Sometimes type won't obey styles!

Question

I'm working with type and creating new styles...sometimes I size the type to what I want and then create a new paragraph style. I assume that new style will "know" the attributes of the selected type...which it does, but as soon as I click "OK" the type goes to some microscopic size not what I had it at.
Starting all over, same problem. Make new style at the size wanted, type will not "obey" its style..in this case a headline style..a big type size.
How can it even be that a selection of type, having a style assigned to it, can not obey the style controlling it?
I've been using ID for quite awhile now...this is baffling. thank you for any clues!
cat

Answer 1

I click "OK" in the window where you set style attributes. I see the type size, in this case 98 points and in the document in question that is quite a bit larger than my paragraph type style.
Yes, I am selecting the newly-created style and there is no + sign next to it. In the control bar, the type attributes do not reflect what the style says. The control bar says 10pt! When I re-open the style attributes for the style, it says 98 points.
total disconnect!
My workflow sounds pretty much the same as yours: create type the way I want, select New Paragraph Style from the paragraph style panel; the new style is created drawing from the attributes of the selected text...been that way since the early days of Quark..
Even if I delete the text box and start anew, the problem remains. I've trashed the ID prefs, and still the problem persists...