Johari Window

What is the Johari Window?

The Johari Window is a model of interpersonal awareness developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955. It sorts information about a person by whether the person and other people know it.

The four Johari Window areas

• Open information is known to self and others.
• Hidden information is known to self but not others.
• Blind information is known to others but not self.
• Unknown information is known to neither.

These areas concern awareness in a relationship, not four fixed personality types.

Examples of the four areas

• Open: you and your colleagues know that you prefer written agendas.
• Hidden: you know you are nervous about presenting, but have not told the team.
• Blind: colleagues notice that you interrupt, while you have not recognized the pattern.
• Unknown: neither you nor your colleagues yet know how you would respond to an unfamiliar responsibility.

These are illustrations of what is known in a particular relationship. The same information can occupy a different area with a different person.

Original source

In his 1961 explanation, Luft describes the window as a heuristic for thinking about human relations. Self-disclosure and feedback can be represented as changes in what is shared or recognized.

Example: feedback in a team

A colleague says you often interrupt during meetings. If you had not noticed that pattern, the comment brings a possible blind spot into discussion. You can compare the feedback with specific meetings rather than automatically accepting or rejecting it.

Using the Johari Window

The diagram is not a measure of how much trust or self-knowledge a person possesses. It does not show that more disclosure is always appropriate or that a window exercise necessarily improves teamwork. Others’ feedback also needs interpretation; their perceptions are not automatically accurate.