who can resist a "theory of personality?" (especially the fun ones)

This hub, while ostensibly about 'theories of personality', is really about the fascination that all humans appear to share for seeing themselves in a mirror. Whether walking down the street and catching a reflection in a store window, or passing a mirror hung from a wall, most people (and some animals) simply have to stop and look. at themselves... in the mirror.

This ties into 'Personality Theories', because what is a personality theory if not 'a mirror'?
(For our purposes), when we refer to 'Personality Theory' we are talking about the internet and magazine variety of 'Personality Theory'. These are anecdotal, observational, fun and on occasion useful ways to group the behavior of people in everyday life. We are not talking about 'real' Personality Theory like those of Adler, or Freud or my personal favorite William Sheldon, (the dude came up with a totally convincing theory of personality predicated on body type, most enjoyable.) Anyway, those are real theories with studies and testing and a whole bunch of unwitting test subjects that produce the proof that they gots the real thing.

No, in this case we are talking about the kind of Personality Theory that somehow captures a true facet of the human experience and makes it fun and useful for the average person flipping through a popular magazine in a waiting room, or more common, surfing the internet.
The Wakefield Doctrine is just such a 'Personality Theory'.

Not overly laden with studies and and double-blind testing, like many theories of this kind, the Wakefield Doctrine is based on a premise that connects a certain worldview with a set of characteristic behaviors and responses to life situations. Having three types of personality, this example of the fun type of personality theory proposes that all people share a full range of 'dispositions towards perceiving the world' and that at a early age people become predominately one or the other (or the other). Knowing which of these three characteristic ways of interpreting the world a person is, allows the observer to successfully predict a persons reaction to an unlimited range of situations.
The unique aspect of the Wakefield Doctrine is that it is predicated on describing how a person perceives the world at large and, therefore in what characteristic way does that person respond to situations. It is this approach that distinguishes the Doctrine from many other of the attempts to catalog the behavior that comprises 'personality', the 'inventory of behavior' approach.

But since we are talking about a class of Personality Theory that is as much entertainment as it is education, a fair question would be, is the Wakefield Doctrine fun?
...you betcha...if your idea of fun is to try to learn about why people behave the way they do and if trying to apply (this knowledge) to those around you and if you think that the drive to self-improvement is up there with sex and food, then the answer is: "Yes, yes it is fun" (btw in no way do I want to take the fun of self-discovery from you, but if your answer to this question is also, yes, then you pretty much a clark.) Wait!! Not such a bad thing!!lol, that leaves only two other types to figure out!. And don't forget! the Doctrine says we are all three, just pre-dominately one over the other two.

Try it. With only three 'types' of personality ( or ways of perceiving the world), referred to as clarks, scotts and rogers most people find it easier to learn by apply the description of the three types to people they are close to before applying it to themselves. And the thing about the Doctrine, it offers a way to understand why people act the way they do in a totally non-judgement way. Since it is based on the idea that all people have the potential represented by the three types, there is no 'good type' or 'bad type'. Very easy to see the descriptions in other people and there is an impressive coherency to the sets of behaviors that are ascribed to each of the three.

And did we say it was fun?

(The mirror?...the Wakefield Doctrine is so a mirror you will not be able to take your eyes off yourself.)