272 Interacting with Their Patients
roles. Physicians adopted different roles, depending on a variety of fac-
tors, including physician and patient preferences. Mutual self-selection
may occur, too, as both physicians and patients sought members of the
opposite group who exhibited preferred patterns of communication.
Again, surprisingly, many of these doctors only now, as patients, be-
came fully aware of the importance of these phenomena in their day-to-
day interactions—underscoring the need to make their colleagues and
patients more aware of these issues.