Few aspects of human behavior impact our interpersonal and group relationships more than communication. However, communication is often undermined by a lack of open information exchange among individuals. The Johari Window was developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram, ôàoriginally designed to explain and encourage interpersonal communication by making participants aware of how they perceive others and how others perceive them,ö (Sole, 1997, p. 481). The Johari Window is a model of communication that uses a four-level grid pertaining to information exchange between individuals. The Johari Window assesses the degree to which individuals ôboth receive and disseminate information,ö including the Arena (known by self and known by others information); the Blindspot (known by others but not the self); the Fatade (known by self but not by others); and, the Unknown (unknown to self or others), (Little, 2005, p. 4).
The use of the Johari Window for assessing communication personality is based on the concept that open, two-way communication improves interpersonal effectiveness and that when information is freely disseminated and mutually known good relationships are developed. The Johari Window provides feedback on a number of different dimensions of communication, such as the individualÆs willingness to risk seeking out more information from others or offering feedback to others. As Bhasin (1997, p. 49) suggests, ôàdeveloping good relationships depends upon taking the risks of asking for, receiving, and giving feedbackàthe more we are able to increase the number of known things available to others-and to ourselves-the more of us there will be for others (and ourselves) to relate to.ö For example, when we are offered feedback we are in a position to make our ôknownö information larger than our ôunknownö information, thereby increasing communication in ways that make us more successful in interpersonal and group relation...