Abstract. Elastic and inelastic scattering as well as transfer transitions involving a valence proton in the sd-and fp-shell orbits are studied in the interaction of 37C1 + 36S at EcM = 50 MeV. Experimental angular distributions of single particle states of 37C1 (elastic and inelastic transfer) are presented with a CRC analysis. In the CRC calculations the effects of inelastic and transfer couplings are studied using known spectroscopic information. In the CRC analysis six single particle bound states and the collective 2 + excitation of 36S are included in the coupling scheme. Higher order coupling effects are found to be important. A distinct effect, the mixing of single particle states (of different parity) due to direct and transfer interactions is observed to produce an enhancement of the transfer cross section to the low lying states. This feature is due to a change of the asymptotically defined single nucleon orbits via polarization in the field of the other nucleus, an effect which is analogous to hybridization, known from atomic physics.