Awareness of Self-Disclosure: The Johari Window Model Another way to illustrate

Awareness of Self-Disclosure: The Johari Window Model
Another way to illustrate how self-disclosure operates in communication
is to look at a model called the Johari Window, developed by Joseph Luft
and Harry Ingham (Janas, 2001; Luft, 1969).
Imagine a frame that contains everything there is to know about you:
your likes and dislikes, your goals, your secrets, your needs- everything.
This frame could be divided into information you know about yourself and
things you don’t know. It could also be split into things others know about
you and things they don’t know. Figure 4.3 reflects these divisions.
Part I represents the information of which both you and the other person
are aware. This part is your open area. Part 2 represents the blind area: in-
formation of which you are unaware but that the other person knows. You
learn about information in the blind area primarily through feedback from
others. Part 3 of the Johari Window represents your hidden area: informa-
tion that you know but aren’t willing to reveal to others. Items in this hidden
area become public primarily through self-disclosure, which is the focus of
this section. Part 4 of the Johari Window represents information that is un-
known to both you and others. You can deduce its existence because vou are
constantly discovering new things about yourself.
For example, it’s not unusual to discover that you
have an unrecognized talent, strength, or weakness.
Items move from the unknown area into the open
area when you share your insight, or into the hidden
area, where it becomes a secret.
The relative size of each area in your personal
Johari Windows changes from time to time ac-
cording to your moods, the subject you’re dis-
cussing, and your relationship with the other
person. Despite these changes, a single Johari
Window could represent most people’s overall
FIGURE 4.3 Johari Window
style of disclosure.
**You can just use made up characters for this**