the Wakefield Doctrine

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

The best thing about the Wakefield Doctrine: the (additional) perspective it affords those of us with the time, inclination and predominant worldview to provide us with additional help with the day-to-day challenge of life, the world around us and the people who make it up.

Ridiculously simple, too. yo

Imagine, if you will, there are three characteristic relationships a person is capable of when dealing with ‘the everything outside of one’s head’:

1. the Outsider(clarks) your place in the world, at least to the extent you are capable of assessing it, is lacking a certain… something. You know it’s not your ability to understand (intelligence), it doesn’t seem to be for lack of a level of physicality, relative to those around you… there’s just a gap. Everyone else appears to share a certain understanding of the world around them and the people who make it up, that you do not. You need to discover this and, for reasons uncertain, you need to do it without alerting the people, i.e. family and friends, co-workers and lovers, bosses and the clerk at the local Seven Eleven, you live among.
2. the Predator (scotts) the world is like walking into a movie theatre two minutes after the start, say ‘Casino’ or… ‘Star Wars’. You are not disappointed at missing the title, you’re too busy enjoying the gunfire and explosions. Then you notice the other theatre goers… they’re laughing and/or jeering and while you’re tempted to pay attention to the screen and what on it is causing their actions and reactions, you’re totally engaged by the way the other members of the audience are acting. It’s fun, it’s exciting and, before you know it, you’re climbing over the seat-backs to sit next to the attractive couple throwing popcorn, at least you start to, when a movie fan goes running up the aisle, all kinds of upset and, after getting the attention of the first couple, (at least enough to wave and know they’ll recognize you later), you go racing up the aisle…
3. the Herd Member(rogers) ‘What?’ you think with a shout, ‘is all the fuss about’? The instructions, the manual, the proper way of getting through life/ third-period Algebra/ a date where you’ve been set up with a really unattractive person is going badly, are right there. Why doesn’t everyone spend the time to read it? You’re increasingly aware of how most people never bothered to do their homework, but the Teacher seems determined to overlook that, which is not so bad a thing, except they, (the Teacher not the other kids in class), doesn’t seem to call on you every single time they ask everyone a question. It’s all their fault. You know that they, (the kids not the Teacher), appreciate the effort you’ve put into studying and will eventually acknowledge you.

With the perspective of the Wakefield Doctrine, when you go into the world today, you will be able to detect, in others: fear, desire and …fear. In yourself? That takes much more study and effort. But, what good is a personality theory, if it doesn’t let you say, “Oh honey! Come here and take a look at this personality theory. It’s so got you down to a ‘T’.

lol

Serially, the true goal of the application of the Wakefield Doctrine is to see the world as the other person is experiencing it. And, as we do that, to better appreciate how we relate ourselves to the world around us.

Hats and Understanding: the 3 personality types of the Wakefield Doctrine

July 6, 2011

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

For whatever reasons we are getting a lot of new Readers and Visitors in the last couple of weeks, so lets review the basic principles of the Wakefield Doctrine.

The Wakefield Doctrine, also known as the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers is a useful, unique and fun way to look at the behavior of the people in our lives. Everyone reading this has had at least one moment that they thought, “now why on earth would they go and act like that? I really thought I knew them better.”
Whether a spouse or a friend, a co-worker or a fellow student, there will always be someone in our lives whose behavior makes us wish we could ‘see inside their head’.   And as everyone reading this knows, there is a near endless supply of books and blogs and DVDs that promises to provide you with  ‘guides to understanding your spouse’, “do you really understand your lover?’ and ‘theories of personality and self-improvement’.

The Wakefield Doctrine is not quite any of those things. In fact, the Wakefield Doctrine is not like anything you have encountered before in your search for understanding others. And make no mistake about it, you have been searching for a way to better understand the people in your life, whether you are consciously aware of it or not.  This is true because everyone wants to be happy and even if you think that simply knowing:

• what to say to that girl you are too shy to talk to, or
• learning how to make your husband stop talking for 5 minutes or
• trying to prepare yourself for a successful Job Interview

what you think/hope/know you need to learn is: how to understand another person.

Well, good news! The Wakefield Doctrine is a tool, a method, an approach…a theory that will let you ‘get inside the head of the other person’.  And the best part? It can be understood by almost everyone and can be effectively used (by almost everyone) real damn quick. All that it takes is a little flexible intelligence. What we mean by this is that while you do have to be pretty bright, the critical quality you need is to be willing to believe something   ‘just because’.
Ready?

The Wakefield Doctrine says that we all see the world in a certain context;  not just that you have likes and dislikes, or interests and attitudes, but that the world for you has (some) very basic rules.  Further, (the Wakefield Doctrine says) we all are born with the potential to see the world in one of three characteristic ways ( the context, we just mentioned). At an early age we (somehow) decide on one of three worldviews and we become clarks or scotts or rogers. These are the 3 personality types mentioned in the title.
But they are not really personality types though, are they?  (All the other personality theories) talk about interests and drives and attitudes, they give you tests to see what you are most like, what pattern you resemble, where you fit in their matrix.
The Doctrine is different. We say, ‘Hey! you are a clark or a scott or a roger. We know what the world looks like from inside your head. How about that!’

Sound like fun? Well, it is.  And it is useful.  You will know why the other person acts the way that they do and, as frickin huge bonus, you will know why it is you act the way that you do! If you want, you can learn to do things that were never even close to being possible, all because of the understanding that the Wakefield Doctrineoffers.

OK, ok enough! This was supposed to be a brief  Summer Post! But just to make your introduction to the Wakefield Doctrine fun and enjoyable, look over at the Table of Contents, there are Pages listed that talk about each of the three personality types, how to identify them, that sort of thing. And these Posts, they are sort of  ‘a conversation’ about the Doctrine; read them in order or at random, should not really matter.

Final Tip: you have all three ‘personality types’ within you. You are predominately one, but the other two are always there. So if you read this blog, at some point you will say to yourself, ‘What the hell? Sometimes I am a roger, but then there are times when I must be what they call a scott!‘

Final, final Tip: this theory of clarks, scotts and rogers is gender and culture neutral. (If you need that explained to you then you probably need to wait (for one of us) to write ‘the Wakefield Doctrine For Dummies’.

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sure, some musica to get a body moving quickly enough to make the transition at the down-end of the ramp, with a modicum of grace and elán

Free Doctrine Lesson!! See Mr. DiMeola? Just there at the bottom of this post, on the cover of his break-out album? On the basis of the photo, which of the three do you think Al is? (Hint: rhymes with codger)

lol (that wasn’t fair) (lol)

But the fact of the matter is that there is the potential for you, if you study and practice diligently enough, to be able to correctly assess the personality type of a person on the basis of a photo. (Hint 2: scotts is easiest, followed by clarks (lol (Doctrine joke)) then rogers.)

Bonus Hint to Hint 2: scotts: eyes, clarks posture and rogers lips

thing of it is, the Doctrine is not ‘the Answer’. It is a good Question. And…and! it is a language.

And, as with acquiring any new language, the secret is: practice. As we all know, if you practice any language sufficiently, you become conversant. Practice even more and you become fluent. The goal is to become fluent in the Doctrine so you don’t miss the action going on around you, what with having to check the little paperback book you bought at the gift shoppe, just past Customs.

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

In yesterday’s post, we were starting to discuss how the three predominant worldviews, (‘personality types’), were component aspects of a real, but imaginary person. One who we all would do well to be more like. Why do we say that?

Because it’s true. Because we are a clark. (We will leave the support and/or proof of this assertion to the Reader. You have twenty-six hunnert posts, some written with a modicum of readability. In and among those posts you will find what you’re looking for. If, of course, you feel a need to: a) find and 2) look. Not trying to get too Lewis C. on y’all. But the Wakefield Doctrine is nothing if it’s not a Swiss Army model car, i.e. what you need it to be and whatever kind of project you would like it to be.

We’re fond of saying, ‘If you’re back here, reading, still not satisfied that it’s safe to ignore the intimation of value (or the hint of fun), being offered, relax. Read. Try it out’.

With the Wakefield Doctrine, as with: life preservers in a stormy-night sea, a flashlight in a branch-clutching forest or, a date who smiles and turns off the car’s overhead light, ya can’t really do this thing all that wrong. Follow your own impulses. The insights afforded by the applications of the principles of the Doctrine are gonna be there. You can’t break anything. All you need do is imagine how the world appears to a person who is working from the bias of:

• the Outsider (clarks) curious to a fault, careful not to be discovered prematurely
• the Predator (scotts) wanting nothing but, (if forced to state it objectively), to be free to follow their own impulses and live the moment
• the Herd Member (rogers) knowing there’s a Right Way (to live) and a bunch of ways to mess-up, while resisting the urge to get others to realize it

So, that’s about enough of the ‘Lessons from/of the Wakefield Doctrine’.

(We’re serious about it always working. If it doesn’t (for you) then none of this will be enjoyable and beneficial and satisfying. That’s ok. We’ll be fine. No! Not to worry… our ride is a little late, we’ll just stay here. Thanks for joining us. Anytime your curiosity starts to: twitch, itch, rise… come on back.)

We were thinking about a reprint. But, nah, let’s save that for tomorrow.

What say, instead of words from the past, you think about what you’ve read and ask the question that’s been:

1. nagging at you since you got to the part about, ‘One and only one predominant worldview’
2. there from the start but, reluctantly accepting that everyone else seems to be comfortable, at least in terms of the comments down through the years, you thought would be…impolite to bring up
3. waiting for a post that is direct and unambiguous and, for god’s sake, simple.

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