relationships | the Wakefield Doctrine

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

January 13, 2025 By clarkscottroger

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

pheww!

Just spent a minute (or twenty-seven), browsing old Posts. Random-like, but a tendency to the olden ones.

This time of reflection, ( or, perhaps, semi-infinite regression), is helpful when we’re staring at a blank post. Sorta like an orchestra tuning up.

New Readers? Those of you put off by the imagery of that metaphor, (or allegory…never have gotten the distinction too clear), i.e. orchestras? We are aware that orchestrae are a collection of people playing instruments, whereas this post is a single person, albeit 3rd person plural.

What can we tell ya? The primary quality of those who come here and not immediately leave is a certain intellectual/spiritual confidence. And sense of fun. After all, at the heart of the Wakefield Doctrine is the willingness to allow ‘what-ifs’ to step up and offer insight, new information and/or a sense of how others experience the world.

Where were we?

Hey! You might notice a slight change to the landing page.

In the bottom-center, right underneath the ‘ In a Hurry? …over here, answer these Questions (yeah, like a personality test)‘ box is a new one: ‘Benefits of the Wakefield Doctrine: Flash Fiction, Six Sentence Story(s) and the Unicorn Challenge.’

Shoutout to Denise and Mimi for their support and suggestions for this…

No, now that you mention it, we actually cannot remember the last time there was a change to the layout of the homepage of the Doctrine.

cool.

Still the Wakefield Doctrine.

Still trying to find the words that will form ‘the perfect Wakefield Doctrine post’.*

…out of time.

Pop Quiz: which is the scott in the photo at the top of this post?

* glad someone asked! The perfect Wakefield Doctrine post is one that, upon being read by a first time visitor to this blog, imparts an understanding of the principles of this here personality theory here sufficient to allow them to see the clarks, scotts and rogers in their world. That day.**

** Warning! Warning! As a New Reader you are entitled to know that, based on anecdotal information (over the past fifteen years), once you begin to see the clarks, scotts and rogers in your world, you may find it impossible to not see the clarks, scotts and rogers in your world.

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

Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine- stop the presses!

December 31, 2024 By clarkscottroger

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

Hey! Finnallly!

We just had a person request insight into this little personality theory, vis á vis ‘How the Doctrine might be of use in a situation involving a clark and a scott.

New Readers? Not only have we not changed the names, we haven’t actually used any names. Two reasons: ‘We’re a clark“. (ProTip: while clarks are sought out for being good listeners, we are totally un-inclined to make use of the social currency manifest in the personal information such conversations so often convey. Ask any roger. ’nuff said.)

In any event, the question is how does a clark best handle a scott in a situation where they, (the scott), need to be directed down a different path than the one they are on. Very interesting question. In fact, (hold on, we’re gonna create a draft post on just this topic for later publication),…. there done!)

Thing of it is, the Wakefield Doctrine is for you, not them. Yet, we maintain that with the Doctrine as an additional perspective on the world around us and the people who make it up, one can know more about the other person than they know about themselves. Both are true. And reconciling the seeming conflict between the attitude suggested is how the Wakefield Doctrine manifests as one of the more fun and useful tools for self-improving our selfs.

RePrint (from friend of the Doctrine Christine!)

Guest Post Thursday’s Guest Post! the Wakefield Doctrine (‘clarks think, scotts act and rogers feel‘)

June 5, 2014

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

Christine is our Guest Writer today. Everything that I know, like, respect and appreciate about her is inherent, implied and obvious in the following ‘how-we-met’ story.

back in Feb 2013, I came across a blog titled, Considerings. A good writer, (apparently) new to the ‘sphere and, despite being a clark, very open about the turmoil in her life. I began to write comments on her Posts, in the hope that something from the Doctrine perspective might prove to be useful/helpful. At this time, there were maybe 4 Comments for any given Post, (and) made something of an initial connection. Then, totally out of the blue, I received a Comment at the Doctrine, that read,

“I have been seeing your comments on Considerer’s posts, and was a bit curious as to what the clark/roger/scotts you mention means. Now that I’m here, I thought I had it figured out. I think. I do believe I’m a scott. But then I read this post, and got confused all over again. I’ll keep trying. :)”

my immediate reaction was to smile and think, ‘damn! Lizzi has a scottian friend! instinctively, unhesitatingly protective!’

Since that time, I’ve come to know Christine better, (from her blog and as a co-host at the TToT), and, whenever a New Reader says something like, ‘yeah, but don’t you have to ask the other person if they agree with the worldview thing? how can I know about a person when I’ve just met them?… I smile.

…Christine?

On May 5, I did a dumb thing. I played in a soccer game with a bunch of 7^th and 8^th graders. That in itself isn’t dumb, but playing like it was the final game of the World Cup most certainly was. Instead of letting the 8^th grader just take the ball and try to shoot, I decided he wasn’t going to get a point on my watch and kicked it into high gear. I beat him to the ball, like I knew I could, but when my foot planted, my body kept going. I went down. Think “agony of defeat” guy, without the skies, snow, and downhill parts but with the twisting, falling, crashing, and wailing.

To say I hurt my knee is an understatement. The physical therapist actually said, “I must be honest, I stopped reading the list of things wrong with your knee halfway through. You are messed up!” Surgery is planned.

For the first week after the “major trauma” to my knee, I was unable to do much of anything. I alternated between excruciating pain and loopiness from the pain medicine and just sat doing nothing all day long. This is not a good thing for a person of my worldview. According to the Wakefield Doctrine, I am a scott. Clark has said many times that he was excited to have some scotts in the group of readers, so you clarks and rogers can get a better understanding of us. Well, the day has come for him to really get inside my head to see how we operate.

A healthy scott on a school morning…

Get up before anyone else, cut up fruit, prepare breakfast, make sure kindergartener’s backpack has everything in it, fill out forms, write lunch checks, put kindergartener’s clothes out, make sure everyone brushes teeth, remind high schooler to take his phone, go over afternoon schedule with all, kisses and well wishes for the day as they all walk out the door.

An injured scott trapped in bed on a school morning…

Sit up in bed, listen intently to everyone downstairs, grumble that no one is eating anything but cereal, silently scream in her head “For the love of all that is holy, how hard is it to get a piece of fruit or hard boiled egg out of the fridge”, catch a glimpse of a child who dressed in uniform pants he pulled out of his gym bag for the 4^th day in a row and holler for him to find a new pair, grumble when he pretends not to hear, take note of how many kids make it to their bathroom to brush teeth, grumble when only 3 out of 5 do, pray that husband has given the kindergartener the kindergartener’s clothes to wear and not his older brother’s, mentally go through the list of things to remind the children, spew entire list at husband when he comes in the bedroom to say goodbye, grumble when he only remembers one thing on the list, pitifully yell to the family “Don’t forget to come say goodbye,” then grumble when no one hears.

A healthy scott at the 8^th grade graduation dinner…

Make way to table that “clark” husband has chosen, stopping to chat with no less than 5 people along the way, finally sit down when emcee asks the group to take their seats, scan the room constantly to see who is there, who they are sitting with, what they’re wearing, chat with at least 5 more people as we wait in line at the buffet, talk with the other people at my table while I eat, get up to get a dessert and never make it back to the table, (so many people to talk to!), get drug out by husband once all but the cleanup crew has left.

An injured scott at the 8^th grade graduation dinner…

Slowly hobble in on crutches, stop to talk with no one but answer, “What did you do to yourself?” with a swift, “Played soccer with the kids” at least 30 times, sit at the table as soon as I can and stay there for the duration of the party, eat whatever husband brings back from the buffet, watch with envy as everyone has fun, leave as soon as 8^th grader will allow.

A healthy scott during the day…

Shower, do laundry, feed chickens, check to make sure pigs are alive, mow lawn, do more laundry, check social media multiple times, do more laundry, pick up, organize, do more laundry, make all meals, clean kitchen, and basically run ragged all day long.

An injured scott during the day…

Sit on the couch and notice the furniture needs dusting, the floor needs scrubbed, the toys need put away, the socks discarded all around need picked up, the shoes the kids carelessly left at the door need put away; ponder all of the things most likely being neglected in other rooms, like the laundry piling up the clutter of school and soccer paraphernalia being scattered around the house, the pigs getting sicker and sicker, the bathroom floor getting covered with towels and shin guards and dirty clothes and random crap left in there, and dirty dishes being left all over the counters and the tables; order all children to do all the things; bite tongue almost off in an effort to not yell, “YOU ARE DOING ALL OF THE THINGS WRONG!!”

An injured clark or roger in physical therapy…

I have no idea. Clark will have to fill you in on this.

An injured scott in physical therapy…

Talk to the therapist about good pain and bad pain, talk and laugh with all other therapists and patients throughout the session, religiously follow all instructions and do all exercises at home, ice the knee three times a day, then two days after the first therapy appointment, come off the crutches and shock all therapists with the progress made.

We scotts are doers. We scotts work a room (or field) like a boss. We scotts play with all we’ve got. Sometimes in all of that doing we crash and burn, but by golly, we are going to be the best damn patients you ever saw in our effort to get back to doing and working and playing.

But I would caution you to avoid us during our days of not doing. We might be a bit on the grouchy side.

Have a lovely day!

Christine

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: psychology of personality, relationships, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine, Understanding Human Behavior

Frieturday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 27, 2024 By clarkscottroger

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

This is the Wakefield Doctrine’s contribution to ‘the Unicorn Challenge‘

A photo-prompt bloghop hosted by jenne and ceayr, it has the simplest of rules: keep it at (or under) 250 words.

“Half a pound, make that medium ground,

of that splendid, open-range rabbit.

And, what do you say, since it is a holiday,

two grilled squirrels-0n-a-stick.

One for here and one for home,

A puppy’s dream, for when Santa comes around.”

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: relationships, the Wakefield Doctrine, Understanding Human Behavior

Christmas -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 25, 2024 By clarkscottroger

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

…as little gift to ourselfs, this RePrint found as we searched for a holiday post yesterday, the Eve of Saint Christmas.

thank god that’s over! the Wakefield Doctrine (“it’s totally not true that clarks experience distress during major holidays…. bitch”)

December 25, 2013

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

You know how I just got through writing how Christmas is such a clarklike holiday? And how we said that, because clarks are all kinds of self-less and giving and such, that we do Christmas better’n the other two, at least in the old-school sense of the word? It’s true. clarks do totally rock the Christmas spirit. So, why the developing un-ease as the Day itself is upon us? (Many clarks report a sense of: tiredness, reduced excitement, blunted affect, irritability, anogasmia, a desire to take up smoking cigarettes just to have an excuse to step outside on the porch, and totally be willing to be the one to ‘drive to the store for a couple of items that are needed for Dinner’.)

If you feel that way today or expect to feel that way today*, then we have reassuring news for you. It’s them, it’s not you!

The Christmas Holiday, like so many of the other holidays, (and to be honest, like much of life itself), has a way of being commandeered by one (or both) of the other two personality types.

scotts so many people, so many presents, so many bright lights and things that move and show unmistakable signs of delicious life! (picture if you will, a lion cub taken from the pack just a season before maturity. the cub has the instinctual and learned survival skills, practiced as much as is possible from a season of play with the other cubs. let the cub skip a few meals and then put him/her in an empty basement and after a day of pumping the aroma of a nice roast beef, take a bushel of hamsters and gerbils and dump them down the laundry chute.** …Merry Christmas Simba!

rogers there are so many memories that need to be created…no time for frivolity! don’t you see the scene?!?! it’s a happy (and grateful), appreciative (and grateful) festive day full of (grateful) family members coming together to enjoy the holiday! so don’t fuck it up with your moodiness and oh-look-I-want-to-be-alone strangeness! this is a once in a year opportunity to come together in a joyous celebration of the family and tradition (well, then…do it outside, ok?)

We kid the rogers and scotts. No, we do! But we love them as well (as we are able). New Readers? Well, there are these three ways of experiencing the world and you do it one of the three ways. The Doctrine says that the nature of the way that you see the world is your personality type. OK? We don’t need to know your likes and dislikes and pet peeves and such. All we need to do (notice we didn’t say, ‘need to know from you‘?) is correctly infer how you relate yourself to the world around you. After that everything else sorta takes care of itself. The three ways to ‘relate yourself to the world around you’ are:

as an Outsider. from as far back as you can remember (and it’s pretty far back), you have looked at the people in your life and wondered where you dropped the ball, what you missed learning about how to be the way they clearly are…together and, (from this early early time in your life), you have resolved to learn what they seem to already know, all while trying not to be identified as a person who was left out… Merry Christmas clarks!

as a Predator. you wonder why some people think, “oh what an unkind thing to say, calling that nice girl a Predator“, you don’t give it a second thought and you know why? (no, we know that you don’t know why, because you don’t give a shit about the why’s and the ‘oh-if-only-I-knew-more‘), because you are too busy living…living a life that is full of threats and opportunity, fun and danger, excitement and the occasional quiet moments of sleep, you know what you are… you’re alive!!!! Merry Christmas scotts

as a Member of the Herd. and no, you don’t walk around thinking I am a Member of the Herd, we get that. What you do is live a life that is full of potential and hard work, enjoying some pleasures but only when earned, people all around you who you can help live a better life….a Right Way and a universe that was designed to be understood and shared with the future generations, both real and imagined… Merry Christmas rogers

New Readers? Still with us? Good. So you have one of these as your predominant worldview, (the character of your personal reality), but you never lose the capacity to experience the world as do the other two. So don’t be surprised if you get confused at first seeing in yourself one personality type and then at times another. That just means you have a significant secondary (or tertiary) aspect. Don’t worry about that now. This is the fun and carefree phase of learning the Wakefield Doctrine. The rest comes later.

To all the DownSprings and Friends of the Doctrine and Readers and such, thank you for stopping by! Do have the best, dominant worldview-appropriate, day possible today.

clark
(a clark with (a) significant secondary scottian and minimal tertiary rogerian aspects)

*when it comes to emotional response, clarks see no reason to leave them to the last-minute! get ahead of that worry, that concern that fear!! don’t wait! be prepared!!

** this is a feature in many old, old houses where the washing machine was in the cellar, an opening in the wall of the bathroom closet that was directly above the laundry area… go ahead and put a half full laundry basket for the gerbils to land in… give ’em a better shot at getting away

*

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, relationships, self-development, the Wakefield Doctrine, Understanding Human Behavior

Tuesadt -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 10, 2024 By clarkscottroger

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

Here, read this

(then, the footnote at the bottom of the page)

Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine- “Agree…Disagree…No Fricken Way”

November 3, 2020

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

Now there’s a subtitle fashioned to set fire to a Reader’s heart!

(ed. We continue to eschew: the purloined parent’s cigarettes, peer-pressure illicit alcohol and Disney-inspired semi-pedaephilic romances, so, our response to your eyebrow semaphore is “No! This post is about…”)

…the fundamental distinction between the Wakefield Doctrine and most other personality theories/tests/’how-to-tell-if’ popular quizzes and …and! it also refers to the simplest approach for determining another person’s predominant worldviews*.

Distinction: lots of those personality tests, quizzes, surveys and EBRTII-axis-(with-ac-and-power-steering) take the approach of self-reporting, i.e. tell us your likes, dislikes and tendency to respond to that situation. Then you add up the scores (no cheating!) and discover your True (and-really-cooler-than-anyone-gives-you-credit-for) Personality Type! OK, nothing wrong with that! Especially if you’re in the market for a club-shaped mirror. The Wakefield Doctrine takes a different approach.

Doesn’t matter what you think. Doesn’t matter what you do. Doesn’t matter how you feel.

….any more questions?

The reason the Wakefield Doctrine, skillfully applied, allows you to know more about the other person than you have any right to know is that the basis of the Doctrine is the relationship between us (collectively) and the world (around us). That relationship is observable. The holy-smoke-how-did-these-qualities-get-so-aptly-grouped power of the Wakefield Doctrine is simply this:

imagine you are an Outsider(clark), from the moment you could reflect on the world around you, you see/think/believe there is a difference between you and most everyone, more so, as you try to determine the basis for this difference, you are forced into the conviction that most everyone else knows each/know-to-do/are a part and share something you know that you are missing. So you develop your strategy and social coping mechanisms and style… you learn to act like a clark

the world moves fast, it doesn’t ask your permission, it has a tendency to surprise, (fun surprise and fatal surprise), you are in the world of the Predator(scott), without taking the time to think, you react, accepting the nature of the world, seeing no profit in arguing with the fairness, you practice assessment and response, you enjoy the action, you cherish the variety, chase and be chased, its fun

you look around you, you see the parts and you see how they connect, you join the Herd Members(roger), the world is beautiful and it is imperfect, you are encouraged by the fact you know there are those around you who share your appreciation and they look to you to help discover the nature of the problem and to work out the Right Way, like an equation, a¹ + b² = c³ it is both solid and beautiful and reliable (it does not state: a*(sometimes)… it describes the quantifiable reliability of the world…

So, here when we want to know about another person, the first question we pose ourselfs is ‘how are they relating themselves to the world around them? as an Outsider or a Predator or a Herd Member… everything else follows from that

The second inference of our subtitle relates to the effort to discern a person’s predominant worldview aka personality type. We have three to choose from, one (of the three) is quickly determined to be a ‘no fricken way’. That leaves two worldviews. Like the last time you were at the optimist’s, look at the world from where they are standing, ‘Is that clear?’ now, (click) try this, is that clearer than before’ (click) how about this…

we did say this personality theory was fun, didn’t we?

*seein how we getting more and more views and reads and other google breadcrumbs of late, we want to remind all of one of the first (and few) rules of the Wakefield Doctrine. No one can say “You’re a clark (or) a scott (yeah, like thats likely to happen) or roger and claim this theory as their authority. (Did someone mutter ‘Referential Authority”?**) You are the one that decides, determines, accepts or laughs in relief which of the three personal reality applies to you.

** very apt, though beyond the scope of this Post. In short: referential authority is a deep artifact discovered by the Doctrine and represents a fundamental, if no secret, element in the world of the Herd Member

#theWakefieldDoctrine