Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
no, it’s not supported by studies, longterm experiments or mountains of the empirical data …(for the ‘initial insight’ that was the beginning of our little Doctrine, go read this)
well, we like to think of the Wakefield Doctrine as a tool, a new and, at times, amusing way to frame that eternal question, ‘why the hell would they want to go and act like that?’ … yes, we talk like that in everyday life as well
the only way this ‘theory’ of ‘personality’ will do you any good will be for you to believe/accept/allow-of-the-possiblity that we (all) live in what can best be called ‘personal realities’, nothing too weird, nothing metaphysical just different. …this step is totally critical because you will be asked to infer how ‘the other person’ relates (themselves) to the world based on the characteristics of these worldviews
if you are willing to accept the notion that there are three distinct different worldviews, then you are ready for the really difficult step … (no, roger, I do not think they are ready for the concept of ‘dit…dit…dit’), the outcome of your successfully taking this step, is to derive the unique value of the Wakefield Doctrine
ya know, most of the popular Personality Types Systems all seem to begin with a self-assessment, relying on ‘the subject’ to describe themselves, the resulting information is then applied to their scoring algorithm and a personality type is established (‘congratulations! you are married to an ETNEY and as long as you don’t hum too frequently, you will have a happy and safe marriage’) …the Wakefield Doctrine starts with the character of the reality you are living in and goes from there
there is a saying around here, ‘the Wakefield Doctrine is for you, not for them ‘
it seems that most people, upon reading about (in a magazine), hearing about (on a television show) or chatting about (on ‘the Facebook’), a new personality theory simply can’t wait to try it out on: their boyfriend (who is not as wild as your parents think), girlfriend (who if only she would tone it down, and not be so….so, your friends would love her), husband (who works hard and is a good provider, but when he gets into that silent, not-depressed-but-not-happy mood, you want so much to be able to do something), wife (who sometimes, you know she can be so kind but then, out of nowhere she lashes out, usually at the person who least expects it, maybe she won’t do it so much), boss (who can be such an asshole but then, when there are only the two of you, seems to be so interested in your ideas) …all because people love personality theories for two reasons:
- it confirms what they want to believe about themselves
- it offers an excuse to try to change the other person
the Wakefield Doctrine does neither of these things …
- we are all born with the potential to experience the world as any of the three personality types
- at an early age we settle into one (of the three worldviews) this becomes our pre-dominant worldview
- we never lose the capacity to see the world as do the ‘other two’, sometimes in stressful circumstance actually in the manner of one of these other two personality types
- this is a ‘mostly’ kind of system… of course not every clark wears a streak of purple in the hair or sports a tattoo that doesn’t make sense until 6 months later when everyone has one… but if you notice a person who tends to mumble, sometimes appears to be amused for no discernible reason, is smart and funny yet hardly anyone ‘gets them’…then you should infer that they live in the personal reality that we call ‘the world of the Outsider’ you will be surprised at how many other things about them you will know, without having to ask! …same with the scotts and the rogers
Interesting yet again that we have three distinct world views that we each react to most situations by and have left me pondering this on my Monday morning. Will be thinking about this now for a bit or until my kids or up and I can’t hear myself think anymore, lol!! Seriously, thanks for the food for thought!!
@Janine
the mornings seem to be most conducive for (most of us) considering the nature of the world that awaits us… knowing that (your) predominant worldview is that of a clark or a scott or a roger serves not only to understand why we make certain choices, but allows us the perspective that there are other possibilities, not within the ‘automatic’ reality that shapes our routines, day-in and day-out, but are there available as the alternative. and it makes the behavior of others, so much more …sensible?
(you will no doubt spot someone with a scottian personality today, if it is in one of your kids, look immediately for the clark (among them) they will there, somehow always present, but not always noticeable lol)
I might have joined the readership later than some, so forgive the potentially ignorant question: is there any research/thought process on why we develop a particular personality type? I’m sure it’s a culmination of influences, but didn’t know if there was an obvious answer that I may be missing.
Thanks! Great post, as usual!
@Cari
On the contrary, quite a good question! Unfortunately we do not have an answer yet. This is mostly due to the lack of resources (time, mostly) to examine the question. Personally I am with you on the ‘culmination of influences, but we simply have not gotten beyond the ‘at a point in early childhood, between 3 and 5 years old, a ‘choice’ is made and the predominant worldview is established. I bet we end up with a nature and nuture thing… I can easily imagine that some of us/child are physically predisposed to being ‘very high energy’ (on the somatic level) being more likely to end up with the scottian worldview.
I remember that in my grad school days, one of my favorite personality theories was William Sheldon’s somatotypes/constitutional psychology. So much to do, so little time.
Very thought provoking Comment, thank you Cari
I’d be curious to know if Sheldon’s theory is still being taught today? Once upon a time it seemed to be all the rage.
Anywho…..I’m of the opinion that the “choice” of “personal reality” we make at such a young age results from (but not necessarily on a conscious level) a mix of nature and nurture…..familial, social influences, etc.
I bet not, he was out of the 1940s and ’50s The great leap forward in the field of psychology in the late 60’s through the 1970s…besides I’m pretty sure that he was a clark, lol
Your post got me thinking about something: is it possible for the different personality types to surface at different times, depending on the need?
I didn’t want to be home a lot in college. It was because it drove me sort of crazy to be around the chaos of it all, so I would stay out with my friends.
Now I can’t get enough of being home and prefer it to going out with friends lots of times – oh and I know I should. :P
Awesome post!
@Cyndi
absolutely….sort of, in a way lol
The thing about the Wakefield Doctrine? we have a set of principles and we understand how it works in most cases, and (these principles and ‘understandings’ are born out in practice) but there are a number of areas in which the Doctrine still seems to maintain, yet we do not have a clear explanation of (how) it works. The pressure is on us here to expand our understanding as fast as possible, and some of you new Readers are a real pain (lol) because you are getting the core principles faster that others before you which makes it more critical that we increase the pace of our understanding of how this thing works
That’s interesting! Viewing the world from one of the other two personalities in times of stress. I never thought about it like that. Thought provoking post as always – thanks! :)
@Melanie
‘Like minds and all’…you know? lol I see a Comment from Cyndi on this very subject. The simple and correct answer is, ‘yes’ the more involved and lengthy and not ‘more correct’ answer is, we all know that we have the capability to experience our lives as any of the three personality types, which is (also) to say that we can act, react, respond and initiate in our lives in the style appropriate to any of the three worldviews. But we are pretty much living in the pre-dominant worldview that we are. But sometimes, especially and in particular, as you rightly suggest, at times of stress we can see ourselves acting as if we are living in the worldview of the other two. But it is still a temporary affair, once the emergency (as it is often an extreme emergency) we go back to who we have always been.
(This can engender a certain amount of frustration, especially in clarks! I will leave the ‘why’ of this for another Post/Comment) Thanks for the thought provoking Comment!)