Understanding Human Behavior | the Wakefield Doctrine

Reprint Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 20, 2021 By clarkscottroger

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

Someone, this weekend, on the Saturday Night Drive call-in, mentioned the style of the writing in the earliest of days of this blog. We all laughed, as many people do, when recalling the beginning of skill development. Baby pictures, with or without an actual baby. (lol)

We laughed and celebrated the Wakefield Doctrine at that, as it is one of the more universal, easily-identifiable-with effects of applying the principles of the Doctrine.

New Reader: full disclosure, the person behind the editorial ‘we’ is a clark. (With a significant secondary scottian aspect. But that’s for another Post.) And as a clark, they (or we… this sometimes gets a little cluttered, pronounistically-speaking) would be seriously loathe to go back and look at what came before. To be more precise, to be held up for scrutiny, in even the indirect context of considering early skill in the writing thing.

ah!

ha!

As it the true intent of a Reprint Monday, we’ve stumbled across an interesting topic.

What is the kryptonite of all three predominant worldviews?

(Quick clarification, qualification of our thesis: We’re not talking antithetical, in the fundamental reality sense. Today, using the kryptonite metaphor we’re referring to ‘biggest fear’, ‘that which the person fears the most’. You know, like public speaking, heights, and nude spiders on airplanes. The antithetical list is actually way more interesting. Spoiler Alert: they each reflect the other, in a three-way sequence sorta way.)

So, for the predominant worldviews of the Wakefield Doctrine, the three most fear-inspiring things:

clarks (Outsider) scrutiny While there is enough to surely fill pages and paragraphs, analyzin’ and dramatizin’ the way clarks feel about scrutiny, let’s try and put it in terms a New Reader will identify with (providing they are clarks). In keeping with the slightly archaic feel of the word itself, scrutiny is the feeling that is engendered by un-invited intimacy. (We’ll be happy to respond with elaboration on this, provided you use the Comment function.) (lol)
scotts (Predator) routine Surely the unhappiest of scotts are those who are constrained in choice of activity, while compelled to exert their energy in a manner that is point and meaning -less.
rogers (Herd Member) shunning Hey! Here’s an example from the same conversation this last Saturn’s day. And, oddly enough, the best illustration of the original point: our reaction to the idea that our writing was very… different that it is today. There was a turning point, back in the early days, when, in response to the typical free-wheeling experimentation that is common to acquiring one’s voice, in writing, someone said, ‘Be careful. You get too far out there and all your friends will be offended and reject you.’ (Our response) was, ‘Well, if that happens, I guess I’ll just have to get a whole new set of ‘everyone’.’ There was, (in our conversation, of this Saturday past) an invisible intake of breath followed by silence. On the part of the roger in the conversation. It was, not shock, as that is an active state of response. It was more, an existential awe. Beyond the pale, beyond any part of even the most fundamental of assumptions and premiseses…

Interesting, no?

Gots to go for now. You should join us one of these Saturday nights. It’s fun.

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

RePrint Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

December 13, 2021 By clarkscottroger

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

New Reader Warning*! We only scanned today’s reprint post. Spotted a bullet-point, thought, ‘How bad can it be? We did see bullet-points, did we not?’

Ok then.

In the spirit of typo-veritas, lets just paste it write** here and we’ll be mostly done!

So, from September first, in the Anno Domino 2015*** we present the Monday lesson.

Of course, the reason there is a Wakefield Doctrine is (to) provide a tool to self-improve oneself.

the Wakefield Doctrine is a unique, useful (very useful) and fun way to better understand the behavior of the people in our lives. Really more of a[n] additional perspective on life, the Wakefield Doctrine begins by posing a very simple, (but deceptively difficult), question: ‘how does that person relate themselves to the world around them?’ The Wakefield Doctrine provides a set of personality types that, on the basis of the description of three distinct ‘worldviews’ (one’s personal reality), makes insight into the context from which a person makes decisions (all types of decisions, i.e. how to act, how to feel, what to think etc), very possible. This insight all puts you in the position of knowing more about that person. (Or, of course, ourselves, if we’re that ‘other person’ and, if you happen to be a clark, you are so that ‘other person’.) With the proper application of the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine, you need never again hear yourself say, “How could they go and do such a thing?! I really thought I knew them better than that!”

the Wakefield Doctrine proposes three characteristic ways a person relates themselves to the world around them:

(as) the Outsider (clark) this is the person who is quiet (to the point of invisibility), funny (if you can hear/understand them), a very good listener and (a) near-psychotically unselfish person who will do anything for their friends (except stop beating up on themselves)

(as would a) Predator (scott) fun? exciting? hell! how about exciting-fun creators?!? like that Tasmanian Devil, (on the old Warner Brothers cartoon), except some of them wear heels and LBD(s) to a level of effectiveness as to tempt the FDA to require a warning label… the male scotts are even more so, if for no other reason than the fact that they achieve that effect (on their intended audience/prey) by virtually any means, including, but not limited to, jumping on the hood of a moving car, make really loud digestive (and post-digestive) sounds and generally being exciting to be with, (be sure to have the name of a bail bondsman in your pocket before heading out for the evening with them).

(in the manner of) a Member of the Herd (roger) you want to see how they get those scale model, 4-masted sailing vessels into the bottle? do you need to have someone express an astounding level of enthusiastic interest in what you have to say, hate to forget which is the salad fork and which is the cake fork?? find yourself a roger! they’ll be glad to show you and teach you the history of tablecloths while they’re at it!

the goal of this understanding as to how a person relates themselves to the world around them? simple. it’s in pursuit of better understanding. appreciation. identification. We strive to become able to see the world ‘as the other person is experiencing it’ and if that does nothing else, it will put us in a much better position to understand the people in our lives.

And… and! you’ll know what the other person will do, sometimes even before they do! No! seriously! With a sound understanding of the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine, you will know way more about the other person than you have any right to know. …fun, too.

* not our favorite Warning to New Readers. Our favorite Warning to New Readers is, in, fact: ‘Warning. If you persist in reading (these) posts, you will learn the principles of the Doctrine to a sufficient degree to allow you to see the clarks, scotts and rogers in your world. But that’s not our Warning. Our real, no! seriously, warning is that you may not be able to not see the clarks, scotts and rogers in your world.’

** yes, a little play upon words

*** and a thanks to the cat for the suggestion of a music vid. We had been drawing worse than a blank up until this moment. (Worse than a blank? A tune from last week’s Six that was playing in our head ever since.)

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

Teusday -the Wakefield Doctrine- “ok, we get it’s all about reprints…but spelling optional?!”

December 7, 2021 By clarkscottroger

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

Hey, before we get to the reprint. (Which we’re looking forward to, as it has a lesser-seen movie illustration of the personality types of the Wakefield Doctrine. Specifically, a roger and a scott. Forgot how cool this one was. Now… where the hell is the door outa this parenthesisisis?!)

Before we do that…

whew!

Advanced students, (and ambitiously-confident New Readers*), here’s an interesting thing: the misspelled title? It’s because we turned off the spellchek**. We turned off the spellchuck*** because it was autocorrecting improperly. I thought about digging into the WP dashboard and fixing it but, it was easier to turn it off.

…and endure the consequences. (Don’t even ask us about childhood experiences with dentists. It’s exactly like this instance. Except instead of the intimidation of messing with the inner workings of the blog, there were giant needles. And, instead of constant re-typing of common words, there were six-year-old dental nerve endings.)

Where were we?

oh, yeah! Reprint!

Excellent one this Tuesday. Classic scott in Jack and James Spader? Nothing less than poster boy of the Herd it’s ownself.

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

Alert Reader Denise writes:

“…Doctrine! It has provided me with much insight into rogers. In a nutshell: they will always be the ones to say no. They will do nothing to disturb the boundaries, the lines that frame their world. clarks need to take notice of this. The sooner the better. I leave it in your hands, Clark, to explain to new readership the why. Maybe you need to write the answer in the form of a post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And since we are talking about rogers**

Our Friend Zoe says to us in a Comment, she says:

“… my new roger is settling in to his new environment a bit too well… coveting my office…I loan my office out readily without reservation, but he made it very clear by saying ” I want that office… when are you leaving?” and has left telltale signs of his usage… I may have a rogerian twist and be a clark at heart… but never piss off my scott.”

Sorry. The ‘damage’ is done.

Not to ‘baby-coat’¹ our assessment, but you are witnessing a roger challenging your membership in the herd. How is that possible, you ask? The frickin guy got there 20 minutes ago and he thinks that he can include himself in the group? ( you say with not a little emotion). What gives him the right to try that? If you are in possession of any of these thoughts, I hate to tell ya, but you have just painted yourself a lovely shade of blue². It is totally ‘too late’.

Not ‘too late’ to make things right, restore the proper balance, achieve an understanding among the players in this little drama…. just ‘too late’ to avoid a ‘conflict’ with the roger in your environment.

If he had perceived you as another roger or a scott he would have:

presented his credentials, not to meet your approval but to allow him to ‘tune himself to the herd’ (you know how the sound of cattle and herds of cows are often presented as a single ‘MOO’ ? well, I think our Progenitor roger will attest to the fact that what is heard as a single MOO is, in fact, comprised as a harmony among the members… your roger probably started with presenting some of his history to everyone he came into contact with…to hear the pitch of his new herd)

presented his ‘soft-underbelly’ if he thought you were a scott (at least, a predominant scottian female)… but this observation is moot, because in that particular tango, the woman leads… (at least initially and to the extent that the average person is able to see

So… now you have yourself a roger feeling like he can enhance his standing in the herd by making you appear more and more the Outsider. Remember, a dominance move by a roger, in contrast to that of a scott is never made ‘alone’. While he may appear to be addressing the matter of use of the office space to you directly, most of his efforts are actually directed to the others in your environment. rogers always work in the context of the group, the herd. It is this ‘contexting’ that rogers will base their strategy on, that and, be on the lookout for (him) invoking referential authority. ( Hey, I know you love your space..I respect that, but we were talking about how, with the practice growing we all need to work together more…”)

All kidding aside. you now have a problem that, interestingly enough, can be seen as a manifestation of the trap that would appear to an inherent aspect of the desire for self-improving oneself. You rightly know that you can ‘over-come’ this person’s attempt to reduce the quality of your personal work environment. But at what price? The Doctrine states that we all retain access to those two worldviews that are not our predominant worldview. In your case, (we hear you say), ‘ a clark with secondary rogerian and tertiary scottian aspects’. but…. but! here is where the conflict begins to manifest. (If) you are a clark, then your personal reality is that of the Outsider…which makes perfect sense given your situation. You can access your scottian aspect and inter-act with this roger as would a scott, and as we have already said, if this were a scott-on-roger thing, none of the the above would be happening. So, you can dominate the roger rather decidedly. But then what? Will you trade your predominant (clarklike) worldview for a victory in a single circumstance? Or… is there a way to reach an understanding with this person? unfortunately, the Wakefield Doctrine says ‘no’.

Well, sorta. We’re playing with the words now. clarks think, scotts act and rogers feel. So, if you want to reach an understanding, you are out of luck. That is not to say that there is nothing you can do, but it should not be thought of as an understanding.

Lets return to a strategy we have previously offered: ‘love your roger‘ This is still the preferred strategy, but it will require a bit more….finessing. Yes, you should ‘love your roger‘, but that does not mean (as is all too often the case with clarks), you must allow him to do as he wishes. But, to love your roger requires that you relate to him on an emotional basis… more than that! you must regard him on an emotional basis. We’re using italics here to convey the idea that, if you are able to know him completely on an emotional basis you will be relating to him as a member of the herd. That’s right! trade that lovely azure coat for a comforting wrap of brown and white spots!

(will continue later today…. )

Wait a minute!! If you haven’t seen it yet, watch the scott and roger…. everything is right there. (the roger looking to left and right for the herd that is his context, his invoking referential authority, his offering of emotional currency…his love).

1) a rogerian expression of sorts… a fascinating characteristic use of language found only in rogers…here, go to the page on rogers down towards the bottom

2) a reference to the description of a clark in the context of a group, or perhaps it would be more realistic to say, ‘a clark in contrast to a group’. In any event, the term ‘blue monkey’ is a remnant of grad school days when we learned of, (or came to believe that we learned of), an experiment in which one young monkey was painted, (more likely dyed), blue and returned to his troop. You can imagine the result. In the Wakefield Doctrine we use the blue monkey image several ways, as a symbol of the innate outsider-ness that clarks exhibit when in a social setting, and it is also used to refer to (a) clarks self-sabotaging by make an extra effort to ‘contrast their differences’.

* which, finally, here in the world of the Wakefield Doctrine, clarks step up into a leadership role… we’ll until, that is, the Herd begins to re-orientate itself, an amoeba with a million faces, propelled by the inexorable power of curling lips, on a body and then, well, lets hope the clark in question has a sufficiently significant secondary scottian aspect

** take that! you supercilious (don’t think about the root of that word…ewww) nanny sub-routine

*** hah!

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

Tuesday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

November 30, 2021 By clarkscottroger

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

Here’s a reprint that’s fun for two reasons: a) it’s about clarks(Outsiders) and 2) it, written quite early, (July 2013), it contains a line that caused me to say to myself, (not certain who I was addressing*), “Hey! You will develop ‘the Everything Rule’ to account for that aspect. Still a couple of years in your future. But, because you went ahead and did, we totally know, not only what you meant, we appeciate the implications. Wait, sorry, is this thing still on?”

lol

Best we be bringing on the reprint, non?

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

We all now know that the Wakefield Doctrine is fun…these last few weeks (especially the weekends), bear ample witness to this aspect of our personality theory.

We all also know that the Wakefield Doctrine is unique.

But the productive quality of the Wakefield Doctrine, Is it useful? Does it aid in (one’s) effort to develop and self-improve oneself? That is a totally unequivocal ‘yes! it surely does!’ But none of these three rhetorical questions are the focus of today’s Post! The focus of today’s Post is, as our title clearly states: with progress comes resistance.

So here’s the thing. I’m a clark. I have always wanted to do better. Improve myself. As a child (ages 5 through 17) it was about improving in order to meet (and exceed**) my parents expectation. From my grades in school to my activites in high school, there was always a part of me that wanted to do better. Now, you rogers out there are thinking, ‘ok, good premise, promising start but you need to clarify make it clear what all this means, otherwise. you’ll lose your audience‘. Alas, there is no answer clearer than this: I wanted to do better and to make my parents and family proud of me.

Now this ambition, especially in a child, is very common and not unusual. Children want to be valued members of their families and such. My problem wasn’t that I was un-able to try and make my parents and family proud of me (and later in life, make my friends and girl friend/lover/wife proud). No, my problem wasn’t that I was un-willing to try! The problem was that I couldn’t deal with success.

When a clark succeeds, (in doing more, acting differently, changing lifelong patterns) something happens. When a clark manages to do what no one thought for a second they could do (no one but the clark in question). When a clark changes and acts and feels and interacts with the world on a different level, in a different way, there is resistance. Resistance from friends, resistance from work, resistance from family. This is not to be too metaphysical …just resistance. (Longtime Readers of the Wakefield Doctrine will remember a story I related about how, in high school I asked a girl out, got stood up and, in my response to this very, very common life-event, sealed my fate as a clark,
Well, there is a part of the story I left out. Before getting stood up, I had to ask to borrow the family car. I was successful in doing so. And I felt really good, really…normal. It’s what teenage boys are supposed to do. But then I said something to a sibling, words to the effect, ‘hey, you’re going to have to start dating soon’. clarklike readers are cringing at this point, so I will move on. rogers and scotts? hold this scene in your mind.)

My little description about the resistance of the world to change is nothing especially insightful. Everyone encounters this resistance to change, scotts do and rogers do. It’s just that for clarks, there is a moment, a moment when the world pushes back and says, ‘whoa there. hold on now. don’t you think you’re getting a little too big for your britches‘ and, for many of us…. for me, including the unpleasant outcome of the story I am using as an illustration, there is a feeling that comes back on us…’they’ve been humoring me, all of what I thought was a better me…they are laughing‘

It is not a good feeling. (the Progenitor roger coyned the perfect expression: “my head swelled up and my face fell”).

Most of the time, we put up a brave front and at the first opportunity, run and hide.

But this is different. This Wakefield Doctrine is different (and fun and useful). I still have those moments of thinking that I am acting the fool, that I am not changing the world for 2 or 7 or 29 people. I still have the stomache that comes from thinking… “you’re being such a clark“.

But this is Doctrine thing is different. I mentioned this to another clark… rogers and scotts still reading? this will not make sense…at any rate, I was doing something exuberant at the Facebook…I think it was writing something I thought was especially clever when Kristi was having her blog critiqued by the blogging bloppers.. there came a moment, when I pushed the envelope and that part of me whispered, ‘now you’ve done it, you’ve gotten offensive and stupid. you have alienated everyone‘.

The old feelings started to rise, but (for the first time in my life), I found myself thinking, ‘well then, I guess I’ll jusy have to get another set of everyone’

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine.

** it’s always exceed, isn’t it?

*given the flexibility of our chosen view of reality and the world and such, no telling who…. us the author of the post or us, the collective Readers of the reprint or, even, us from some point further up the timeline…

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

Reprint Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

November 22, 2021 By clarkscottroger

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

Reprint Monday at the start of the week of the most rogerian of all holidays.

Who said our style doesn’t change and develop over time? I decided on the reprint below, from 2011. The image at the top of the post jumped out at me, I smiled (because I thought, ‘Well, must’ve been in a mood that day, wonder what it was’). I considered deleting or replacing the image and, praise Lilith, I stopped and thought, ‘No fuckin way, dude! It’s not so much that maybe you’re no longer so, all, in your face, Have-you-met-my-scottian-secondary-aspect? in your writing style, but, don’t even think about buying slip covers or a complimentary subscription to Grammerly!’

lol

New Readers! You all remember Sy Sperling, right? Well, we’re not just the curator of the Wakefield Doctrine, we’re the most avid of students.

And one of the standout aspects of this here personality theory here is that, as a result of taking it’s principles to heart, we’ve enjoyed several immediate and un-earned benefits. Pertinent to today’s post is illustrated, (or, should that be ‘demonstrated’?), in the intro. Not only did we not edit the post, it doesn’t feel the way it would have, before having the Wakefield Doctrine.

How cool is that?

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

The Wakefield Doctrine is a way to look at the way people behave. Not a personality theory in the sense of proposing underlying causes of certain behaviors, simply an insight into the people in our lives, with this Doctrine you will, in a very real sense, know more about the other person than they know about themselves. Based on the principle that all people experience the world in one of three slight different, yet totally discreet ways, the Wakefield Doctrine allows a level of insight into behavior , motivation and traits that none of the other personality systems can ever hope to provide. Simply put: we are all born with a capacity to perceive the world in one of three ways, as a clark as a scott and as a roger. At a fairly young age, we all settle into one (of these three) and we become (the personality types that we call), clarks, scotts and rogers. At no time do we lose the capacity to see the world as the other two, but our everyday world becomes the world of our dominant type.

( if your dominant world-view is that of a clark, you will ):

live as an outsider, fundamentally apart from everyone around you

you will be driven by a need to ‘understand’, to ‘know’ about the world you find yourself…all in the hopes of becoming a part of the world you are in

you will be creative, truly creative not the re-packaging of the old to look like the new, you will have the capability of bringing the totally new to world*

*(but that still will not make you a part of the world that you feel an outsider to….)

you will have the capability to believe anything and the inability to accept with understanding   anything

( if your dominant world-view is that of a scott, you will ):

live life in the moment, without restraint, clearly the most full-of-life of the three

you will have the attention of all around you as you put out so much energy, something that all people are drawn to

you live as a predator, seeing the world in terms of prey and (greater) predators, intrinsically a hostile environment*

*(for all of the seeming joie de vire) everyone other than yourself and dominant scotts are simply things, animals, lacking in the quality of real people

be driven by instinct, your actions will serve appetite first

( if your dominant world-view is that of a roger, you will ):

as much as a clark is an outsider and a scott is a predator, you will have a life that is always good by virtue of the acceptance of the group

you will find a world that rather than being incomprehensible, offers you joy in (the) discovery of how the world works to you knowing is but a tool not an end in itself

as a part of the herd, there will be no greater good than to preserve that which has been the discovery of the past is part-in-parcel with the celebration of life*

*(while the greatest good is knowing the rules of life) the greater-still life is lived bringing, teaching and (if possible) imposing the rules of life on those around you

if you know it, it is true…if you don’t know it, it can only be bad or worthless or dangerous

There you have it!  A simple outline of the Wakefield Doctrine, try it and see if you do not find yourself discoivering insight into the people at home, at work at school and at play.

Before you go out and try this out, spend a little time reading more about the three personality types, you will find Pages devoted to each. And these Posts? Each different yet the same, these are meant as ‘conversations’ discussion about the Doctrine, our continuing effort to find new ways to explain the principles, to point out novel ways that the Doctrine is manifested, interesting observations…that sort of thing. If you have made it this far in today’s Post, you have what it takes to understand and benefit from it.

If you find that you seem to be all three types? (you are…just mostly one)
If you have a question that you cannot find an answer to in this blog? Write a Comment

and….and if you are one of the exceptional ones…like the DownSprings or FOTDs* and you feel that you are ready to claim your: school, town, Parrish, prefecture or your boyfriend/girlfriend’s ass then pick up that damn keyboard write us a Comment. Tell us why we should send you a Wakefield Doctrine hat (for your damn head) and I betcha we do!

Take the Saturday Night Drive.  There you will find what amounts to a combination living laboratory and live -action demonstration (of the principles of the Doctrine.)

*Friend of the Doctrine

Just in case anyone is new to this blog and is tempted to think, “What an interesting thesis. There clearly is an internal consistency and the efficacy, if supported by subsequent trial scenaria, promises a new chapter to the science of personality theory. Granted the initial data is somewhat anecdotal, but as the video reminds us, you got to fight for the right to party.