OK! You have made it this far! The material below is a quick and direct overview of the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers) aka The Theory of 3 Personality Types.
The Wakefield Doctrine is predicated upon the idea that everyone experiences the world/reality differently from one of three overlapping but distinctive perspectives. It also proposes that our personalities are but a result of our perception, of our habitual responses to the world. The Doctrine maintains that these characteristic perceptions of reality can be grouped into three distinct types, called for reasons stated elsewhere, clarks, scotts and rogers. These links will tell you everything you need to know about each type.
When we say “experience the world” we don’t just mean things about you, we mean the way you see the world, the assumptions you make and how you feel about other people. In a word: perception. Perception is the key to the Doctrine. All are in keeping with the description of your type. Not as difficult as it sounds. Try this: if you are a roger that means that you know that the world is based on rules and that people who know these rules gather in relationships and groups, sort of like herds of animals do, common interests in common. As a roger, to your very soul, you know that the universe is quantifiable and organized. It is entirely natural for you to see the things in the world that demonstrate this quality of being quantifiable, so you tend to like things in an orderly, traditional arrangement. You are naturally attracted to work or studies that reflect this. Rogers tend to be engineers, accountants, judges, historians, members of the clergy. Anything that is based on natural organization.
The same applies to clarks and scotts. What our personality type is goes way beyond likes and dislikes, attitudes and interests. “Who” we are as personality types is demonstrated in what we do for work, what our idea of recreation is, who are friends are and what we reject the most in our daily lives. All in reflection, in support of our personality types: clarks, scotts or rogers.
Now one of the best things about the Doctrine is that you don’t have to take a test or a college course, you don’t have to pay someone money to test you and you don’t even have to know anything about psychology. In other words, none of the hoops and hurdles that most of the other personality typing systems require you to jump through before you can get any of the benefits. Here at the Doctrine all you have to do is to be able to step outside of yourself and see beyond the most basic assumptions you make about life and reality.
One thing about the Wakefield Doctrine that we often hear is “I read the description of the three personality types. Sometimes I think I am a roger and other times it is clear that I must be a scott. That must mean your theory does not work on me.” The reason this happens is that we are all born with the qualities of all three personality types. We become predominately a scott or a roger or a clark. The other two qualities do not go away. We always have them within and sometimes we will act like one of the other two types. Born with the potential to view the world in one of these three ways, all people possess the characteristics of all three but soon (by age 7 or so) become one of the three. Put another way: we all possess the potential to see the world as a clark or a scott or a roger. It is only the predominance of qualities from one (over the other two) that makes us who we are. No one is only clarklike or scottian or rogerian.
Psychology and psychiatry texts make constant reference to type A/B/C personalities and their interactions. We are somewhat along those same lines. For us, those references have evolved into our Wakefield Doctrine, which we have found to be much more palatable. To err may be human, but to create a categorization system that explains all there is to understand human behavior in a somewhat cryptic nutshell is absolutely divine. And we have noticed along the way a heck of a lot of fun. In an “improvisational academia” sort of way, we invent terms as we go along to describe conditions and situations that may not have existed previously. And yet, our system works perfectly well when taken totally seriously.
The value of the Wakefield Doctrine is that once you can see the world through the eyes of another, behavior becomes understandable. Not only is it a valuable tool for understanding human behavior, but it is also an immeasurable tool for self-improvement. It is not about replacing what you already know about yourself but rather enhancing it. Be open-minded and you will discover new things about yourself and others that you never knew and apply them. And because the Doctrine is about 3 personality types (and remember, we all some of each) it enables you to not only understand the perspective of the other two, but to also be in the world of the other two. It is an invaluable tool for relationships, both personal and professional. Furthermore, equipped with the knowledge of the Doctrine, you will know more about a person than he/she does. How much more beneficial can understanding human behavior via personality types be?
Now go read about each type and then come back here to watch an entertaining (to say the least) video from the Saturday Night Drive (info, time and number on the right). See? We have fun too! Clarks, Scotts and Rogers are all in attendance. See if you can identify each type and leave us a comment.
