Saturday, August 4, 2007

Johari Window

Hey! Sorry have been AWOL recently - was really busy with college, it was the week before summer vacations and a couple of other things were on my mind. The last course we had was quite fascinating really - it was called 'Sustaining Superior Performance', I know it sounds like a title out of a self-help book and the course was a lot like that, but it was great fun. The teacher was good and the classes quite unique, a mixture of practical exercises, games and just a little bit of lecture. I learnt a lot about myself, for example I learnt that I am really very critical about myself - my own harshest judge.

There was this exercise in which we had a questionnaire of around 40 questions and we had to fill it out, then we chose a partner and had a talk with them for 10 minutes, of course since we have been together for almost two years now we knew each other quite well. After that we had to fill the same questionnaire for our partners. In the end we had the two sets of questionnaire with us one in which we had assessed ourselves and one in which our partner had assessed us.

Almost all the class realized the point that I have been making for a long time i.e. 'What I think of me is not necessarily what others see me as'. I got proof in class

The concept of Johari Window is basically an exploration of the different personalities we have, the ones that others see and the one that is private to us.

Johari Window, named after the first names of its inventors, Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, is a communication model that illustrates human interaction - it is a way of looking at how our personality expresses itself.

A four paned "window," divides personal awareness into four different types, as represented by its four quadrants: open, hidden, blind, and unknown. Each quadrant represents different kind of personal information. The Johari Window is called window because the lines dividing the four panes are like window shades, which can move as interaction progresses.

The quadrant that is called ‘Open’ is our public personality, this is the face we portray to people and we know about it. The obvious things like ‘extrovert’, ‘talkative’, etc things that are obvious to everyone, including of course the physical aspect of it all 'fat', 'thin', 'pretty' and so on. All information that is open – things I know about myself, and that you know about me. For example things about me that you can siphon of reading my blog, the comments I leave, and of course all that I reveal about my feelings and my likes and dislikes. As we get to know each other better this ‘Open’ personality becomes more accentuated.

Known to self, unknown to others is the ‘Hidden’ quadrant; this contains things that are known to only me, the stuff that I don’t reveal to anybody. All of us while writing in our blogs decide how much we want to share and what we don’t want others to know. Things that we might be ashamed of, things we might want others to never know about ourselves. This quadrant we share with very few if any and even then there are things that we keep only to ourselves. The process in which I shift things from this quadrant to the ‘Open’ quadrant is called Self-disclosure, the process of opening the window wider, which to many of us is a very scary process.

For me the most fascinating quadrant is the ‘Blind Spot’, because this is where others know things about me that I don’t know myself, thus the name, 'blind spot'. I might think I am very introverted or socially challenged or whatever but others might think the opposite. I might think I am not a very good listener or I am lazy but others may have a totally different opinion. This is the quadrant that made me realize that I am just too hard on myself. And since this is knowledge or information that we don’t know about ourselves it’s not something we are putting on as a show for others, its knowledge about ourselves that genuinely shocks us.

The last quadrant titled Unknown also called Grey Areas’ quite frankly doesn’t make any sense to me, as it is knowledge that I don’t have of myself and neither do you. Maybe this is the root of all our psychoses the secret behind our actions – the unconscious.

If you want to see an interactive model and practice it a partner check out this website interactive johari

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you're alive.

Lirun said...

i love those applied psych applied philosophy classes.. soo interesting..

Clezevra said...

that johari thing sounds really cool and interesting... but i was wondering, can't you actually work all that out for yourself.
i mean, i know others see me as an introvert whose bookish, but i know that's a limited picture and that i'm actually just interested in studying andi can't help it if my genes work in strange ways... but the post was really good and kept me captivated throughout.

Darren G. Miller said...

I was not familiar with the Johari Window. That is something I will now be researching. Thank you for that. Excellent post!

QUASAR9 said...

Hi Random,
sounds like you'll enjoy these links
Penelope Trunk Brazen Careerist
Modite dotcom Rebecca Thorman
and Damsells in Success

Jean-Luc Picard said...

This was a most engaging read. It'll go in my Quality Posts as I enjoyed it so much.

Anonymous said...

That was fascinating, Random. I'll have to check out the site.

I took a "personality test" at one of my former jobs. It was the one given to potential fighter pilots in the U.S. Airforce. It was uncannily accurate. One of the things it gaged was how well you operate under stress or duress. I was actually pleasantly surprised with my showing on that one. ...but not so with other areas.

I am in favor of anything we can do to become more self-aware. Even if we aren't happy to discover cerrtain traits, I think becoming conscious of them is half the battle toward evolving.

Blur Ting said...

Interesting post! I enjoyed reading it.

josie2shoes said...

Wow, this was fascinating, Amber! Makes perfect sense in an easy to understand format. I will have to check out the link. THANKS for sharing. You obviously paid attention in class! :-)

Unknown said...

Zakman: ...and kicking:)

Lirun: This was a great class we did so many crazy exercises it was crazy

CLEZEVRA VERDEZEL: You know you'll be really surprised try taking ten things about yourself in any questionnaire and then asking your friends to do the same - you'll see that they view you as slightly different. When people in my class said I was an extrovert I almost died of shock.

"Wolfgang": Neither was I and the blind spot thing really shook me - I have now decided to periodically reassess myself by asking other people to help me out even though they may think I'm self-centred to want to know, but it's shocking when there are things about yourself that you didn't know before someone pointed them out to you. Both good and bad

Quasar9: Thanks checking them out now.

Unknown said...

Jean-Luc Picard:
Thank you, I found it so fascinating I had to share

HollyGL:
I thinking knowing is winning half the battle. Because once you know all your strengths and weaknesses you have the upper hand.

Blur Ting:
Thank you so much.

Josie Two Shoes said...
The teacher had made the classes in such a format that all of us paid attention – plus it was like a course in self discovery. And its easiest to pay attention to one’s self. There were other things that were interesting- will share them too.

Tawnya Shields said...

I find these types of psych test very fascinating. The human mind is truly complex.

SOUL said...

THAT is very interesting. stuff really that we all probably already know, but to have it all laid out like that in a "proper format" is pretty cool.
of course, i've always wanted to be a shrink anyhow, maybe that's why. but oh well... i ended up on the opposite side of that desk.
see ya round.

Amel said...

VERY INTERESTING!!! THX for sharing. I've also had a few shocks in my life when realizing what my friends or some people think about me...and their opinions really balance me out sometimes.

Keep sharing all the good stuff!!! ;-D

Unknown said...

Titania Starlight:
Me too - I love doing all sorts of tests

SOUL:
I wanted to be a shrink as well, even went for admission didn't like the Dean so did Communications instead

Amel's Realm:
I did a test [5 trait personality test] and then after you grade yourself they send 10 questions to your friends and then they grade you. It's cool. I'll post about it in a day or two.

Amel said...

That'd be COOL. I can try that one out with my friends he he he...Looking forward to that one! ;-D

Unknown said...

A very interesting tool and I've been to these kinds of workshops at my last job. That company was very into these things. But many times they would just reveal that I was in transition mode.

As far as others see me, I don't think I want to know. LOL!

I'm glad it shed some light on things for you.

Dawn Drover said...

Very interesting. What a wonderful tool! I think it's so important to continue learning about who we really are... to ignore it we would be stagnant with no real growth. I'd like to try this tool out.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!
I was about to launch a search party!! Thank God you're safe! xx

I am fascinated by this Johari window and will peer through it, of course.
Given the nature of our psyches, I may not be able to see all, of course, but you shine a light on those dark spots.
x

Anonymous said...

Welcome back... and with a KICK ASS post to boot.

I too, am my own WORST enemy / critic.

I am really curious about the Johari Window, I will be checking that out.