Johari Knows You

Lots of people have been posting this around the 'net for the last week or so and since it comes with handy-dandy HTML, why shouldn't I? Click here to contribute. Commentary to follow:

Arena (known to self and others) observant, patient, reflective	Blind Spot (known only to others) accepting, calm, caring, cheerful, complex, confident, dependable, friendly, happy, idealistic, intelligent, kind, logical, quiet, relaxed, searching, self-conscious, sensible, trustworthy, warm, witty
Façade (known only to self) giving, helpful, shy	Unknown (known to nobody) able, adaptable, bold, brave, clever, dignified, energetic, extroverted, independent, ingenious, introverted, knowledgeable, loving, mature, modest, nervous, organised, powerful, proud, religious, responsive, self-assertive, sentimental, silly, spontaneous, sympathetic, tense, wise

All Percentages

able (0%) accepting (14%) adaptable (0%) bold (0%) brave (0%) calm (28%) caring (28%) cheerful (28%) clever (0%) complex (28%) confident (14%) dependable (28%) dignified (0%) energetic (0%) extroverted (0%) friendly (42%) giving (0%) happy (14%) helpful (0%) idealistic (14%) independent (0%) ingenious (0%) intelligent (42%) introverted (0%) kind (14%) knowledgeable (0%) logical (14%) loving (0%) mature (0%) modest (0%) nervous (0%) observant (14%) organised (0%) patient (42%) powerful (0%) proud (0%) quiet (14%) reflective (28%) relaxed (14%) religious (0%) responsive (0%) searching (28%) self-assertive (0%) self-conscious (14%) sensible (14%) sentimental (0%) shy (0%) silly (0%) spontaneous (0%) sympathetic (0%) tense (0%) trustworthy (14%) warm (14%) wise (0%) witty (42%)

Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 20.2.2006, using data from 7 respondents.
You can make your own Johari Window, or view kardinalsin's full data.

What's interesting to note is how this delineates self-perception and how other's perceive you. Myself, I think it's fairly accurate. What's missing, however, are the negative ways in which we see ourselves. Perhaps some of these words we use in this survey have negative connotations? Self-conscious, shy, modest; do some people see these aspects as weakness?

Personally, I find it intriguing, especially in this day and age when we are apt to publish our most personal thoughts for all to see. There was another survey I saw recently which asked the question, "Do you keep a journal?" Are blogs really journals? They have become so much more than that, especially in recent light. Perhaps that is why this test is tailored to those with blogs. I tend to think that the perception of people can be somewhat biased based on their interaction with you. Are there people you only talk to online? Are there people you see on a regular basis? Are there people whose only interaction with you is to read that which you post? In that sense, the sample size definitely has something to do with it.

Although I know there are probably people with at least 30 responses to a Johari window, I'm happy only having a small group of people doing this survey. That begs the question, is it better to have a small group of close friends or a large group of acquaintances? How large will a social circle grow until people stop really getting to know one another? I expect this will lead into another post about something else tomorrow, but for now, I like to think of this as a grand social experiment in which there is little total control.

So I suppose we go along with our lives in the knowledge we're living that which we are happy with. The most I can say is, it's best to just be yourself and not worry about "fixing" yourself. Being happy with who you are really is the best medicine and maybe this test is a validation of that for some people.