, the affiliative motive has decreased, and both power motives have increased. Among women, both the motives for achievement and power as fear of weakness have increased, but there has been no change in the other two motives. These results are interpreted in terms of large-scale social changes (e.g., the women's movement, the shrinking opportunity for jobs) that have dominated our recent social history.

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If modeling represents a significant process in socializing candidates to professions, the question arises as to how young women have negotiated the acquisition of professional identities in fields where there are no (or virtually no) established women to serve as models. This article explores aspects of the situation of women in male‐dominated fields; the techniques of adaptation they use and the effects on the intellectual styles and personal integrations women develop in these circumstances.