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CHAPTER 3
Self-Awareness and Self-Disclosure
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
2. Explain how awareness-related barriers impact human relations.
4. Define self-disclosure.
6. Understand the five major levels of communication as they relate to disclosure.
8. Explain the risk factor of disclosure.
Key Terms
Blind pane: The pane in the Johari Window that contains everything other people can
see about you, but you can’t see about yourself.
Cliché conversation: The level of communication with the least amount of self-
disclosure, including niceties such as “Have a nice day.”
Gut-level communication: Level of communication in which feelings are expressed
honestly.
Johari Window: A composite of four panes that shows you ways of relating to others:
the open, blind, hidden, and unknown.
Nonconversation: A way to describe the amount of actual conversation in cliché
conversation.
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Open pane: The pane in the Johari Window that contains information that you know
about yourself and that you have no reason to hide.
Peak communication: Communication characterized by complete openness and honest
self-disclosure. It happens rarely.
Repress: To block off memories that may cause pain, embarrassment, or guilt.
Self-awareness: The ability to see yourself realistically, without a great deal of
difference between what you are and how you assume others see you.
Lecture Outline
I. What is Self-Awareness?
Self-awareness and self-disclosure are two of the most important elements in human
II. Awareness-Related Barriers to Effective Human Relations
Many people spend much of their lives building walls. In other words, they develop traits
such as secrecy, dishonesty, or other defenses to prevent people from determining their
true thoughts and motives. These people often believe that if these walls are not there,
catastrophes such as rejection and loneliness will result. Also, once the walls are in place,
the people who built them often forget they are there and wonder why others often
misunderstand them.
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III. The Johari Window
Everyone shares four ways of relating to others: the open (or public) side, the blind side,
the hidden side, and the unknown side. These are illustrated by the panes in the Johari
Window (Figures 3.1 and 3.2). These separate responses deal with two factors: people’s
understanding of themselves and the way they interact with others based on that level of
understanding. None of these panes necessarily remain the same size for all relationships
or interpersonal encounters.
A. The Open Pane
The open pane, upper-left pane of the Johari Window, contains information that one
knows about oneself and has no reason to hide from most people. This pane will
become larger as a friendship develops. Figure 3.2 shows the Johari Window after
B. The Hidden Pane
The hidden pane of the Johari Window contains information and feelings that one is
aware of but hides from other people. People possess a great deal of private
information, including information that they are ashamed of or afraid to share with
C. The Blind Pane
The blind pane can be disturbing to people who would rather not believe that others
see personality traits that they don’t see in themselves. The blind pane can hide good
D. The Unknown Pane
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If the blind pane can be frightening, the unknown pane is probably even more so
because it deals with areas that nobody—the self, friends, or family—can see. The
unknown pane can include childhood memories that people block out for various
reasons. This pane contains all of the experiences, feelings, fantasies, and possibilities
that people repress. It can be reduced in size by developing a close friendship.
IV. What Is Self-Disclosure?
Self-disclosure is letting another person know one’s real thoughts, desires, and feelings.
Self-disclosure allows people to know themselves and those around them better. Very
often, people justify withholding the truth for legitimate reasons. In most cases, people
withhold information in order to:
• Feel all-powerful.
• Control the feelings of others.
• Feel superior to those around them.
V. Outcomes of Failing to Self-Disclose
To understand why people should self-disclose, one can examine the negative things that
can happen when it is not done. Some of the more common outcomes of failing to self-
disclose include the following:
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• Loss of relationships with others.
• The slowdown of personal growth.
People who refuse to self-disclose at work can lose their sense of identity on the job and
end up relying too heavily on family, friends, and outside organizations for social contact.
VI. Levels of Communication as they relate to Disclosure
To enhance one’s self-awareness and self-disclosure skills, one needs to better understand
the levels of disclosure to be used. Author John Powell identified five general levels of
self-disclosure. These five levels of communication are helpful in understanding the
amount of self-disclosure taking place (Figure 3.4).
A. Level 5: Cliché Conversation
Level 5 is the level that most people rely upon every day. Cliché conversation
includes niceties, such as:
• “Nice morning, isn’t it?”
• “How is your family?”
• “How’s the weather up your way?”
The primary purposes of niceties are to acknowledge the other person’s presence and,
B. Level 4: Reporting the Facts about Others
On level 4, people move beyond clichés, although no real self-disclosure takes place
yet. The only hint of self-disclosure comes from the choice of topic. Others can
discern a little about a person from what he or she chooses to discuss.
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C. Level 3: Expressing Ideas and Judgments
When one expresses ideas and judgments—expressed through conscious thoughts,
opinions, and theories—he or she takes more risks, although undemanding ones: what
D. Level 2: Expressing Feelings and Emotions on the “Gut Level”
The second level of communication involves gut-level communication—level of
E. Level 1: Peak Communication
A peak communication is characterized by complete openness and honest self-
disclosure. It happens rarely. When it does, though, as Powell suggests, “The two
persons will feel an almost perfect and mutual empathy.” The more often Level 1 self-
disclosure takes place, the more one invites close relationships that can lead to
F. A Key to Improved Human Relations–Level 2
Making the gut level work is a key step in the process of learning to self-disclose.
When people communicate on this level, human relationships grow, people understand
themselves better, and conflict is reduced. In work environments, such benefits
translate into greater efficiency and productivity throughout the organization. The
primary benefits include the following:
• Improving relationships.
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VII. Making Assumptions about Other People
Another dimension of both self-awareness and self-disclosure is the way so many people
operate on perceptions or hunches they have about each other. A situation can become
more and more complicated simply because the people involved operate on hunches,
VIII. The Risk Factor of Disclosure
Choosing to self-disclose involves risks. Once people conclude that self-disclosure is
productive behavior, they may run into another barrier: fear. Perhaps fears include the
following:
• Losing control of a conversation or relationship.
• Becoming trapped or controlled by someone else.
Review Questions
1. What does the term “self–awareness” mean to you after reading this chapter? Use an
illustration from your own experience to clarify your definition.
2. Why do people often withhold from others their true selves—or parts of who they
really are?
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Answer: People often develop traits such as secrecy, dishonesty, or other defenses to
prevent others from determining their true thoughts and motives. These people often
3. How can a lack of appropriate self-disclosure be a barrier to effective relations with
others? Specifically, how can a failure to disclose affect your position in the
workplace?
Answer: When people share something about themselves, a relationship develops.
When there is little or no self-disclosure, the relationships developed are usually not
deep ones.
Self-disclosure allows people to know themselves and those around them better.
Openness and honesty become especially important in the workplace. Judicious self-
4. Briefly explain each of the four panes of the Johari Window. How can this model
help you understand yourself better by understanding your relationships with others?
Answer: Johari Window is a composite of four panes that shows people ways of
relating to others: the open, blind, hidden, and unknown.
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McGraw-Hill Education.
The hidden pane contains information and feelings that one is aware of but hides
from other people. People possess a great deal of private information, including
information that they are ashamed of or afraid to share with others. As a close
relationship develops and the open pane grows bigger, the hidden pane will become
smaller.
The blind pane contains everything about a person that other people can see but he or
she can’t. The blind pane can hide good qualities in people as well as bad traits. This
pane can shrink if a person heeds to another person’s encouragement and allows
himself or herself to look into his or her blind areas to a greater extent.
The unknown pane contains unknown talents, abilities, and attitudes, as well as
forgotten and repressed experiences, emotions, and possibilities. It can include
childhood memories that people block out for various reasons. In this pane, people
5. Think of an incident in your life when someone overdisclosed to you or someone
else. How did the incident affect the relationship? What steps can you take to avoid
overdisclosing?
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6. How might self-disclosure help you in your relationship with your manager? With
co-workers? Can you think of examples that illustrate either negative or positive
effects of self-disclosure in the workplace?
7. Of John Powell’s five levels of communication, what is the best one for everyday
use? Explain why.
8. Discuss Dale Carnegie’s three rules for reducing fear. Would any of them work for
you when self-disclosure is the issue? Why or why not?
Answer: Dale Carnegie offers three suggestions for moving ahead even when fear is
present. These suggestions can be applied to fears in any area of life and not just to
Critical Thinking Questions
9. Have you ever experienced differences in people’s level of self-disclosure based on
where they live (in another country or a region of your country, for example)? What
did you observe, if anything?
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Answer: Students’ answers will vary based on their experience of interacting with
people from different cultures. However, people from different regions and countries
10. Anything you post on the Internet exists forever, even after you delete it. What kinds
of information have you disclosed about yourself online? Are there items that you
regret posting, or information you regret revealing? If a local newspaper wrote a
headline about you based on your Internet postings, especially those to social
networking sites, what would the headline say? How would this differ from what you
would want it to say? What levels of communication in self-disclosure do you
typically find online?
Answer: Students’ answers will vary based on their experiences. Levels 3 through 5
might be typically found online as they represent less than real communication.
11. Are you as self-aware as you would like to be? If not, what steps can you take to
allow yourself to reach a higher level of self-awareness?
Answer: This question is likely to generate a lively discussion as students examine
their level of self-awareness and identify various steps they can take to increase their
Case Studies
Case Study 3.1: Silent Sydney
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Sydney Schoenberg, who by nature never felt comfortable confiding her inner thoughts to
other people, was hired as a scheduling supervisor at PlayOutside! Adventures. The CEO
appreciated Sydney for her professionalism and praised her for not wasting time
socializing and discussing her personal life with her co-workers. On the other hand,
Sydney’s co-workers referred to her as stuck up and always thought Sydney was avoiding
them. When Sydney was asked by few of her co-workers as to why she was avoiding
them, she wondered if she should share more with her colleagues at work, or continue to
keep to herself as she had always been more comfortable doing.
Questions
1. How did self-disclosure affect the situation that Sydney and her co-workers
experienced?
2. Were Sydney or her co-workers doing anything wrong in the situation described?
Explain?
3. How could the discomfort in this situation between Sydney and others at her
company have been avoided?
Chapter 03 – Self-Awareness and Self-Disclosure
Case Study 3.2: Fred Lincoln
Fred Lincoln, a popular administrator at a local college, was well-liked and well-known
around the campus because, he was an avid technology buff and also for the amusing fact
Questions
1. How self-aware is Fred? On what do you base your assessment?
2. How might Fred’s cellphone habit affect his work at the college?
3. How would you approach Fred about his problematic cellphone usage?