What is Johari Window?
Johari Window is a concept created by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham to help with the development of relationship and mutual understanding within group members. The johari window consists of 4 quadrant :
Open
Adjectives selected by the subject and peers. These are traits that subject and peers perceive.
Blind
Adjectives not selected by subjects, but only by their peers go here. These represent what others perceive but the subject does not.
Hidden
Adjectives selected by the subject, but not by any of their peers, go in this quadrant. These are things the peers are either unaware of
Unknown
Adjectives that neither subject nor peers selected go here. They represent subject’s behaviors or motives that no one participating recognizes—either because they do not apply or because of collective ignorance of these traits.
Participants can use the follow adjectives as possible descriptions in the Johari Window.
Is Johari Window accurate?
In order to get an answer for this question, I asked one of my closest friend who I have known for about 18 years to help me fill up the empty template. Since we have known each other for so long, the result should be accurate. After receiving the completed template from him, I can conclude that the model is accurate only to a large extent but not entirely accurate, as I feel that I have more hidden attributes that I do not display often.
I asked one of my friend who I met during class in my first semester to fill up the template as well, just to find out whether if the Johari Window is accurate even for friends or acquaintances with little time together. From the result, most of the adjectives are either written in the hidden or unknown quadrant. This shows that without spending time together, it is hard to grasp an accurate personality of another person. I also act differently in front of strangers so Johari Window is not very accurate.
Am I surprised by the results?
I am not surprised by the results with my long-timed friend as we have spent so much time together, i am pretty sure that he would know my traits very well. I am also not surprised by the results of the recent friend as we are not able to spend much time together, therefore the results should be very inaccurate. Different people have different perceptions and definition of traits, as well as time spent together would make a huge difference in the result.
Is the result useful for self-awareness and communication in a team?
Johari window helps people to understand themselves as well as understanding about what other people think about them. The results could be useful in understanding strengths and weakness of a personnel and changes could be made for the better. However, Johari window is only effective when the personnel involved have known each other for a long time or are very close friends. Johari window could only serve as a guideline but more interactions would be the real solutions for communications in a team.
Reference
Communication Theory. (2020). The Johari Window Model. [online] Available at: https://www.communicationtheory.org/the-johari-window-model/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2020].
zhi qiang 
Hi Zhi Qiang,
Nice explanation on the Johari Window. You broke down it step by step and explained what the model does. You wrote what it is, what it contains and did an experiment on yourself with two of your friends. It is true that the person who know us longer could describe us better than the ones whom we have not yet familiar with as much. I also agree with you when you said that it only serves as a guideline. As a friend whom I met in Uni, I was kind of leaning towards the second model as well.
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Hi Zhi Qiang,
Good job on explaining the Johari’s Window in a way that we can understand clearly. The Johari Window is a table that show how one view oneself and other view him as in term of personality. I agree with you that people who just met, they might not know you well. However, I disagree Johari Windows is only effective when the personnel involved have known each other for a long time or are very close friends. The Johari Window can allow me to know how others view about me and how I could improve on in places that I may be “lacking” Or enable me to know what characteristics I would want to present when interacting with others in the future.
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Hi Zhi Qiang! First of all, I really enjoyed reading your post! You gave me a very clear understanding of what Johari Window is in a concise and easy to absorb manner. I liked how you made a comparison between an extremely long time friend vs someone you just met in University, it really proved your point in concluding that the Johari Window is flawed in that manner. I also do agree how the each individual acts differently depending on their social group/environment, which is extremely hard to pin down how someone is like. Like you said about it being served as a guideline, I do believe maybe the Johari Window might be more useful in a professional setting, where the objective is more streamlined in getting the project/work done. It was a great read, and I do look forward to your next post! Cheers!
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Hey Zhi Qiang, Great layout for the post, everything looks very neat and clean. The flow of the post is also good makes the post very easy to read, However, I think that some areas could use a little touch-up. As the background color of your blog is white, you could perhaps, use more colors in the post, for example, a different color for the headers and maybe consider having borders for your pictures. Maybe you could liven things up with illustrations and more pictures related to Johari window or even gifs that show your expression on how much you’re not surprised. Great post and keep up the good work!
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