Understanding Human Behavior | the Wakefield Doctrine

2sdae -the Wakefield Doctrine-

October 13, 2026 By clarkscottroger 8 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

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

Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

October 6, 2026 By clarkscottroger 12 Comments

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

Part Tue in our impromptu series, ‘How Real is Personal Reality, Really?”

We once came up with a scenario involving a clark, a scott and roger that, grounded in the ‘real’ world, served as an illustration of what we mean by personal reality.

Can’t find it among posts in the archives.

Guess we’re just gonna have to write it again.

(Yeah, who was that who muttered, “Good Luck Finding the Original Author”? Extra credit to that Reader! But that’s an entirely different post)

Picture a large town/small city. Large enough for sidewalks and fire hydrants but small enough for there not being a classroom science film strip: Blood, your body’s superhighway’… moderate traffic with maybe 30 percent available parking on the street where our scene takes place.

Our three Illustratinum* are standing on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street from a restaurant. The restaurant is part of a city block, meaning no parking lot in front of it, simply a row of large, plate glass windows in the wall that runs along the sidewalk. Until, that is, the last third of the facade. The entrance is set back from the sidewalk, creating something of an alcove. There is a line of people waiting to get in. From where the next-to-enter patron is standing (the line’s final order created by stanchions with red velvet ropes strung between), it continues along the sidewalk at least twenty-three people in length. Some of the people are reading the Day’s Menu, (pasted to the inside of one of the plate glass windows), others are talking and a handful are simply waiting for the social peristalsis to bring them to their desired goal. Lunch in a popular restaurant.

Our MCs: a clark (Outsider), a scott (Predator) and a roger (Herd Member) are standing, shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the restaurant and the line of would-be diners.

All of this is to set up the question (the answer being the proof) of ‘What is Personal Reality and Is It (really) Real?’

Certain presumptions about our scene: all three agreed to meet for lunch, the choice of restaurant and the time.***

The question, based on a good understanding of the three predominant worldviews (aka personality types) of the Wakefield Doctrine:

what is the clark thinking
what does the scott want to do
how does the roger feel about everything (starting with the long line)

One hint:

clarks be thinking, ‘Shit.. any chance to get these two jamokes to accept Burger King as a substitute venue, if not, how about arranging for the fire alarm to be tripped’
scotts is way, way smiling at the prospect of a hunt (think wildebeest, gazelle and flock of overweight chickens having a convention), zeroing in on the weakest (read:uncertain and hopeful) person among those on the sidewalk for the first attempt cut in line
rogers beaming, Life is surely good and his/her role here and now as the center of most wonderful, spontaneous Herd is assured, can’t wait to share the joy with all the people who turned out for his/her arrival

There ya go!

*faux¹ Latin for the three characters who represent the principle being illustrated

1) French for ‘come on! you can get it from the context’, Readers!**

**credit for the line goes to the writers of ‘The Good Place’ Tahani to the group about some British idiom

*** total extra credit to any thought balloons rising focused on ‘agreed’? ‘choice’? and ‘time’? lol

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

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

October 5, 2026 By clarkscottroger 7 Comments

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

So, how real, really, do we mean when we speak of the role of personal reality in the experience of the three predominant worldviews: clarks (Outsiders), scotts (Predators) and rogers (Herd Members).

Like, real real or just real real?

Like the old saying, “When the Teacher grows complacent, a remedial Pupil will appear.”

from our frequent correspondent, Frank, a Comment last week (in response to Friday’s post.)

2 + 2 … hmm … quick? I’ve got a master’s degree in math. In base 3, it would be 11. In base 4, it would be 10. In base ten, it would be 4.
But good point about mixing all of them together. I’ll stick to being a clark. That gives me an outside view of the world.

(Fortunately, short of having a (forget the term used, back in the day, for the week that teachers had off…teacher’s convention or something) we have Mimi to refresh our… vocation (Doctrinistically-speaking that is):

“The situation is different if you see it from every angle. Having an imagination helps, I think, you can imagine what it looks like to “the other two.”

ahh… better now.

So! Given that it’s taken us as long as it has (185 words +-) to get to thesis statement stage, what we’ll do is set up the question (inherent in Frank’s underlying assumption) and continue the theme through the rest of the week. (Well, ceptin’ for Thursday which is Six Sentence Story day)

First the set up’

The Wakefield Doctrine is predicated on the central tenet that we, all of us, live our lives in what is, (to a small but definite degree) a reality that is personal. Our posts have a…no! Wait! Lets follow our original plan for this subject, i.e. not to try and write it in one post.

Damn! Sorry, yo. Went looking to find the post in which, by having a clark, as scott and a roger go out to lunch together the personal (in personal reality) is made clear if not obvious. Unfortunately, we could not find it. Lesson (Chapter Minus 23) Do Not Devote More Time to Saving Time Than Would Be Required to Complete the Task the First Time.) lol

But we did find a good description of the three predominant worldviews (aka personality types) of the Wakefield Doctrine.

Our ‘personality types’ are simply a label for the most appropriate style, based on the nature of the world we encounter.

the Outsider(clarks) realize immediately that they are not only different, they are not included in the world shared by everyone around them. They learn to blend in to the background, the better to observe those who apparently know something that they do not. This curiosity is not idle, it is critical. If the clark missed a lesson that others obviously learned, then either they were excluded or they were unforgivably absent. Neither is something they want to advertise and both are reasons to devote most of their lives to learning whatever they don’t already know. clarks think.

the Predator(scotts) start moving as soon as the lights come on because, in the world of the predator, it is all about eating or being eaten. They notice everything in the world around them that is important and necessary. If it moves away, chase it. If it moves towards you, run or stand and fight. The world is full of life and conflict, which kinda are one of the same. To live is to be in motion. scotts act.

the Herd Member(rogers) feel at home, even among strangers because the world is complete. What it is is all that it is. They have the feeling that while there are many things to be learned in life, there is a Right Way to do things. They see the world and feel a part of it. Even the bad things are connected, and, provided they are allowed the time and resources, they will learn the Right Way to do things and show others what they have learned. It’s important, because in a Herd, there is no center. However, there are always others surrounding them. The only Good is to influence as many in the Herd as possible. rogers feel.