The New Johari Window
While the original Johari Window offers wisdom regarding human relationships that still holds true, I have modified and expanded on this Window in several ways, suggesting that wisdom contained in the original model can be expanded through additional analysis. First, I have sought to create an expanded model that is responsive to the profound shifts that are now occurring in 21st Century societies. Along with many other social analysts, I suggested in a book I wrote more than two decades ago that we are moving into what might best be called a postmodern society. This shift from a modern to postmodern social system holds many implications for interpersonal relationships. In the new Johari Window model I spin out some of these implications.
Second, there are important analyses and studies regarding interpersonal relationships that were offered or conducted after Luft presented his initial model. I believe it is important to incorporate these findings in the Johari model, if this model is to be truly integrative.
Third, I believe that the Johari Window will be more fully integrative if it also incorporates other major interpersonal models that fully compliment the ideas presented by Joe Luft. Some of these alternative interpersonal models can be traced back to sources from early in the 20th Century, while other models have been offered since the initial introduction of the Johari Window. I will first provide a summary description of the new model and then offer a brief exposition regarding the rationale for these expansions of the model. A more extended exposition will be presented throughout the remaining essays in this series.
