clarkscottroger | the Wakefield Doctrine

2sdae -the Wakefield Doctrine-

October 13, 2026 By clarkscottroger 14 Comments

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

Now that we’re all safely in Tuesday (the mildest day of the workweek) what say we check in our friends/Commentationers/-ettes

from Mimi:

In my reality, it’s good to be an outsider, but to see things through the lens of a predator or a herd member when needed.

then Misky:

I will say this: The Doctrine has given me a wee bit more patience for other perceptions that might’ve (well, actually, that really thoroughly) bugged the heck out me previously.

finally (the later episodes opening song lyrics ‘the Professor and Maryanne are here on….) Frank:

It sounds like we have better (I mean, worse) things to repent of than being either a clark, a scott or a roger.

How true (and perceptive)!

(In reverse order)

the three ‘personality types’ of the Wakefield Doctrine, more properly referred to as one’s predominant worldview, is both label and description of the first/primary relationship we, all of us, establish with the world. It is this context that we maintain and build a set of coping (and thriving) mechanisms/social strategies that persist throughout our lifes.
as an alternate perspective on the world around us, (and the people who make it up), the Doctrine offers a view from aside
to see the world not only as it exists for us, but to understand (or, at very least, gain an appreciation of) the world and everyday life as those around us are experiencing it is the most worthy of ambitions

cool

hows about we close with a RePrint/ReMinder of the ‘Eureka Moment’ of this here personality ‘theory’ here?

In the early 1980’s, Scott (the progenitor scott) worked at a music store in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He was the only full-time salesman and (also) ran the store’s repair department. In addition to musical instruments, the store provided repair services for a wide range of electronic equipment, including tape recorders and other audio equipment.

One day I happened to stop by the store to visit. While there, a young man walked into the store, went directly to the ‘repair department’ where Scott and I were talking and without preamble placed a ‘dual cassette recorder’ on the counter. A dual cassette recorder was designed to allow one cassette to be copied directly to another, what today we would call, making a back up. The controls on this ‘dubbing recorder’ consisted of two sets of tape recorder controls: Volume, Treble and Bass. Where it differed from a single recorder was that it also had a Master Volume control. As the name implies it controlled the volume level, for both recording and playback. The tape recorder the customer placed on the counter appeared to be new and showed no signs of damage or abuse. I stepped back, Scott looked up and said, ‘What can we do for you’? The customer said, “This thing is brand new, it worked for a couple of days, then it stopped working entirely. I can’t figure out what’s wrong”.

Scott looked at the device for a second, then, without a word, reached under the counter, brought out a roll of black electrical tape, and, tearing off a 2 inch piece, taped over the Master Volume control (after returning the dial to it’s highest setting). He then slid the device back over the counter and said, “There, it’s all right now.”

The customer asked to plug in the recorder. Taking a cassette from his pocket he put in the machine and ran it through it’s paces. Satisfied that his ‘broken tape recorder’ now worked like new, he thanked Scott and walked out of the store, a totally satisfied customer.

My reality shifted. For reasons unclear to this day, although I observed what scott saw as to the nature of the problem with the dual cassette recorder, I realized that the character of his solution implied a reality, a ‘context’ that was clearly different from mine. At that moment I came to believe the personal reality that I experience as I went about my life was not necessarily the exact reality of anyone else. That the manner in which Scott perceived the ‘problem’ was fundamentally different from the way I witnessed it.

From that moment, standing in a small music store in Pawtucket, I’ve been observing the behavior of others knowing with the conviction that what I could see was not necessarily what they are experiencing. That, in fact, all reality is personal to a small, but significant degree, personal.

This blog is all about: ‘Can I find a way to better see the world as the other person is experiencing it?. And, (through this effort), ‘Can I improve and enhance how I relate myself to the world around me and the people who make it up?‘

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (already in progress…feel free to wander around)

(above excerpt from 2009)

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: predicting human behavior, the Wakefield Doctrine, three personality types, Understanding Human Behavior

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

October 12, 2026 By clarkscottroger 5 Comments

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

Our reliable correspondent, Frank, wrote, last week

It is a comfort that I have a perfectly suited-to-reality worldview. If I want to improve myself, is there anything that I need to do? It is hard to improve on perfection. I suspect the answer is no.

thanks, Frank!

Being Monday, it’s only natural to think: RePrint!

…with a slight twist, why the heck not?

(from a post published on December 8 2014)

“…let you in on a little secret: the most difficult part of using the Wakefield Doctrine as a tool for self-improving oneself is that the key lies in recognizing others of your own worldview, observing how they act and interact and accepting the fact that their actions (and interactions) are simply their best effort to deal with the world as they are experiencing it. (I just lied. the real ‘most difficult part’ is to see another person of your worldview and realize that you are living and acting in the world pretty much as they are… for better or worse, ya know?)”

err not really doing it for us, ya know?

Quick, down and dirty ‘splanation…

Each of us have the personality type, (predominant worldview), that is most efficacious in navigating the reality, (personal reality), in which we grew up, developed in and live our daily lifes. The potential to ‘end up’ in any of the three predominant worldviews is inherent in all of us. Ours was that of the Outsider, therefore, just didn’t need to learn to hunt or to keep track of the world’s behaving properly. We could have. But our (personal) reality is as it is.

While it’s tempting to try and shortcut the ‘potential to grow and develop the personality traits of the other two into: ‘Hey! I could be a scott! Fuck you!’ or ‘I’m hate to be the one to break it to you, but your system falls apart in the real world. Is that rogerian enough for you?’

lol

ok. basic premise: open your youngest eyes on a world of a certain character. Proceed to do as every life form does: learn to adapt, develop appropriately to conditions, in other words, practice (SPOILER ALERT!) … practice this style of behaving (and interacting)… for.a.lifetime.

lets end on a positive note: if you’re reading, (and it’s at very least your second visit to the blog), you have the capacity to imagine. More than that, you can conceive of a different perspective on the world around you. (And have fun doing it).

ok, learn the characteristic, the way-of-relating-to-the-world, of ‘the other two’ and there’s a good chance you can imagine how the other person is experiencing the world differently. As real. As valid. Different.

there ya go!

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: the Wakefield Doctrine, three personality types, Understanding Human Behavior

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

October 10, 2026 By clarkscottroger 13 Comments

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

This is the Wakefield Doctrine’s weekly participation in the Ten Things of Thankful (TToT) bloghop.

According to Un-Reliable Narrator magazine: the TToT is the oldest continuously published bloghop (1887 to present) and ranks highest in the number continents where, provided one has sufficient privacy, it can be accessed. One survey in Women’s Wear Daily cites a ‘Glad-I-Stumbled-Across-This-Thing (Whatever-It-Is)’ rating of AA...ay! No less an authority than Librarian’s Secret gives it a Three-Fingers-To-Pursed-Lips rating.

So, come and join us and see how people, (presumedly like you), enhance their existence by focusing on the good in Life. For the Wakefield Doctrine, our list this week includes:

1) Phyllis

2) Una

3) the Wakefield Doctrine

4) Six Sentence Story bloghop

5) Winter? Well, not yet, however… Phyllis will have a field-day stacking the firewood we had delivered yesterday (no, serially, she’s actually into that kind of activity)

Before

6) See that Section just beyond the Husky-proof(ish) fence in the photo below? Thats the base for the Working Wood Pile where the individual fire units in Grat #5 will be transported and arranged on a pleasing, stable and gravity-resistant pattern.

7) WIP (Home Project Landscaping Division) de-Summering the Cottage Island

8) something, something

9) The co-hosts/co-hostinae, respectively: Frank, Andrew, Denise, Misky, cai, Knitcat, Dyanne, Kristi, Lisa and, as always, Mimi

10) Secret Rule 1.3

music vids

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: clarkscottroger, personality types, relationships, the Wakefield Doctrine

Friday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

October 9, 2026 By clarkscottroger 6 Comments

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

Let’s wrap up the week with a second Six and at the same time tie down the most productive insights from our series on personal reality.

Thanks out to Frank and Misky, Cynthia and, as always, Mimi for their Commentation this week that served to keep us focused(ish) on the very subjective topic of personal reality and the Wakefield Doctrine.

The notion of reality being personal, while not original to these pages, has been a linchpin to the learning and application of the principles supporting the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers. Call it an aid to the deployment of imagination (in a well-stirred disbelief suspension).

We began with a proposal of the role (and function) of (a) personal reality.

Then a proposed encounter of the three predominant worldviews and asked of the Reader to imagine how each experienced the scenario.

Finally, a suggestion (from your Curator) of the scene before each of the three.

And, now today, in conclusion:

For the purposes of maximum enjoyment of the insights afforded by the Doctrine’s three ‘personality types’ and, secondarily, to provide some intellectual rigor (lol) to our modest alternative perspective, we will say:

you know how we describe the perfect personality type as being the best compensation for/ strategy to succeed in a social environment, that we all, as very young people, develop in response/reaction/reconciliation to being an Outsider, a Predator and a Herd Member?
if you’re feeling confident in your ability to maintain your bearings, consider this: for the child who has the relationship with the world around them we call Outsider, the world (and the people who make it up) is an Outsider’s world. The character of this world isn’t imposed by our young human… the people view him/her as an Outsider (or in Doctrine parlance, ‘a blue monkey’)… actively, without precondition. As is only natural. For the split second your imagination allows you, think of a personal reality encompassing reality.. The world is an Outsider(‘s) world. (As with Predators (scotts) and Herd Members (rogers).)

Cool right?

(ok…a little horrify. but hey, we’re all past that stage and have our perfectly (suited to reality) worldviews all kinds of practiced and such, to the point that we hardly even have to think of it.)

…much

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: the Wakefield Doctrine, three personality types, Understanding Human Behavior

Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine-

October 9, 2026 By clarkscottroger 19 Comments

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

This is the Doctrine’s contribution to the Six Sentence Story bloghop.

Hosted by Denise, constrained by a sentence limit (high and low) of six, there are worse ways to spend the remaining time you have on earth.

Prompt word:

SNAP

For the boys, (and a little less so for the girls, as the lines of effective communication between the two universal armies was still decades away), the first day of school for the fourth grade at St Dominique’s was every bit the WWII prisoner-of-war movie, right down to harshly confining uniforms and unpalatable food.

By no means a surprise, rule-by-adult nevertheless came as a shock; to the more imaginative among the prisoners, horribly unjust. Despite, (or, perhaps, because of), having been through this indoctrination only three times before, (novelty being the default reaction of the very young), it all felt both new and inevitable.

Order was imposed on the body compelled to wear uncomfortable clothing, the presence of authority undeniable with seats assigned, (as if the ordered rows of desks bolted to the floor weren’t enough), and the penultimate lesson: beyond the windows serving as one whole wall of the classroom, the sun shone with insolent warmth, out of reach for the term of their incarceration.

Standing at the front of the room, Sister Mary Cletus, with the serene patience of the experienced jailor, awaited her charges; the blackboard behind her playing tricks on the eye with the contrast of a black habit and stiff white wimple; her eyes, visor’d by a pair of steel-wired rim glasses were a depthless blue, her face surprisingly soft; a relief map of a long and not always easy journey.

Without a word, the nun, (a member of the unironically named Order of the Sisters of Mercy), turned to face the black board and, with a one-handed snap of a piece of chalk, wrote:

‘Time and Man’