What area of the Johari Window includes characteristics that you know about yourself but that you choose not to disclose to others?

One of the great advantages of undergoing a 360 degree feedback evaluation is that it increases self-awareness. The feedback allows the individual to discover strengths, weaknesses and blind spots (behaviors and actions that they exhibit but are not aware of). Uncovering blind spots is key for continuous improvement and enables the employee to focus on developing skills in overlooked areas.

A useful technique for discovering blind spots is the Johari Window. Created in 1955 by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, the model is used to help individuals better understand themselves and how they are perceived by others. The window consists of four segments (or panes) of human interaction: open, hidden, blind and unknown. All of the elements together provide a comprehensive view of the individual. Using the Johari Window in a 360 degree feedback evaluation will enable the discovery of strengths, areas for improvement, blind spots and differences in perception.

Four panes of the Johari Window:

  1. Open:

    The first pane in the window is referred to as ‘open’ or ‘arena’. This quadrant represents the actions, behaviors and information that are known to the individual and those around them. This information is public and made available through communication and exchanges between the individual and others. This includes information, facts, skills and attitudes – anything that is public knowledge.

  2. Blind:

    The second quadrant is referred to as ‘blind’ or ‘blind spot’. Information in this area is particularly useful in 360 reviews for personal and professional development. Actions and behaviors in the blind area are known to others, but the individual is not aware of them. The information in the blind spot can be positive or negative and include hidden strengths or areas for improvement. The blind spots that are discovered in a 360 evaluation give great insight into how others perceive the individual, which forms the starting point for development.

  3. Hidden:

    The third pane is referred to as ‘hidden’ or ‘facade’. This information is known to the individual, but not known to anyone else. This may consist of private information, which the individual chooses to keep hidden. Feelings, ambitions, dreams and opinions may be withheld from the group by the individual out of fear of negative reaction. Once the individual trusts others they may choose to reveal some of their hidden information.

  4. Unknown:

    The last window of information is referred to as simply ‘unknown’. This includes information, skills, behaviors, etc. that are unknown to the individual and to others. This includes subconscious information that no one is aware of such as early childhood memories, undiscovered talents, etc.

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Johari window – How to understand your personality?

Johari window – How to understand your personality?

  • Origins
  • The model
    • Arena
    • Blind Spot
    • Façade
    • Unknown
  • Applications
  • Advantages
  • Disadvantages

Idea in short

The Johari window  method (JW) from Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham (hence: Joseph & Harry = Johari) helps us understand how we are giving and receiving information. The Johari window can help to illustrate and improve the self-awareness between individuals and teams. It can also be used to change group dynamics within a business context.

Origins

The Johari window model was developed by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in the 1950s, while they were researching group dynamics. Today the Johari window model is especially relevant because of the modern emphasis on soft skills, behavior, empathy, cooperation, inter-group development and interpersonal development.

Interestingly, Luft and Ingham called their Johari window  model Johari after combining their first names, Joseph and Harrington. In early publications the word actually appears as JoHari. The Johari window became a widely used model to understand and train self-awareness, for personal development, to improve communications, interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, team development and inter-group relationships.

What area of the Johari Window includes characteristics that you know about yourself but that you choose not to disclose to others?

The model

Johari window model is sometimes called: a disclosure / feedback model of self awareness. Basically, Johari window is an information processing tool. It helps enhance individual’s perception on others. This model is based on two ideas that you can:

  1. Acquire trust by revealing information about yourself to others, and
  2. Learn more about yourself from their feedback

Johari window represents such information as feelings, experience, views, attitudes, skills, intentions, motivation, etc. from four perspectives.

These perspectives capture assessments pertaining to a person or about that person’s relation to their group:

Arena

What the person knows about him / herself and others. Examples include the person‘s name, hair / eye color, etc. This is the main area where most communications occur. The larger the arena, the more effectual and dynamic the relationships are. Feedback solicitation helps extend the arena horizontally and decrease the blind spot. You can also extend the arena vertically by revealing one’s feelings to other person and reducing the hidden / unknown areas.

Blind Spot

What is unknown to the person, but that others know. Examples include the person’s manners, observable habits, feelings of other persons about the person, etc. Others may interpret your actions differently than you expect them to. Seeking feedback from others helps reduce the blind spot.

Façade

What the person knows about him / herself, but that others don‘t know. Examples include the person’s secrets, hopes, desires, likes and dislikes, etc. These are any personal information that you are reluctant to reveal. You want to keep such information private as it may affect your relationships. You may decrease this hidden area by revealing such information at your discretion.

Unknown

What neither the person, nor others know about the person. This information has an unknown potential to influence the rest of the Johari window. The person will be unaware till he / she discovers the hidden qualities and capabilities or through others’ observations. Open communication is also effective to decrease the unknown area and communicate effectively.

In the beginning of a communication process, when you meet someone, the size of the Arena quadrant is not very large. This is because there has been little time and opportunity to exchange information. The general rule of thumb is that you should try to expand the Arena to become the dominant window, thus demonstrating transparency, openness and honesty in interactions. When you do this, the other party will also probably open up.

Applications

The Johari window is generally used for teaching and considering and administering an understanding how individuals:

  1. Communicate with themselves and with others
  2. Present themselves to themselves and to others
  3. Perceive their place in the world

With a little consideration, Johari is also suitable for multiple usage as a:

  1. Coaching tool to to facilitate conversations around actions vs. perceived motivations
  2. Organizational Development tool to visualize the political and cultural issues that may be in or out of sync within a business
  3. Management tool to demonstrate team dynamics
  4. Self-development tool that helps to consider one’s own behavior vs. reaction

Advantages

  1. Easy to grasp, flexible outcomes
  2. The method catalyses open information sharing
  3. The method will create a shared reference point

Disadvantages

  1. Some people may pass on the information they received further than you desire
  2. People prefer not communicating some information (g. sexual preference, mental / health issues, significant failures)
  3. Some people may react negatively

Summary

Using the Johari window is useless if you don’t link it to activities that reinforce positive behavior or correct negative behaviors. In reality, Joharis work as any other feedback tool. Individuals that engage in this process should create further development plans and action items for this exercise to be beneficial.

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Think Insights (December 14, 2022) Johari window – How to understand your personality?. Retrieved from https://thinkinsights.net/leadership/johari-window/.

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What area of the Johari Window includes characteristics that you know about yourself but that you choose not to disclose to others?

I am Mithun Sridharan, Founder & Author of Think Insights and INTRVU. I am a Global Industry Advisor at a leading cloud technology company, where I advise CxOs & Executives at global corporations on their strategic initiatives. Previously, I served on leadership and executive roles at global Management Consulting & technology firms, such as KPMG, Sapient Consulting, Oracle, and EADS. My insights on this website are based on my 1st-hand client engagement experiences across Capital Markets, Automotive and Hi-tech verticals. Please feel free connect with me on LinkedIn.

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Which part of the Johari Window describes characteristics that are known to the self but not to others?

Johari Window Quadrant 3: Hidden Area or Hidden Self Here, the information is known to you but the others are unknown to this information. The reason for this may be the information might be personal to you so that you are reluctant to share it with others. This includes secrets, past experiences, feelings, etc.

Which area in Johari Window that describes the information about yourself that others know but you are unaware of it?

Blind self or blind spot – Information about yourselves that others know in a group but you will be unaware of it. Others may interpret yourselves differently than you expect. The blind spot is reduced for an efficient communication through seeking feedback from others. 3.

Which area of the Johari Window includes characteristics that others recognize in the individual but of which the individual is unaware?

Blind: The second quadrant is referred to as 'blind' or 'blind spot'. Information in this area is particularly useful in 360 reviews for personal and professional development. Actions and behaviors in the blind area are known to others, but the individual is not aware of them.

What area of the Johari Window includes characteristics that you know about yourself but that you choose not to disclose to others quizlet?

The blind self of the Johari window contains all that you know of yourself but that you keep to yourself. To each person who knows you, you are a somewhat different person. You just studied 129 terms!