Chapter 3

Johari Window

Part 1 represents the information of which both you and the other person are aware. This part is your open area. Part 2 represents the blind area: information of which you are unaware but that the other person knows. You learn about information in the blind area primarily through feedback from Known to others Not known to others Johari Window others. Part 3 of the Johari Window represents your hidden area: information that you know but aren't willing to reveal to others. Items in this hidden area become public primarily through self-disclosure, which is the focus of this section. Part 4 of the Johari Window represents information that is unknown to both you and to others. We can deduce its existence because we are constantly discovering new things about ourselves. For example, it is not unusual to discover that you have an unrecognized talent, strength, or weakness. Items move from the unknown area into the open area when you share your insight, or into the hidden area, where it becomes a secret.

Catharsis

Sometimes you might disclose information in an effort to "get it off your chest."

Reflected appraisal

a mirroring of others' judgments

Benevolent lie

are defined (at least by the people who tell them) as not being malicious—and perhaps they are even helpful to the person to whom they are told

Manner

consists of a communicator's words and nonverbal actions

Social comparison

evaluating ourselves in comparison with others

Presenting self

is a public image -the way we want to appear to others

Self-esteem

is the part of the self-concept that involves evaluations of self-worth. Your self-concept might include being quiet, argumentative, or serious. How you feel about these qualities determines your self-esteem

Perceived self

is the person you believe yourself to be in moments of honest self-examination

Lie

lie is a deliberate attempt to hide or misrepresent the truth

Self-fulfilling prophecy

occurs when a person's expectations of an event, and her or his subsequent behavior based on those expectations, make the outcome more likely to occur

Reference groups

others against whom we evaluate our own characteristics

Setting

physical items we use to influence how others view us

Equivocation

statements that are not literally false but cleverly avoid an unpleasant truth

Impression management

the communication strategies people use to influence how others view them

Appearance

the personal items people use to shape an image

Self-concept

the relatively stable set of perceptions you hold of yourself

Significant other

to describe a person whose evaluations are especially influential

Privacy management

to describe the choices people make to reveal or conceal information about themselves

Facework

to describe the verbal and nonverbal ways in which we act to maintain our own presenting image and the images of others

Face

to describe this socially approved identity

Social penetration model

which describes relationships in terms of breadth and depth of self-disclosure

Self-disclosure

(1) has the self as subject, (2) is intentional, (3) is directed at another person, (4) is honest, (5) is revealing, (6) contains information generally unavailable from other sources, and (7) gains much of its intimate nature from the context in which it is expressed