self-development | the Wakefield Doctrine

Mundae- Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

November 27, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Why don’t we hold that thought this early Monday morning, for surely we’ve done the above variation-on-a-day-of-the-week post title before,

But that’s not important now.

What is important is finding an old post that will jumpstart our head as we close out the Month (November-in-Oceania motto: ‘Hey man, sorry to hear about you and your old lady. Sure, you can crash here for while. At least until you can get back on your feet.)

The basics still apply. The Wakefield Doctrine is an alternate perspective on the world around us and the people who make it up. As such, it offers both a tool for self-improvement and a diversion capable of providing amusement, if not outright fun.

You know how, at least as offered in the popular science press, the Holy Grail of theoretical physics is the reconciliation of quantum mechanics and general relativity? A Grand Unified Theory of Everything? The Doctrine is in a similar space. For us it is the bridging of ‘personal reality’ and ‘character of (our) relationship with the world around us and the people who make it up (aka PR vs CORwTWRUatPWMiU).

When we started writing this blog, the concept of ‘personal reality’ was the most accessible and it conveyed the ‘inevitability’ of the characteristic behavior of the three predominant worldviews (clarks/Outsiders, scotts/Predators and rogers/Herd Members). This was important because the Wakefield Doctrine is predicated on the notion that how we act (and react) is as much personal whim/outrageous fortune/vindictive calculation as many of the other, more popular personality theories would have you believe. (We once observed, early in these pages, that the many theories of personalty, at least the type that lend themselves to public domain images and popular song lyrics, are basically, ‘mirror-shaped clubs’. “Oh, honey! Come take this online survey about what kind of person you are. They have you down to a ‘T’!”

While still useful, the personal reality model, has been augmented by the relationship theory (‘how we relate ourselfs to the world around and the people who make it up’). This latter view allows some Readers to hurdle the imagination threshold.

…

Non-allegorical Monday* the Wakefield Doctrine ( it’s so simple, even your spouse could get it**)

March 4, 2013

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

The Wakefield Doctrine is a way to understand the behavior of people. It is a perspective that allows you to know more about the other person than they know about themselves. It is a tool with which you can overcome bad habits and self-defeating behavior. And it, (this Wakefield Doctrine), is fun. Simple to understand for those people with innate curiosity and intellectual confidence, the Wakefield Doctrine lets you see the world from a different angle, an angle from which personality types are discernible without the need to ask questions, get the other person to fill out a survey and totally without the need to employ any math involving chi square distribution or standard deviations.

The Wakefield Doctrine maintains that all people are born with the potential to relate themselves to the world in one of three characteristic ways, as an Outsider (clarks), as a Predator (scotts) or as a Member of the Herd (rogers). It is (the Wakefield Doctrine maintains) the character of this relationship that produces what is commonly referred to as personality or personality type. This is not overly unique in the world of personality theories. What is unique, is that the Wakefield Doctrine insists that not only do people relate themselves to the world in these three characteristic ways, but the world for them does, in fact, reflect the qualities implied by the relationship.
Plainly put, we live in what can only be described as a personal reality. This is not to imply anything overly mystical, magical or fantastic. Trees do not talk (unless we are willing to listen), prey do not yearn to be brought down (unless we abandon our reason) and the world is not quantifiable nor is it governed by Rules that we alone are able to appreciate (unless we are rogers).
This aspect of the Wakefield Doctrine that includes the existence or personal realities is the difficult part for approximately 2/3s of the people who come across this blog. They, (these 2/3s), are not able to imagine (for the sake of experiment) that everyone they know is experiencing a reality that is different (this difference ranging from barely noticeable to oh-my-god) from what they believe is the only real reality. They might try to understand the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine (very likely to succeed) and they might even persist in trying to identify people by their personality types (many of them get it, sort of) but they rarely ever get to experience the primary benefit of this approach to understanding the people in their lives. They never get it enough to understand that everyone they encounter in the course of the day (today!) is acting in an entirely appropriate manner, consistent with the world as they are experiencing it.
(We call these personal realities, ‘worldviews’ ).

Well this blog is simply not for them.

It is for you.

(I mean, seriously, if you have read this far into this Post, then I will say, without fear of contradiction, that you have the qualities that are required to find this thing useful and fun. And if you have any question about that happening, write a Comment and your specific question will be answered.)

The three personal realities are referred to as:

clarks (the Outsider)…the most likely to immediately understand the Wakefield Doctrine and the most likely to be willing to learn about and the one (of the three) who will benefit the most

scotts (the Predator)… the third most likely to understand the Wakefield Doctrine and the most likely to see the immediate benefits (lets call that the ‘advantages’ for this personality type)

rogers (the Member of the Herd)… the second most likely to understand the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine and the most likely to pretend to employ the tools for themselves

Well, that wraps up ‘non-allegorical’ Monday.

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

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

November 25, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

Full Disclosure: T-Givings Day 2016

This is the Doctrine’s contribution to the Ten Things of Thankful (TToT) bloghop.

A list. Ten people, places and/or things that have elicited a response of thankfulness. From the previous seven days.

Or seven years.

Whatever.

1) Phyllis

2) Una

3) the Wakefield Doctrine (sine qua non, baby, sine qua non)

4) writing (see Grat #5)

5) bloghops: the Wakefield Doctrine’s contributions to: the Six Sentence Story and the Unicorn Challenge

6) new challenges: selling a violin online (preliminary photo below). If’n any Readers out there are in the market, or know someone who is in the market for a good quality violin let us know. Asking $888. (Identify your predominant worldview and receive a thirteen (13) percent Doctrine Discount^®!)

7) work: this being the time of year to clean and plan for the coming year

8) something, something

9) Only twenty-eight days until Winter is over!

10) Secret Rule 1.3

music vids

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

Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

November 21, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

When last we met in Tuesday-as-memoir mode, we alluded to the power of the rogerian worldview in matters relating to popularity. Specifically writing and books and such.

Simply put, rogerian writers are more successful than clarklike or scottian authors.

(Wait for it…)

Success being defined as attracting the maximum number of Readers, viewers, attendees and followers. Quantity, not (necessarily) quality.

This is surely a perfect time to bring out a fundamental element of the Wakefield Doctrine. Frankly, if you’re a new Reader, will need this concept¹* to best understand our little personality theory.

First things first. As to the core concept that eliminates much confusion:

The Everything Rule: ‘Everyone does everything at one time or another’.

In the context of the Wakefield Doctrine, this rule allows the entirely un-necessary, nay, the self-destructive balkanization of a novel and productive perspective on human nature. The Everything Rule reminds us that there is nothing in one of the three predominant worldviews that is exclusive relative to the other two.

Example: People, new to the Wakefield Doctrine, often will ask, “No matter how many times I ask him not to, my husband leaves the toilet seat up. Is that a scottian thing?”

No. It is not. Leaving the toilet seat up is not exclusive to those who relate to the world as does the Predator (scotts). But close!** How this peculiar ‘contrariness’ manifests in clarks and rogers is different, but definitely present. The key concept: how a behavior, predilection, tropism..whatever manifests in (an) individual is the product of their relationship to the world around them and the people who make it up.

Much more on the Everything Rule in future Tuesdays.

Lets end with one core concept and one old saying.

*The Wakefield Doctrine is gender, age and culture neutral.*

clarks think, scotts act and rogers feel.

Holy smoke!²

ok, here is where the fun of this series surely will be found. What we say and what we do and etc. et.al. is the product of our predominant worldview. easy concept, yes? so, in this little aside we see a primary characteristic of the clarklike predominant worldview and …and! we gain an insight into one who relates themselves to the world around them as does the Outsider. How cool is that?

* so as not to muddy the waters any more than necessary, this asterix to the footnote points out one of the better/worse qualities of clarks, vis á vis our interaction with others. Will leave a full explication for another Tuesday. (Hint: we are so terribly concerned with the feelings of others.)

** lol We’ll let the more seasoned Readers explain to our newer Readers how that might make one laugh (Hint: part of the fun of the Doctrine is that it not only allows, it encourages, us to use our imagination. In this case, visual imagination. That’s all we’ll say.)

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

Monday daymoN -the Wakefield Doctrine-

November 20, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

RePrint Monday. Want to be sure to be obscure with our pick for a Monday RePrint, as we’re starting a week that is the occasion of the first of the ‘damn! no way we can do better than the first post! Let’s cut ‘n paste that bad boy and be done with it!’

That is correct, yo. Thanksgiving week. It’s the holiday that’s as on-book with the Doctrine as the Pesci/DeNiro Casino pen scene.

(New Readers: Here in Oceania, there is a holiday that we sometimes refer to as the Feast of Saint Roger. Always in November, all citizens are pretty much required to acknowledge, if not participate in it. And the liturgy of the day is celebration of everything rogerian. (Seriously! Tell us another day of the year that, as part of the holiday festivities, includes what can best be described as a lay collēcta invoked by a weekday morning weatherman!)

sorry, getting ahead of ourselfs.

Tomorrow is Tuesday, The morning of the Book of Wakefield (WIP) Then… Six Sentence Story day and then Thursday (‘Hallowed be thy college football game’)

But for today:

‘why is a raven like a writing desk’? (and) what is the Wakefield Doctrine’s take on those other personality theories?

September 27, 2011

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

A frequently asked question: ” What does the Wakefield Doctrine call this personality type? ( Always one of some other personality theory’s type), i.e. the Driver Type ( from the Merrill-Reid schema) or the ‘Type 2 ( of the 9 Enneagram Types ) or even the famous Axis 4 (from the rogerian geek school of personality typology). Sometimes answering this question is fun, other times it is frustrating but the outcome of this exchange is always less than is hoped for by the person posing the question.

Comparisons between mainstream personality types systems and the Wakefield Doctrine hardly ever yields an answer that is satisfactory to the interlocutor or the listener. While the underlying motivation for these questions is often well-meaning, the goal behind asking them is misguided. ( “well, don’t you see?  The Wakefield Doctrine and (  well-known personality theory) are both talking about the same thing, so the Doctrineis not so unusual or odd or weird! Maybe if you describe clarks and scotts and rogers using some of the same  language, you will attract more people to the blog!”
At this point the answer (from the Wakefield Doctrine is always the same: No.   (…for 2 reasons):

The Wakefield Doctrine is not scientifically based on empirical data nor does it rely on test subjects providing statistically significant and consistent reporting of identification with certain traits or behavior(s). The Wakefield Doctrine does not approach the ‘classification of personality’ on the basis of traits and quirks, phobias and foibles gathered from a test subject. ‘Personality Typing by Chart’,  in which check-marks are totalled/summed up and added up, with a score at the bottom of a column labeld: ‘Your Personality Type! A lot like a dinner party at a restaurant, the host glances down to the bottom of the bill that the Waiter has brought to the table. Scanning the menu items and tallying the cost, the guests will hear:    “OK! who had the FEAR OF HEIGHTS with the DISDAIN FOR AUTHORITY Combo?  no, scott!! I am sure you ordered the MECURIAL TEMPERMENT COMBINED WITH AN INGRAINED RESISTANCE TO LEARNING BY EXAMPLE! OK folks, the total  is: (2) Drivers with homophobic tendencies masked by an excessive interest in contact sports and (1) Passive-aggressive nurturing-type with un-resolved oedipal conflict compensated by a need to demonstrate language skills un-supported by actual ability! Alright everyone!! Ante up!”

the Wakefield Doctrine is for you, not for them!
For most of us, the attraction to ‘personality types’ and ‘personal profiles and assessment’ is founded in a genuine curiosity about ourselves and a sincere desire to help other people in our lives handle  their own problems and shortcomings better. Unfortunately, the focus all too often comes to rest on ‘the other person’.   We all know this person, a caring friend/relative/co-worker who goes to great lengths to find answers so that they can ‘help you’! With a magazine article in hand (or a book, or a CD or DVD) that promises to describe personality types and how to identify them…whats the second thing you/they do after learning these well-researched, empirically based systems of understand the human psyche? The second thing (and sometimes the first) is to say, “Hey! You know who is a real Driver personality? This personality system totally  got his/her number!! This is really helpful, I can’t wait to tell them how much I understand their personality!”
…this is where the Wakefield Doctrine and all the better researched, better marketed, widely-accepted personality theories part ways. No matter what you think you can do with the understanding that this Doctrine can help you get, it is for you, it is not for the other person.

Are we saying that the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers ) is neither scientifically valid nor an effective method for helping other people to solve their intractable mental and emotional problems?
Yes, yes we are saying that.

So why bother with this thing of ours? Well, for starters:

you will have an advantage over the people you meet in the course of your day today

the behavior of the people in your life will make more sense to you (because of your understanding of the Wakefield Doctrine)

you will be able to anticipate the actions and (re)actions of people to virtually any situation

you will see your own life, habits, behaviors in a different light

you will have fun with your friends spotting the clarks and the scotts and the rogers as you go about your day today

Sound like reason enough to figure out this blogsite?

I promised Molly, a short and concise definition of the Wakefield Doctrine:

…three personality types predicated on (three) characteristic ways to perceive the world at large. All people are born with the potential to see the world as any of the three (types) that we call: clarks, scotts and rogers. (Further) the Doctrine maintains that at an early age we become predominately one (of the three) but we never lose the capacity to experience the world as do the other two. The personality types of the Wakefield Doctrine are gender and culture neutral and is predicated that the personality type is derived from understanding the reality in which a person lives, not by trying to identify specific traits, interests, drives or ideation. The Wakefield Doctrine is a tool meant to aid a person who would try to see the world as the other person does.

Works pretty damn well, too!

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

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

November 19, 2023 By clarkscottroger

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

This is the Doctrine’s contribution to the Ten Things of Thankful (TToT) bloghop. The once-a-week reflection on the people, places and things that have conspired, inspired and otherwise triggered a psycho-social state of mind sometimes referred to as gratitude.

1) Una

2) Phyllis

3) the Wakefield Doctrine

4) writing and such

5) Six Sentence Story bloghop

6) Project Pythagoras and the Saw of Density* (photo #7) ok: the second from the left (vertical) trees is the intended removal. Problem: though not visible in the photo the target tree was leaning towards the bridge (lower left) a lot. It wanted to fall on the bridge as a Hans Gruber gesture. The horizontal piece is a 10 foot cedar fence rail. What you can’t see (no, you’re right! there’s a lot you can’t see in this photo ‘illustration’. Sorry, there are no returns on your investment in this post. all ticket sales are final).

Due to the angles of the trees relative to each other, the target tree was being force into bending in the opposite direction. You remember that ‘flyer thing’ you learned from your scottian friend as a kid using popsicle sticks… wait, here: at the top of the post. One of those.

So we took the saw and cut real low (careful that, when the pressure was released, we didn’t get hit on the head by the fence rail). Success.

7) illustration

9) something, something

10) Secret Rule 1.3

8) oh, yeah skipped one! damn err…. grateful for double-checking my list before posting! (lol… and for the willingness of Readers to accept that, as the old saying reminds us, ‘Chaos is the amniotic fluid of creativity.’)

* a future hat for anyone who gets this reference Doctrine honor system applies**

** Doctrine honor system: a product of the Outsider worldview (and it’s propensity for learning things) says, even if someone types in the correct answer before you can, if you had the correct answer and was about to enter it in comments, go ahead and type it in. The clarks believe you.

music