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

Friend of the Doctrine Cyndi Calhoun stylin in a DocTee …step on over to www.artfunky.com an say hidy

Being loath to let too many days go by without a lesson in the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine and today being Wednesday, which as everyone knows is the unofficial start of the week’s Six Sentence Story bloghop, lets go with a RePrint.

Bottom lion?

the Wakefield Doctrine offers three different (but related) ways a person relates themselfs to the world around them. These are (as would):

1. the Outsider (clarks)
2. the Predator (scotts)
3. the Herd Member (rogers)

We are born with the predisposition to form these relationships. At a very early age we settle into one (of the three relationships). Our development as people is then begun, in the context of the character of our relationship with the world. clarks, being Outsiders are careful to avoid scrutiny and are determined to discover what everyone else seems to know about life; scotts, being Predators develop muscles (literal and metaphorical) to be more effective predators and less likely to be prey (to more powerful Predators) and rogers being Herd Members learn about people which as a class of things making up their world is important as forming and joining Herds is how they continue their mission to show everyone ‘the Right Way’.

We have one (predominant worldview aka personality type) but retain the potential of the other two.

Employing this perspective enables us to know more about the other person than they know about themselves.

RePrint

-the Wakefield Doctrine- “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a personality theory”

January 26, 2015

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

…we did mention that the Doctrine is anecdotal, right? above? …anecdotal football, if ever I saw one

(Today’s Post’s subtitle is, of course, (the) paraphrased tagline of a famous speech by football coach, Vince Lombardi.  Given that we’re at the height of football season (Height of Football Season motto: “Open enrollment for the Herd!! you’re all rogers…. provided you’re willing to paint your face and tolerate near-criminal activity in the name of cheering for the home team!!!!” ).

Over the course of the weekend there were enough Reader remarks, comments, asides and vague innuendae about the understandability of the Wakefield Doctrine, that I thought, ‘What the hell, lets see if I can’t give a ‘This is the Wakefield Doctrine speech’.

Rather than go back and mine one of the 1268 Posts that, when all is said and done, are each an attempt to explain the Wakefield Doctrine in a manner that allows a New Reader to read, understand, apply and enjoy this here personality theory here, I thought… hey! it’s Sunday evening. Lets write a ‘new’ explanation of the Wakefield Doctrine!

the Wakefield Doctrine is a way of looking at the people in our lives, that can, when properly applied, lead to understanding them in ‘additional ways’. By ‘additional ways’, we mean… ‘what am I doing that is an integral aspect in how they are acting?

(…. “Ladies and Gentleman this is ‘an inflated leather spindle torus’”  sorry, lol… I was trying to write ‘the speech’, but thought about the ‘setup’…post game speech… locker room… various states of dress…demographics of the current readership…. me standing on a bench (in that locker room)….lol)  wait! wait!  let me try again.

The Comments that got me on this theme (the basics of the Wakefield Doctrine, not the locker room) were:

• “I’m still learning this clark roger secret rule thing… yes one day I will…”  (Kimberly at ‘…something something’ )
• ” And remember, I am embracing my Clark-like self this week.” (Val of ‘Virtual Vineyard’)
• “…thankful for your WD info and thankful to be understanding it more and better” (Lisa over at Meaning of Me’)

Let me try to be more reality tv show about this explanation. Kimberly (who, of the three, is the one I would bet would ‘call shotgun!’ first,  is in the front seat and Val and Lisa are in the back  and we’re driving through Wakefield on a Saturday night.**)

After driving past the Guild and heading into Wakefield proper, I look in the rear view mirror and begin:

the Wakefield Doctrine is a perspective. It’s a way to see the world, it’s a way to understand the behavior of the people in our lives. It’s not an Answer, it’s a Question. And…. (hey!! Val!! please!!! no leaning out the window and shouting at the people in the CVS parking lot!!! come on! they’re on serious, old person/sick person business!!  thank you. )  the Question is:  ‘how does my spouse/the girl at the 7/11,  / the Teacher who is shaping my 7 year old’s life/ the people I read about in the news… how do they appear to be ‘relating themselves to the world around them’?’  The Wakefield Doctrine proposes that we all live in a personal reality (aka worldview) that is characterized as (one) of the following:

1. live as ‘the Outsider’ (clarks) always apart from, different, trying to understand what it is they don’t understand, trapped by the belief that it is about knowledge
2. the world of the Predator (scotts) seemingly confident (always looking for threats and opportunity), active and impulsive  running into doors as often as gallantly opening them, protective and paranoid
3. the life of the Herd Member (rogers)  self-assured, as the world of the roger is one that is quantifiable/(and limited), knowable/(and ignorable) ordered and simple… searching only for ‘the Right Way’/ missing the enjoyment of the un-expected and strange

What the Wakefield Doctrine refers to as ‘personality types’ is simply the skill set we develop in order to successfully cope with the reality that we find ourselves growing up in and living our lives in … (‘no Kimberly… we can’t stop for donuts…. we have to drive to Galilee next…. yes,  Lisa  I will try to walk on the water… very funny’). So what we are saying with the Doctrine is this: understand the three worldviews, infer how the other person is relating themselves to the world around them and they will do the rest.  No, I’m serious! Ask anyone! Once you start to see the clarks, scotts and rogers in your life, they will ‘act the part’ to a degree that is sometimes a little scary. But fun..  The goal of all of this is: to try to see the world as the other person is experiencing it.

It takes imagination. It takes the kind of curious mind that not only is capable of, but enjoys imagining that a person is a Predator (figuratively) or creative perfectionist or… or even the person who is ever the Outsider, but always manages to be a part of…secretly, of course!

…ok everyone out! we’re back.

 

** which, by the way, is not a symbol, metaphor, allusion or made up place… there is a Wakefield, Rhode Island and I do drive through it on virtually every Saturday Night***

*** doing the Wakefield Doctrine Saturday Night Drive Call-in….

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