MODULE 2: TECHNIQUES OF SELF AWARENESS

 SELF AWARENESS
How do we take all of the information we have about ourselves and employ it in our daily
life? Self-regulation refers to the ways in which people control and direct their own actions.
People have enormous quantities of information about themselves, including their personal
characteristics and desires and their conceptions of themselves in the future. They formulate
goals and pursue them, drawing on their social and self-regulatory skills.
Self-regulation is influenced by our direction of attention, specifically whether attention is
directed inward toward the self or outward towards the environment. Usually our attention is
focused outward toward the environment, but sometimes it is focused inward on ourselves.
Certain experiences in the world automatically focus attention inward, such as catching
sight of ourselves in the mirror, having our picture taken, or, more subtly, being evaluated by
others, or even simply being a minority in a group situation. We begin to think of ourselves not
as moving actors in the environment, but as objects of our own and others’ attention. This state is
called self-awareness.
In general, self-awareness leads people to evaluate their behavior against a standard and
to set an adjustment process in motion for meeting the standard.
Self-attention causes people to compare themselves to standards, such as those for
physical appearance, intellectual performance, athletic prowess, or moral integrity. We attempt
to conform to the standard, evaluate our behavior against that standard, decide that it either
matches the standard or does not, and continue adjusting and comparing until we meet the
standard or give up. This process is called “feedback”, & the theory is called the cybernetic
theory of self-regulation.
Self-awareness is often experienced as aversive, and so people strive to find ways to
reduce objective self-awareness, that is, to direct their attention away from themselves.
For example, at the end of a hard day, people often need to keep themselves from
focusing on personal issues and problems, and there are a variety of methods to do so.
Television, for example, seems to effectively direct attention away from the self and
consequently makes people less aware of how they are falling short of their standards.

 TECHNIQUE OF SELF-AWARENESS

JOHARI WINDOW –
The Johari Window model is a simple and useful tool for illustrating and improving self-
awareness, and mutual understanding between individuals within a group. The Johari Window
model can also be used to assess and improve a group’s relationship with other groups.
The Johari Window model was devised by American psychologists Joseph Luft and
Harrington Ingham in 1955, while researching group dynamics at the University of California
Los Angeles.
The Johari Window is a technique used to help people better understand their relationship
with themselves and others.
It is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a heuristic exercise. Luft
and Ingham called their Johari Window model ‘Johari’ after combining their first names, Jo &
Hari.
The Johari Window model is also referred to as a ‘disclosure/feedback model of self
awareness’, and by some people an ‘information processing tool’. The Johari Window actually
represents information – feelings, experience, views, attitudes, skills, intentions, motivation, etc.
– within or about a person – in relation to their group, from 4 perspectives, which are described
below.
The 4 Johari Window perspectives are called ‘regions’ or ‘areas’ or ‘quadrants’. Each of
these regions contains and represents the information – feelings, motivation, etc. – known about
the person, in terms of whether the information is known or unknown by the person, and whether
the information is known or unknown by others in the group.
The Johari Window’s 4 regions, (areas, quadrants, or perspectives) are as follows,
showing the quadrant numbers and commonly used names:
Johari Window four regions –
1. What is known by the person about him/herself and is also known by others – open area,
open self, free area, free self, or the arena.
2. What is unknown by the person about him/herself but which others know – blind area,
blind self, or blindspot.
3. What the person knows about him/herself that others do not know – hidden area, hidden
self, avoided area, avoided self or façade.
4. What is unknown by the person about him/herself and is also unknown by others –
unknown area or unknown self.

The Johari Window is based on a 4-square grid – the Johari Window is like a window
with 4 panes.

1. Open/free area 2. Blind area

3. Hidden area 4. Unknown area

This is the standard representation of the Johari Window model, showing each quadrant
the same size.
The Johari Window ‘panes’ can be changed in size to reflect the relevant proportions of
each type of knowledge of/about a particular person in a given group or team situation.

Johari quadrant 1 – The aim in any group should always be to develop the ‘open area’
for every person, because when we work in this area with others we are at our most effective and
productive and the group is at its most productive too. The open free area, or ‘the arena’, can be
seen as the space where good communications and cooperation occur, free from distractions,
mistrust, confusion, conflict and misunderstanding.
Established team members logically tend to have larger open areas than new team
members. New team members start with relatively small open areas because relatively little
knowledge about the new team member is shared. The size of the open area can be expanded
horizontally into the blind space, by seeking and actively listening to feedback from other group
members. The process is known as ‘feedback solicitation’. Also, other group members can help a
team member expand their open area by offering feedback, sensitively of course. The size of the
open area can also be expanded vertically downwards into the hidden or avoided space by the
person’s disclosure of information, feelings, etc. about him/herself to the group and group
members. Also, group members can help a person expand their own area into the hidden area by
asking the person about him/herself. Managers and team leaders can play an important role in
facilitating feedback and disclosure among group members, and in directly giving feedback to
individuals about their own blind areas.

Johari quadrant 2 – By seeking or soliciting feedback from others, the aim should be to
reduce this area and thereby to increase the open area, i.e. to increase self-awareness.
This blind area is not an effective or productive space for individuals or groups. This
blind area could also be referred to as ignorance about oneself, or issues in which one is deluded
(see feedback process as explained in Johari Quadrant 1). Some people are more resilient than
others. Care needs to be taken to avoid causing emotional upset.

Johari quadrant 3 – The hidden/avoided self represents information, feelings, etc.

anything that a person knows about him/herself, but which is not revealed or is kept hidden from
others.
The hidden area could also include sensitivities, fears, hidden agendas, manipulative
intentions, and secrets – anything that a person knows but does not reveal, for whatever reason.
It’s natural for very personal and private information and feelings to remain hidden, indeed,
certain information, feelings and experiences have no bearing on work, and so can and should
remain hidden. However, typically, a lot of hidden information is not very personal, it is work or
performance related, and so is better positioned in the open area. Relevant hidden information
and feelings, etc. should be moved into the open area through the process of ‘disclosure’. The
aim should be to disclose and expose relevant information and feelings. Hence, the Johari
Window terminology ‘self disclosure’ and ‘exposure process’, thereby increasing the open area.

Johari quadrant 4 – The unknown issues take a variety of forms: they can be feelings,
behaviors, attitudes, capabilities, aptitudes, which can be quite close to the surface, and which
can be positive and useful, or they can be deeper aspects of a person’s personality, influencing
his/her behavior to various degrees. Large unknown area would typically be expected in younger
people, and people who lack experience or self-belief.
Examples of unknown factors area as follows and the first example is particularly
relevant and common, especially in typical organizations and teams:
 An ability that is under-estimated or un-tried through lack of opportunity,
encouragement, confidence, or training.
 A natural ability or aptitude that a person doesn’t realize they possess.
 A fear or aversion that a person does not know they have.
 An unknown illness.
 Repressed or subconscious feelings.
 Conditioned behavior or attitudes from childhood.

The process by which this information and knowledge can be uncovered are various, and
can be prompted through self-discovery or observation by others, or in certain situations through
collective or mutual discovery, of the sort of discovery experienced or outward bound courses or
other deep or intensive group work. Counseling can also uncover unknown issues, but this would
then be known to the person and by one other, rather than by a group.

 STAGES OF UNDERSTANDING SELF

1. Self Awareness
2. Self Acceptance
3. Self Realization

1. Self Awareness:
As explained above.

2. Self Acceptance:
Self acceptance is an individual’s satisfaction or happiness with oneself and is thought to
be necessary for good mental health. Self acceptance involves self-understanding, a realistic,
albeit subjective, awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses. It results in an individual’s
feeling about oneself that they are of “unique worth”.
Self-acceptance is considered the prerequisite for change to occur. It can be achieved by
stopping criticizing and solving the defects of one’s self and then accepting them to be existing
within one’s self. That is, tolerating oneself to be imperfect in some parts.

3. Self Realization:
It is defined as the “fulfillment by oneself of the possibilities of one’s character or
personality”.
Self realization is regarded as freedom from external coercion, including cultural
expectations, political and economic freedom, and the freedom from worldly attachments and
desires, etc.
It is also defined as the act of achieving the full development of your abilities and talents.
Self-realization is a scientific process which reveals a new vision and understanding so
that you have:
 Freedom from worries and fear
 Scientific solutions to inner and external conflicts
 Smoother relationships
 Inner peace
 Equanimity amid any circumstances
 Eternal happiness
 Experience of your true eternal self
 Experience the depths of spirituality while fulfilling your worldly responsibilities

Have you stopped to wonder, what the goal of human life might be? While each day
contains unique quests for happiness, any happiness we do attain remains with us only
temporarily. Then, after each phase of happiness passes, have you noticed that only an
underlying dissatisfaction remains inside? This dissatisfaction prompts the next quest for
happiness which again is, by nature, temporary. And so the cycle continues. Aware of this, you
may question whether permanent happiness even exists; and if it did, how could it be attained?
 The answer is yes, it does exist. Permanent happiness is the goal of human life and is
experienced continuously upon attaining self realization.
But what exactly is self realization? It is to know and experience directly who you really
are! By discovering the real eternal nature of “Who am I”, true permanent happiness is attained.
When asked “Who are you”, most people will answer “I am William”. But this name is
only a title given to identify your body, just as store names such as Wal-Mart & Tesco are given
simply to specify the store’s presence. In reality, “You” are the owner of your name and not the
name itself. If this were not true, how could your name be changed countless times even while
“You” remain the same inside?
Before self realization, it is natural to identify with your name and with the countless
temporary qualities that are believed to be “You”. But who “You” really are is beyond all of
these temporary identifications, for “You” are eternal and permanent happiness itself. Self
realization is to experience the nature of your very own self, from that vantage point, to
understand the non-self known as “William”.