Given these modifications, allow us to present a first version of the New Johari Window – this model being two-dimensional like Luft and Ingham’s original Window.
Figure Two:
The New Johari Window [Two-Dimensional]
| KNOWN TO SELF
| UNKNOWN TO SELF | |
| KNOWN TO OTHERS | QUADRANT ONE OPEN SELF
| QUADRANT TWO OPAQUE SELF
|
| UNKNOWN TO OTHERS
| QUADRANT THREE PROTECTED SELF
| QUADRANT FOUR UNKNOWN SELF |
Multi-Dimensional Model
Hopefully, this two-dimensional model adds something to the Original Window; however, the New Johari Window moves beyond these two dimensions in the New Johari Window by introducing the dimension of internal world and external world. This enables us to move to a new metaphor regarding the New Johari Window: a storm window that comes complete with double panes. A storm window helps to separate the outside world from the inside. It offers a layer of air—a cushion or buffer—between the variable conditions of the external world (extreme temperatures, rain and snow, daylight and dark) and the less variable conditions of the internal world (thermostatically controlled temperature, no precipitation, controlled lighting).
The New Johari Window suggests that we similarly set up conditions in our interpersonal relationships so that we are buffered from the external realities of this interpersonal life. People with whom we interact profoundly influence us; yet we are not simply tossed like a leaf by the exigencies of these relationships. We have the capacity to interpret, distort, and even ignore the messages being delivered intentionally and unintentionally by another person. We also deliver messages to other people that come from both the window we present to the outside world and the window we create inside ourselves. Thus, the New Johari Window has double panes representing both the internal and external worlds in which we live.
