Not your average meme

One of the more recent blog things going around (or, has it been around for ages?) is the do-it-yourself Johari window. This one interests me, because unlike the average quiz or questionnaire, this one has something of a psychological root.

According to Wikipedia, the Johari window is a parapsychological exercise which is designed to promote self-understanding through the mapping of self-descriptors. The participant assigns a small array of adjectives they feel describe themselves to a category called ‘Facade’; this is meant to represent things their peers wouldn’t necessarily know about themselves, but can be disclosed. Peers then select adjectives which they feel describe the participant – if they double up with adjectives the participant used, they are assigned to the ‘Arena’ category (known to self, known to others). If peers select descriptors the participant did not, they are said to represent ‘Blind Spots’. Finally, any adjectives not selected by either peers or the participant form the ‘Unknowns’ category. The four categories can then be mapped into a quadrant.

Johari windows have some obvious uses. They can be used to graphically map the kinds of things members of a group know about each other, which would be salient to the organisational domain – if forming a new task force or multidisciplinary team, for example, the ‘Arena’ quadrant will be very small, but is expected to expand as people learn more about others in their team. Because effective teamwork is facilitated by clear and honest communication, the mapping of the balance of exchanges can be a useful guide to representing the patterns of disclosure and feedback. On a more personal level, a Johari window might be useful for promoting awareness of how others might view you, and how much we reveal in interpersonal interactions.

But Johari windows ultimately sound a bit like the Myers-Briggs Indicator, in that they would be difficult to validate, and they rely on a relatively large degree of introspective ability (i.e. there are most likely behaviours and traits that you will not be able to identify accurately). At best, it probably represents a schema of orientation towards emotional and behavioural responses, rather than any accurate psychological profile. But you knew that, didn’t you?

You can check out my Johari window here, to see if it works.