Patients and doctors in specialized surgical, medical and gynecological clinics in the Zurich area replied to the Giessen test and a questionnaire on their attitude towards work. The results suggest that the traditional idea of the doctor-patient relationship as propagated by medical sociology (e.g. PARSONS) seems rather to correspond to patients' stereotyped (projective) ideals, but positively not to the realistic self-assessment of doctors. Doctors do not depict themselves as being as socially esteemed, self-satisfied and self-assured about their skills as patients would like them to do.