Johari Windows Testing

Interestingly, Luft and Ingham called their Johari Window model 'Johari' after combining their first names, Joe and Harry. In early publications the word actually appears as 'JoHari'. The Johari Window soon became a widely used model for understanding and training self-awareness, personal development, improving communications, interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, team development and inter-group relationships.

The Johari Window model is also referred to as a 'disclosure/feedback model of self awareness', and by some people an 'information processing tool'. The Johari Window actually represents information - feelings, experience, views, attitudes, skills, intentions, motivation, etc - within or about a person - in relation to their group, from four perspectives, which are described below. The Johari Window model can also be used to represent the same information for a group in relation to other groups. Johari Window terminology refers to 'self' and 'others': 'self' means oneself, ie, the person subject to the Johari Window analysis. 'Others' means other people in the person's group or team.

N.B. When the Johari Window model is used to assess and develop groups in relation to other groups, the 'self' would be the group, and 'others' would be other groups. However, for ease of explanation and understanding of the Johari Window and examples in this article, think of the model applying to an individual within a group, rather than a group relating to other groups.

The four Johari Window perspectives are called 'regions' or 'areas' or 'quadrants'. Each of these regions contains and represents the information - feelings, motivation, etc - known about the person, in terms of whether the information is known or unknown by the person, and whether the information is known or unknown by others in the group.

The Johari Window's four regions, (areas, quadrants, or perspectives) are as follows, showing the quadrant numbers and commonly used names:

johari window four regions

what is known by the person about him/herself and is also known by others - open area, open self, free area, free self, or 'the arena'

what is unknown by the person about him/herself but which others know - blind area, blind self, or 'blindspot'

what the person knows about him/herself that others do not know - hidden area, hidden self, avoided area, avoided self or 'facade'

what is unknown by the person about him/herself and is also unknown by others - unknown area or unknown self

johari window four regions - model diagram

Like some other behavioural models (eg, Tuckman, Hersey/Blanchard), the Johari Window is based on a four-square grid - the Johari Window is like a window with four 'panes'. Here's how the Johari Window is normally shown, with its four regions.

This is the standard representation of the Johari Window model, showing each quadrant the same size.

The Johari Window 'panes' can be changed in size to reflect the relevant proportions of each type of 'knowledge' of/about a particular person in a given group or team situation.

In new groups or teams the open free space for any team member is small (see the Johari Window new team member example below) because shared awareness is relatively small.

As the team member becomes better established and known, so the size of the team member's open free area quadrant increases. See the Johari Window established team member example below.

johari window model - explanation of the four regions

Refer to the free detailed Johari Window model diagram in the free resources section - print a copy and it will help you to understand what follows.

johari quadrant 1 - 'open self/area' or 'free area' or 'public area', or 'arena'

Johari region 1 is also known as the 'area of free activity'. This is the information about the person - behaviour, attitude, feelings, emotion, knowledge, experience, skills, views, etc - known by the person ('the self') and known by the group ('others').

The aim