the Wakefield Doctrine

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers )

You know the ease with which  some of us ‘get’ the core concept of the Wakefield Doctrine, there is an equal ease in missing the point of this thing of ours. We are fond of saying that the first people who come to this blog are among the ‘best and brightest’ that the blogosphere has to offer. They see the incredible insights that this Doctrine affords them, the ridiculously effective tools that allow you to understand why people behave the way that they do…not to mention the fun we (the Progenitors and DownSprings and FOTDs have, what with hats and Drives and videos and all).  And yet, sometimes people struggle with the (underlying) principles of the Doctrine which in turn makes it more difficult for them to acquire the full understanding of this thing, limiting their ability to contribute to the ongoing process.
When this happens, we blame ourselves. We accept that, while all efforts are made to be simple and clear in the different Pages illustrating the different personality types and offering examples (of these types) that can be seen in the public culture,  sometimes it is not enough! So as Malcolm said, ‘We want to talk right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand‘.

The Wakefield Doctrine is not a theory, the Wakefield Doctrine is a label for a perspective. This perspective is one by which we look at the behavior of another person and make the assumption that (their) behavior makes perfect sense and is entirely appropriate in some reality.

The Wakefield Doctrine suggests that all people live their lives not only in the ‘common reality’ that we all share, but in an individual reality that is the context in which they act and react, feel and make assumptions to base their behavior.

The Wakefield Doctrine maintains that there are three individual realities (or ‘worldviews’) that have characteristics that can be associated with the three personality types: the worldview of ‘the outsider’, the worldview of ‘the predator’ and the worldview of ‘the herd member’.

The Wakefield Doctrine tells us that ‘personality’ is not a collection of traits, a list of typical behaviors or even a self-reported series of likes and dislikes all charted out on a multi-axis diagram, rather personality is simply the  repeated  reactions and strategies that all people develop in order to get through life as best they can.

The Wakefield Doctrine takes the critical step of saying, ‘hey, if we dropped you at a very early childhood age into the world of the clark, you would grow up a clark‘,
The Wakefield Doctrine takes the bold step of saying, ‘take a child of less than 4 years of age and drop them into the predator/prey worldview of a scott to grow up in and I will tell which person at a PGA championship will yell, “get in the hole!!!” ‘
The Wakefield Doctrine says, ‘what other explanation accounts for grown men wearing authentic period-fabric Army uniforms of the Civil War era and spending entire weekends practicing formations!!!??!”

The Wakefield Doctrine says to all of us the following:

• all of us are predominately one of the three types and yet we retain the capability to act as the other two
• the trick to using the Doctrine is simple, don’t try to make sense of what people are doing until you infer the worldview that they are doing it in
• if you are not sure if a person is a clark, scott or roger, eliminate the most obvious (i.e. the girl with the sequins on her face and the mini skirt over the jeans? probably safe to scratch off  ‘scott’
• practice on yourself, you can’t get this thing wrong! If you want to tell everyone that you are a scott, everyone will be polite and nod and say sure as you put on your beret and get your pipe and slippers and sit down to read ‘Genealogy Quarterly’
• it is the world that you are living in, not the things that you do that make you a clark or a scott or a roger
• finally,  ‘the Doctrine is for you, not for them‘