psychology of personality | the Wakefield Doctrine

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

May 15, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

Not enough time this morning*

Here’s yer RePrint. Don’t say the Wakefield Doctrine never gave you anything,…

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine- ‘enough about the weekend! there’s a work-week coming at us like a runaway train!’

November 9, 2015

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

Good weekend. Got Chapter 4 of Blogdominion finished and published. Cynthia called in on Saturday Night. Wrote a TToT Post and washed the kitchen floor. Not bad as weekends go.

What might this have to do with the Wakefield Doctrine? To be more direct, ‘what does the above ‘list’ of weekend activities have to do with your reading, understanding, applying and enjoying the benefits of our little personality theory?’ Everything and nothing.

But, as Fritz Perls would tell us, lets start with a demand!*

…. ok! you’re back!

(running out of time!) so, the thing about not being cynical and such? …my reference to the poster that sold so many copies and the poster that would not sell that many copies, provides an illustration of what we mean by ‘personal reality,’ here at the Doctrine. We all, everyone of us, go through the day in a reality that is, to a certain degree, personal.

Example: you could have told the owner of the “…it’s beautiful” poster about the part of the quote that was left out, and it most likely would not have changed her feeling towards having the poster on her dorm room wall, (but doing so would, most likely, have changed your odds… unless you were a scott, in which case, if you were still there 2 minutes after your revelation (about the poster) your chances would, like, totally improved… but, if you were a scott, none of this would be going through your mind at the time, because…well, because you’re a scottand as the Wakefield Doctrine tells us, ‘scotts act‘ (and) ‘clarks think… rogers feel‘

Where the hell was I? personal reality! so these three worldviews that are at the center of the Wakefield Doctrine? personal realities, each and every one of them. and…real.

You want to know one of the cool differences between the Wakefield Doctrine and all those popular mainstream personality type systems? (yeah, besides the mountains of empirical data, documentation and clear writing style… thanks for reminding us, roger)… it’s this: imagine that you grew up in a world in which you were, somehow, an alien, an oddity…. they love you and care for you as part of the family, they even ignore the fact that you’re so different and pretend that you’re part of the family and not an Outsider. Well, you’re just learning to deal with the world (you’re 2 or 3 or 5 years old) and, no different from your brothers and sisters and classmates at the pre-early-child-daycare, you’re developing ways to get through your day, learning to deal with the world.

….you live in a world in which you’re the Outsider. Your strategies and style of interaction, i.e. your personality type is geared towards that kind of world, that reality.
You grow up to be a clark, (i.e. you mumble because you don’t want to be noticed, but you will not tolerate being ignored… you stay on the fringes of any group, but manage to be closest to whoever is the alpha, in case you need power… and you learn things, everything and anything, because you believe, (beyond doubt), that the reason the people in your life are accepting of each other is that they know something that you do not know)
…the same for the child finding herself in the world of Predator and Prey and the child who wakes up a Herd Member.

they’re all developing the perfectly appropriate social skills to get through life ‘in the world as they are experiencing it’ clark(Outsider), scott(Predator) and roger(Herd Member)

… that should get us started for the upcoming week!

*ha ha… old grad school joke. Well, not really a ‘grad school joke,’ as much as it’s a joke playing off a quote attributed to our favorite scottian pioneer in the field of modern psychology, Fritz Perls **

** Fritz is also responsible for one of the most enduringly hopeful sayings ever to grace a college coed’s dorm room wall… right next to the ‘hang in there, baby’ poster and just above the desk with the straw-wrapped bottles of rose (one with a candle stuck in the top, an offering to the god of sophomore romance) and one un-opened (in case the gods deign to answer aforementioned offering) and 2 macramé belts, which were the second things the current occupant purchased upon moving into college life as a Freshman…. anyway! the quote that was printed on the poster:

I do my thing and you do your thing.

I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
and you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I,
and if by chance we find each other, it’s beautiful

the actual, complete, quote:

I do my thing and you do your thing.

I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
and you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I,
and if by chance we find each other, it’s beautiful.
If not, it can’t be helped.

…and no! before you think it, I am not being curmudgeonly and cynical! (well, not too much), I use this ‘marketing-to-hopeful-kids correctness’ as an illustration of one of the really critical aspects of the Wakefield Doctrine. But, to hear the rest of my argument, lets go back to the beginning of today’s Post, ok?

*ProTip: for the three predominant worldviews of this here Doctrine here vis-à-vis time; sufficiency of:

clarks (Outsider) degenerate gambler
scotts (Predator) day-to-day, roll of bills in back pocket
rogers (Herd Member) ‘I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today’**

** One letter-grade extra credit for the old person who can source this quote (no, no googling)

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, psychology of personality, the Wakefield Doctrine

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

April 9, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

file photo 04/17

This is the Doctrine’s weekly contribution to the Ten Things of Thankful (TToT) bloghop. Founded by L. in 1837, the TToT languished in the pre-industrial era of early-pulp, serial Dickens and a highly developed tradition of crying (in the middle of) Town.

Even then, the appetite for positive news and information was in evidence. Some citizens, in their desire to be the first to become aware of announcements and proclamations first, gathered in coffee houses and told sob stories (not of professional enough quality to be cried, but well-intentioned and full of spirit, if not technique) to one and other. This phenomenom was observed in places across the continent, the most notable being the Bavarian rathskellers where crying-in-one’s-beer became a renowned art form.

With the invention of the internet, followed soon by the first keyboards, like opera to shower-stall vocalists, the web became home to a new renaissance in writing, rhetoric and the heightened appreciation of ‘the Craft’.

The Wakefield Doctrine’s list of Ten Things of Thankful:

1) Una

2) Phyllis

3) the Wakefield Doctrine

4) yard projects chopping up fallen trees and moving them out of mind.

5) Hypograts: one of the concepts found in the TToT and few other gratitude bloghops is that of hypograts. It is, in a sense, the next level of the practice of Existence Appreciation and self-improving oneself. The TToT’s grat maven, Mimi is likely to say, ‘You’d be surprised at how closed beneath the surface of a disappointment or setback is a rich vein of gratitudinousness.’ (quote attributed, without permission of the would be speaker of… the sentence… if Mimi were asked…which she was not… but being a major holiday weekend, might not read… in which case: “Yeah, that was Mimi!” … lol)

6) The Zombie Christmas project: Episode Tree

7) work

8) something, something

9) decreasing likelihood of snow in the immediate forcast

10) Secret Rule 1.3

music vids

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, predicting human behavior, psychology of personality, the Wakefield Doctrine

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

March 26, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

This is this week’s Doctrine contribution to the Ten Things of Thankful bloghop.

Founded by Lizzi R on Christmas Day, 1991, it, (the TToT, not Christmas), is the longest running bloghop with gratitude as a theme, and the Wakefield Doctrine as an original host. (I think Dyanne is the only other original hostinae still active. She types good for her age, don’cha think?)

We, on the other hand, have weathered the years like a good quality, cast iron skillet. As the years take their toll, an SOS pad and a good-quality cooking oil makes a world of difference.

In any event, below is our list of ten people, places and things that have engendered the state, experience and feeling of gratitude.

1) Una

2) Phyllis

3) the Wakefield Doctrine

4) the Six Sentence Story bloghop

5) Week One Zombie Christmas Tree

A ‘tree’, a dog. …The Vigil begins

6) stuff

7) New ‘real’ world projects. The patio and walkway for the cottage (stay tuned! still trying to find the correct brick pavers*)

8) something, something

9) * you wanna know how much Life imitates Art that prevails ’round these parts? Most improvements such as a walkway and patio start with an idea, sometimes even a sense of the ‘look’ to be produced. The image Phyllis and I have in mind? The patio of the house on the East Side of Providence RI that Almira Ristani-Gulch lived in while her husband Sterling was in Europe at the end of World War I. …talk about walkin’ the walk!

10) Secret Rule 1.3 From the Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules) basically? “Put the grat for getting through to Number Ten at …Number 10!” ) …well, duh

music vids

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, psychology of personality, the Wakefield Doctrine

Re-Print Tewsdae -the Wakefield Doctrine-

February 14, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

First off, let us say, ‘Hey, this (reprint) it was written way back in, like only second-and-a-half year of writing this (or any!) blog’.

Second off, ‘We stand by the story.’

Third thing: ‘And that is the value of learning and applying the principles of our little personality theory’.

See, the thing is, we’re all experiencing the world around us and the people who make it up in one of three characteristic relationships:

as the Outsider(clarks) relate themselves, apart from, non-definably different, and driven to learn what everyone else appears to know…while remaining (mostly) un-noticed
the Predator(scotts) range the open world, chasing prey and being chased, living the day as much as possible with as little doubt or reservation (as possible)
the Herd Member(rogers) while knowing that all they is experience is good and sufficient, there is a need to learn the Best Way and to share that at as many others as possible.

We act and react appropriate to the world we live in.

So to the ‘lesson’ at the top of this post.

As a clark, I would normally, (sans Doctrine), look at the old post and, while smiling in fond recollection of actually writing and posting it, cringe at the feeling, (you know, the tightening of the shoulders that comes when you realize others are watching), that maybe it was a little over the top, too childishly emotive and unsophisticated. The thought comes, ‘You’ve gotten so much better at your writing in the intervening 13 year… maybe keep looking for a different reprint’.

But the Doctrine, taken to heart, reminds me that there are other clarks in the world who would feel the same in a similiar situation. And, (the Doctrine), reminds us that, despite there being only ‘one actual reality’ I am heir to ‘the other two’. I then benefit by my reading and learning about the world (the relationship, if you will) the Predator and the Herd Member experience. How, if they were to come across an old post, they would experience it differently.

Outa time…. too bad, ’cause we were just about to tie it all together! oh well, guess you gotta keep readin’ and learnin’ and such

St Valentine was he a roger or was he a clark, the Wakefield Doctrine deals with the important questions of the day

February 14, 2012

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers )( psst! yeah, you! anyone looking? I’m supposed to be working on the Wakefield Doctrine book… I promised that I would stop with the nearly every day Posts so that I could apply what little energy I have to putting content down on paper. Long story, that’s not important now… what is important is today is Valentine’s Day! And there is not a single person out there who writes a blog that can resist the obvious appeal of such a… a contrived, culturally supported, private interest initiated “holiday” as Valentine’s Day. So a quick, totally self-indulgent Post and then back to work… if Ms. AKH or Molly asks… tell them you haven’t seen me….)

St Valentines is the worst, most contrived and cynical, gyno-centric guy-bait(ing), toy-with-the-emotions-of-innocent-bystanders, holiday on the whole damn calendar. Of course we are all familiar with the origin of the holiday and the internet is positively turgid with countless blogs, and stories and articles that tell us all about Hallmark and the candy industry and the rest of the sordid tale of this day in February. I will not try to compete with these other more skilled and capable Commentators ( and -torinis), as I do not have the time or the ‘writing chops’ to do such a ripe topic justice. Instead, let me tell you about my most lasting memory of Valentines Day.

Third grade, parochial school (St. Imelda*) and a classroom of 25 students. The boys were required to wear blue shirts and blue ties with OLM printed on the front, fortunately ‘clip-on ties’ had been invented by this time, so easy-peasy; the girls wore the catholic school uniform, i.e. plaid skirts white shirt, socks. damn, little did I realize at that pre-pubescent time of my life how potent that little Roman Catholic Church fashion dictates would become for me and countless other men at a later stage of life. (In fact, I am feeling the tug on the cynical side of my writing-self, there is something about the whole, church-sexual-abuse-dress-the-children in outfits destined to become so hawt… lol sorry, again I lack the time or the writing skill to do justice to a topic like this… back to the story.)
So with much fanfare, Valentine’s Day arrives and we 9 year old boys and girls are told that in the afternoon, before the end of the school day, we would have time to deliver our Valentine cards to each other. ( The day before we spent ‘Art Period’ making little baskets out of construction paper and taping them to the front of our desks. These would serve as ‘mailboxes’ for the cards we would receive the next day).
The thing was, the horrible twist to this introduction to the world of love, relationships and rejection was that, the time when class stopped and we were allowed to get up and deliver our little cards was not the end of the school day! It was right after lunch… and it lasted 15 or 20 minutes…as in ‘ now return to your desks and we will continue with the afternoon’ classes’. To sit for 90 minutes staring at the contents of the container on the front of my desk… I will leave it to the Reader to decide the emotional landscape of that afternoon on a February 14th.

Anyone out there not comfortable with finishing the story, or satisfied with their conclusion of this little tale, write us a Comment! Regular Readers know that the rogers gave the biggest cards, the scotts received the most cards and the clarks delivered the most cards….secretly without the recipient ever knowing who the really fun card came from…

Now I better get back to work, before I get in trouble.

*who totally twisted my life… don’t ask

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, psychology of personality, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

February 6, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

The music vid below? From the early days of this blog.

No, we’re not asserting that we were writing the Wakefield Doctrine in 1977! That’d be silly. Our typing skills were negligible, it would have taken forever to even get this far. (Not to mention, getting the bold fonts to work.)

That said, one could argue that the Wakefield Doctrine had been established. Seeing how we’d met the other two people in the photo at the top of the page.

Not posed with any intent to illustrate, demonstrate or hint at a mnemonic device, but consider the photo of the three gentlemen. We would hazard to bet that anyone with the slightest predilection towards understanding this little personality theory would be able to identify each by their predominant worldview, aka personality type. After-all, even the Doctrine term for each type provides intelligence of value in the effort to inferring how each are relating themselves to the world around them.

As would:

the Outsider(clarks) apart-from, seeking to learn what everyone else clearly knows about belonging, curious to a fault, relentless curiosity: clarks think
the Predator(scotts) in motion while always in the here and now, the world is an adventure, a challenge and ultimately satisfying as the hunt never ends: scotts act
the Herd Member(rogers) the center of wherever they are, they bind all by their capacity (and willingness) to be bound: rogers feel

Hey, over the weekend we had the privilege of a conversation with one of the first Friends of the Doctrine, Cynthia. No, don’t ask how old she might have been when me and the Progenitors might have been listening to today’s music vid (not that we had music vids then).

In any event, I did manage to get her proper website address into the Link Roll on the home page. Art Funky. Talented lifeform? Need you even ask? Lots of good stuff in varied manifestations? I guess! a clark or scott or roger?

You’ll know.

(Bonus old insight into the early Doctrine: one of the first ‘rules’ we imposed on those who came to the Doctrine blog was simply that ‘no one has the power or authority to designate the predominant worldview of another’. It is always to the individual to decide. Not that we don’t speak about the worldview of others for learning opportunities. We do. It’s fun.

But one’s predominant worldview (whether they are a clark or a scott or a roger) is as personal as you can get. All of this, all twenty seven hundred posts are about finding a way to best appreciate ‘how we relate ourselfs to the world around us, and the people who make it up’.

Cynthia’s website again: ArtFunky. Do us a solid and go there, subscribe and tell her the Doctrine sent ya.