self-improvement | the Wakefield Doctrine

2zd8 -the Wakefield Doctrine-

July 14, 2026 By clarkscottroger 4 Comments

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

Frank has, as Readers often do, provided us with launching point for today’s post in the form of his Comment on yesterday’s.

I was trying to decide which of these personality types is the best, but I am glad to find out that “We all have (the) perfect personality type.” The one I have is perfect.

Someone’s been doing their reading! lol

As stated, ad astra, the Wakefield Doctrine holds that we, all of us, settle into one (of three) characteristic relationships with the world around us. We then proceed to grow up and mature. And, in doing so, develop those social strategies, perceptual biases, habitual preferences and stubborn resistances. aka we develop a personality in response to the reality in which we live.

To use ourself as example: we found ourselves in a (personal) reality that seemed to have a slight (just a little, not all the time, just occasionally), tendency to blindspot us. Nothing weird or crazy just that clearly to our very young eyes (and ancient soul) we were overlooked at times. Comparing our estimation of our role/status in the family unit, there clearly was a touch missing in the quality of our belonging-ness. It became obvious that most everyone in our single-digit-life experience knew something we did not. Not for nothin’ we were already being told that we lived, at least part of the time, in a world of our own, a ‘dream world’ according to parents and teachers and such. The only honest conclusion to a four or five year old was that we missed a class in ‘Being a Part of’ Not good. Naturally we began looking for the missing information.

For a person living in the world of the Outsider (clarks) that is a decent description of a perfect personality… (again with the ellipsisesses!!) given the conditions we found ourselfs in.

ProTip: if you already know your (Wakefield Doctrine) personality type, you can go back in your memory and see how your personal choices were geared and set to maximize your efforts to thrive and grow. (Unless you’re a roger. In which case nothing you ‘remember’ coincides with our little explanation. oh well, what’re ya gonna do? There’s always Briggs,Stratton, Oscar & Myers ERBW f system of personality types! lol)

Dovetailing perfectly with yesterday’s closing ellipsis

Which is not a bad thing provided you want to be able to…

increase your ability to see the world as the other person is experiencing it.

ok running out of time… Tuesday tend towards that

fine, nothing gigantically original in this:: our ambition/the Doctrine’s Mission Statement/walk a mile in another’s moccasins

we would submit that this sentiment, that of holding identification (with another) as the next level of the classic: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’

this because one is transaction, the other is not.

Tomorrow!! More of this what’s the good of considering the other person if there ain’t nothin in it for us?

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

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

July 13, 2026 By clarkscottroger 4 Comments

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

Lets review:

The Wakefield Doctrine is an alternative perspective on the world around us and the people who make it up. This perspective consists of three distinct, (but somehow interrelated), relationships one maintains with their daily, personal reality. While everyone is born with these three as potential(s), at a very early age, one, (and only one), becomes dominant. We then, as tiny babies, begin the process of learning, developing, practicing the wide range of persistent social strategies (aka personalities) for surviving, (and hopefully, thriving), in the world as we are experiencing it. Which insight convinces us of the following provocative statement.

We all have (the) perfect personality type.

The three ‘personality types’ of the Wakefield Doctrine are:

clarks (the Outsider)
scotts (the Predator)
rogers (the Herd Member)

Each of these three reflect a different relationship with reality, (and the world and people and such). None of the three (personality types) are bad. None of the three are better than. (As one non-specified of the three, you might consider the three as a continuum. As another of the three you’d seize on that notion as an opportunity to argue about the overall validity of our little personality theory.)

Here is the most useful apophthegm*:

clarks think, scotts act and rogers feel

*yeah, you could, if you learned the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine to a comprehensive enough degree, divine which of the three personality types would be inclined to use that fairly obscure word for ‘short, pithy saying’ But then, you’d be wrong.¹

clarks are crazy, scotts are stupid and rogers are dumb

because of ‘the Everything Rule’ which is not a ‘Get out of ‘no!-wait!-what-I-meant-was-I-really-do-understand’ card. It is, rather, a reminder to refocus on the effects of the character of one’s relationship to the people. places and things that make up ‘the world’.

So learn the character of each of the three relationships. Become so familiar with the manner in which the everyday presents itself to the three predominant worldviews of the Doctrine (aka becomes fluent) and you will know more about the other person (your spouse, your friend, the girl at the convenience store…whoever) than they know about themselves.

Which is not a bad thing provided you want to be able to…

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: clarkscottroger, relationships, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

July 6, 2026 By clarkscottroger 6 Comments

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

Slow-typing Monday. Let’s not fight it, shall we? (lol)

Tool kit. Action Plan. Social Strategy

What is the value of the Wakefield Doctrine?

nah, too… Mutual of Oh Mama…let’s try this:

*explanations are to clarks as sex is to scotts and tradition is to rogers*

Better.

Got the patina of a morning-after Clearsil ya know? without being too ‘you can’t stay in bed all day’

(sad commentary when your Curator needs to warm-up in order to go looking for a RePrint post to brush-away all the white space on this Monday morning’s Doctrine post draft.)

ok…ok hold on (hey are we the only ones who have mornings when the ability to type vanishes like confidence when making a morning after telephone call?)

yeah…

here we go. (“Service Department, please. What? Sorry, wrong number.”)

Random Monday the Wakefield Doctrine (if this were organized like a real personality theory, you’d have to pay for it)

August 11, 2014

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

So we (Cyndi and Denise and yours truly) were talking on the WDSLDR Call-in this Saturday. The topic was, superficially, about rogers, but in actuality, it was about clarks.

…because, the Wakefield Doctrine is for you, not them

we came to the conclusion that, prior to entering a new situation, most clarks prefer to know more (about the situation) rather than less. Sometimes this is a reasonable ambition, other times it is not. When it is not, clarks tend to retreat into their heads, in an effort to ‘figure out’ their best approach to the situation. Of course, this tactic will result in our clark not actually participating in the actual events. With this non-attentiveness to the reality we are in, our status of being the Outsider is totally assured. So, as we discussed on Saturday, how do you properly prepare for events that lie in the future and are therefore not completely knowable? (We rolled down the windows and yelled and hooted at a car full of kids from school going in the opposite direction.*) We were using, as the example of this principle, the new work situation that Cyndi was facing at the start of the new year. Most telling was that it was ‘knowing the people’ that she was going to be expected to work with (and in some cases, direct and manage). While we (Denise and me) were no help with the particulars of her work environment, it did occur to us that:

…with the Wakefield Doctrine, you (or me) or maybe just Cyndi, already knows everyone she is going to be working with, even if she has never met them before that first day… they will be clarks or there might be a scott there (probably not two, at least not in the same work environment) and a whole bunch of rogers. so, ‘fear of the unknown? not for this clark!’

We laughed, in part (or in whole), at the realization that, even after years of study, the Wakefield Doctrine still had new insights to offer!

Our conversation continued well past the normal cutoff time of the Saturday Night Drive (8:00 to 8:45 pm EDST). So, if you are in possession of a telephone next Saturday Night give us a call! It’s fun and informative and you will benefit!

with the insights afforded by an understanding of the (principles) of the Wakefield Doctrine, you will never need find yourself saying, “How could they say such at thing? I really thought I knew them better than that!”

…clarks think, scotts act and rogers feel

rogers organize parties, scotts are the most sought after guests and clarks find themselves there, despite their best efforts to the contrary

You know that old aphorism …or chestnut or, ‘come here son, I have something about Life to tell you’, thing about ‘if you have a job that you need done, ask a…’? Well, the Wakefield Doctrine says:

if you need it done right as soon as possible and you don’t care how neatly, or carefully (or correctly) done it is……… ask as scott

if you need it done, don’t mind not getting credit for it being done and don’t care how long it takes to get done………. ask a roger

if you need it done and you’d rather be doing something/anything else and you don’t care if it is completely done (better than you had hoped) or completely done…….ask a clark

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

Wednesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

May 6, 2026 By clarkscottroger

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

You’re welcome.*

Since we got off track with yesterday being Tuesday, the most clarklike day of the week, we’re gonna make up for it here and simply make observations without contextualizing or dramatizing.

of course not, for this blog, (and the Wakefield Doctrine itself), to be wildly popular, we would need to be a roger. they, (the Herd Members), have the innate sense of vox populi**

But then again, clarks are not ‘people’, clarks are Outsiders.

And rogers, having the quality of the average, healthy socially adept person is anything but an Outsider. (Even a scott is not an Outsider, at least not in nature. They separation from the Herd quality of the scott is a choice, one might argue of a tactical nature.

What neither scotts nor rogers have that clarks do, is the intrinsic sense of the reasonable dichotomy of the Outsider, to wit: I awake this morning. In considering the day ahead, I think in terms of the ‘world out there‘.

(and we mean it. lol)

So we’re good with the size and scope of this blog, the Wakefield Doctrine. If for no other reason than the fact that it would not have been created by a scott or a roger for one very good reason: no need.

And…and!! the benefits, (to us as a clark who happens to be the curator of this thing of ours) include: having far greater access to other clarks (to identify with/learn from/encouraged by seeing their successes in negotiating the world).

that’s enough.

well, one more thing. we’re most proud of the discovery/understanding/appreciation of one characteristic of the rogerian predominant worldview, that is their tendency to ‘lash-out’ when uncomfortable/or in fear of losing the (social) spotlight. clarks frequently experience this when interacting with a rogerian friend and the conversation is totally positive and enjoyable and seemingly out of nowhere, the roger says (the equivalent of) ‘Yeah, you’re an asshole’ And, with equal abruptness (after the emotional snack/meal provided by the clark) continue the conversation.***

Anyway, the reason we’re proud of this particular insight from the Wakefield Doctrine is that most clarks, in the endless seconds following being lashed out at, are thinking, ‘What the hell did I do to bring that on.’

Now we know. Nothing. It was not us, it was them. (for some clarklike reason, speaking only for ourself, hearing this makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks! Wakefield Doctrine!!

*surely one of the most costly, if not damaging characteristic of the clarklike worldview is our self-effacing modesty. Just gonna leave it at that. If (you’re a clark) you know what that means.

** this is new (to us), i.e. the original and full expression is Vox Populi, Vox Dei (‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’)

*** classic ‘apology’ from the roger if called on this inappropriate attack: ‘Oh man, I can’t believe I said that‘

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

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

April 27, 2026 By clarkscottroger

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

As an additional perspective on the world around us (and the people who make it up), the Wakefield Doctrine is both fun, useful and to some, quite productive.

Using this perspective, not only will you know more about the other person than they know about themselves, you’ll be in a position to see the world as they are experiencing it.

Here’s a fun insight: even though we, (the Curator of this here personality theory here), know your predominant worldview, (to a degree of certainty approaching, ‘no, really you’re totally a …’), this second point about how the other person is experiences the world makes it a lead-pipe cinch.

So what?

Think about it.

You’re still reading.

So let’s eschew the obvious statement and go to the more subtle inference.

If you’re a clark* you recognize this thing of ours. You’ve have one since…well, since the question will be posed by a Reader who is not a clark, early, early childhood. It’s not so much an ambition, (the belief you can understand the world and your place in it**), as fashioning a life raft from the flotsam and jetsam (totally sine spe recuperandi) in the clearly way-to-far-out-to-see-a-shoreline place you find yourself in (while a child).

This is why certain people who come here once and then return do not need Cliff Notes, instructions or a User’s Manual. It’s just like their own (sometimes better, more complete or… (we really hope) funnier.)

ok, lets skip to the chase: the one thing about this blog for one of the three predominant worldviews? it confirms the existence (and not to get melo on ya… the survival and success) of others like theyselves.

Secondary clarks? toolkit baby, a set of Ersa nails, the secret code to the locker room, the formula for momentary invisibility and a social-psychological turbo (good for short bursts) suitable for chasing adept prey and lazy but advanced predators.

*ja ja, yeah, right… if you’re posing a doubt or counter-argument that’s just your secondary rogerian aspect.

** beyond your not being like everyone else, the ‘real’ people in your life