It is necessary to improve self-awareness and personal development among individuals when they are in a group. The Johari window model is a convenient method used to achieve this task of understanding and enhancing communication between the members in a group.
Open/Public Arena relates to things known to myself and others. For example, a person’s height, eye color and occupation all fall under the open area. The more you know about yourself and the more you reveal to others, the larger your open arena. Communication is open, with minimal defensiveness.
The Blind Spot is the window showing things other people know about me, but which I don’t know about myself; it is sometimes called the “spinach in the tooth”; or “bad breath” window. Also included here may be such things as physical mannerisms and certain personality characteristics. (for example, a person who gets angry quite easily but sees him/herself as a calm individual.
The Façade or Hidden Area relates to things I know about myself, but other people don’t know, which means I wish to keep them hidden; this is the “skeleton in the closet” window. It has to do with our personal, private self, and includes our opinions, attitudes and biases. How much we keep hidden depends on how close we are to another person; we usually reveal more about ourselves to people we trust. Included in the façade window may be such things as previous bad school or work Experiences, unwanted personality traits, and negative reactions towards another person. A variation of the façade is the false façade. This relates to things I think are hidden from the other person but which really are not. For example, I may dislike another person, yet try to be nice; however, sees through my false façade and detects the underlying hostility.
The final window is called Unknown because it relates to things neither I nor the other person know about me – things which are usually hidden in the unconscious. We know the unconscious exists because we occasionally act out certain behaviors and have trouble tracing back the reasons for them.
Change in the blind and hidden areas is possible through revelation and feedback.
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