Joe Luft and Harry Ingham developed the Johari Windows concept. This concept is a way of looking at our self-awareness and our ability to ask feedback of others.

The window illustrates their point that there are certain things you know about yourself and certain things that you don’t know. Similarly, there are certain things others know about you (that you may or may not know) and there are certain things they don’t know. They make the assumption that it takes energy to hide information from yourself and others, and that the more information is known, the better and clearer communication will be.

Building a relationship often involves working to expand your open/free or “known to self and others” window, while decreasing your blind and hidden areas.

As you become more willing to self-disclose, you reduce your hidden area, and give other people more information to react to, thus reducing your blind area. As you encourage others to self-disclose to you, your blind area is further reduced. As you reduce your blind area, you increase self-awareness. This helps you to be even more self-disclosing with others.