Johari musings

[eclectic_boy]

This is my first LJ discussion-post; normally I think Chat is the place for posting things I want to have conversations about, but this time LJ seemed the obvious choice because it's about the hottest fad in LJ, the Johari Window.

The more of these I fill out for my friends, the more I wonder how those particular adjectives made it into the 55 words you're allowed to describe someone with. It seems like they're missing some pretty widespread and fundamental traits that can define a personality. For instance, where's 'loyal'? 'Enthusiastic'? Where's something to describe a born leader? Why are things as similar as 'ingenious' and 'clever' both on there? 'Caring' and 'sympathetic'? Why is 'tense' there, if it's supposed to be positive or neutral qualities only?

Seems to me this sieve is too fine-meshed in some places, and has gaps in others. What strikes you as being missing or quasi-redundant from the list, if you have 55 adjectives to assess all personalities?

Comments

[metasilk.livejournal.com]

I think it would be much more interesting if you could, in setting up your own "window", choose your own 55 adjectives -- just typing them in, and letting the window alphabetize them. You could then let the visitors choose their 5-6. This might highlight your consistency/dynamism in interaction (as jere7my pointed out) in an interesting way. It also lets you work around some of the issues of positive/negative connotations, perhaps.