Page 48 - Essentials of Human Communication

The Self in Human Communication 27

as a lie (rather than as, say, a polite way of avoiding an issue), you will probably eval- Communication
uate this behavior in terms of your internalized beliefs about lying and will react Choice point
negatively to your own behavior. You may, for example, experience guilt about vio- understanding
lating your own beliefs. On the other hand, let’s say that you pull someone out of a rejection
burning building at great personal risk. You will probably evaluate this behavior You’ve asked several different
positively; you’ll feel good about your behavior and, as a result, about yourself. people at school for a date, but so far all
you’ve received have been rejections. Some-
thing’s wrong; you’re not that bad. What are
Self-AwAreneSS some of the things you can do to gain insight
Self-awareness is basic to all communication and is achieved when you examine into the possible reasons for these rejections?
several aspects of yourself as they might appear to others as well as to you. One com- From whom might you seek suggestions?
monly used tool for this examination is the Johari window, a metaphoric division of
the self into four areas, as shown in Figure 2.2 (a).

Your four Selves The four areas or “panes” in the Johari window show different aspects
or versions of the self: the open self, blind self, hidden self, and unknown self. These areas are
not separate from one another: they are interdependent. As one dominates, the others recede
to a greater or lesser degree; or, to stay with our metaphor, as one windowpane becomes
larger, one or more others become smaller.

Known to Self Not Known to Self
Open Self Blind Self
Known to Others Information about Information about yourself
that you don’t know but
yourself that you and
others know
that others do know
Unknown Self
Not Known to Others Information about yourself Information about yourself
Hidden Self
that neither you nor others
that you know but others
know
don’t know
(a)

Open Self Blind Self Open Self
Information about Information about Information
yourself that you yourself that you don’t about Blind Self
and others know know but that others yourself that Information about
do know you and yourself that you don’t
others know know but that others
do know
Hidden Self Unknown Self
Information about Information Hidden Self
yourself that you know about yourself Information Unknown Self
but others don’t know that neither about yourself that Information about
you nor others you know but yourself that neither
know others don’t know you nor others know
(b)
fIgure 2.2
the Johari window
The top window (a) presents a commonly used tool for examining what we know and don’t know about our-
selves. It can also help explain the nature of self-disclosure, covered later in this chapter. The window gets its
name from its originators, Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham.
The two windows at the bottom (b) illustrate Johari windows of different structures. Notice that as one self
grows, one or more of the other selves shrink. How would you describe the type of communication (especially
self-disclosure) that might characterize the two people represented by these two windows.
Source: Joseph Luft, Group Process: An Introduction to Group Dynamics, 3rd ed. Copyright © 1984. New York: McGraw-Hill. Reprinted by permission.