home truths

[devi]

Oh, and! I really like this meme thingy, the Johari Window (stolen from verlaine). It's about how well your idea of yourself matches up with others' views of you. The original article about it is here.

I've picked the six words from this list that I think most accurately describe me. Now I'd like you to pick six to describe me (preferably without reading the other comments, if there are any!), and when enough people have answered I'll tell you which ones I chose and we can draw a psychological diagram, with quadrants and stuff:

able, dependable, intelligent, patient, sensible, accepting, dignified, introverted, powerful, sentimental, adaptable, energetic, kind, proud, shy, bold, extroverted, knowledgable, quiet, silly, brave, friendly, logical, reflective, spontaneous, calm, giving, loving, relaxed, sympathetic, caring, happy, mature, religious, tense, cheerful, helpful, modest, responsive, trustworthy, clever, idealistic, nervous, searching, warm, complex, independent, observant, self-assertive, wise, confident, ingenious, organised, self-conscious, and witty

(I know, they're all a bit nice, aren't they?)

I don't do that tagging thing, but this is a meme I'd like to see lots of people picking up. Go on, let me tell you what I think of you.

Comments

[offensive-mango.livejournal.com]

intelligent, powerful, adaptable, brave, reflective, wise.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

why, thank you! I like those.

[geeveecatullus.livejournal.com]

quiet
observant
wise
independent
refelctive
witty

[several-bees.livejournal.com]

Intelligent, energetic, extroverted, friendly, spontaneous, reflective.

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

it reminds me of the '360 degree feedback' form I was sent to asses my boss. Sadly 'idiot' and 'incompetent' weren't available options.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Heh. You can use them on me, though, I won't mind. :)

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

certainly not. Although I haven't seen you in so long, it's hard to say anything...

In both cases, though, surely it can only build a picture of the positive aspects of someone, and completely disregard what might be seen as bad points?

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I can see how that might be a problem if it was used in work situations, which seems to be the original purpose of the thing. Though it's all right as a fun meme for discovering which (nice, fluffy) qualities people see in you that you don't see in yourself, I s'pose.

And we should remedy that not-having-seen-me thing. I'm trying to negotiate a car to Brentford to get the stuff, but ideally there should be time for a couple of pints and a chat incorporated into that...

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

that's like the elephant-in-the-room thing that we can ignore; we can have a pint at some point without having shifted your stuff, you know. I'd hate it if it had become any kind of barrier.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Glad you're managing to ignore the elephant. Yes, the more I think about it the more I realise that pints-and-chats are totally incompatible with stuff-getting and *should* be done separately...

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

If you want a datapoint for 'first impressions' (more or less): intelligent, friendly, independent, spontaneous, searching, observant.

[millionreasons.livejournal.com]

But won't people doing the meme choose more negative things about themselves whilst the commenters will choose the more positive things? I think you are:

clever, idealistic, spontaneous, bold, independent, friendly

but I'm not sure what you would choose for yourself.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

It's interesting that you say that, as the original article's premise was that people overestimated themselves. Maybe the sort of people we know are more modest.

[millionreasons.livejournal.com]

Maybe the sort of people we know are more modest.
P'raps, but, also, I'd've thought that if someone was on one's friendslist, then one would view them positively anyway.

Though as you say, it's a fun meme, so I'll stop being pedantic (is that on the list?!)

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

• able
• powerful
• knowledgable
• spontaneous
• observant
• ingenious

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Ooh - I picked 'spontaneous' before reading your previous 'hey guys, I'm in Luxemburg' post :)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

intelligent
friendly
reflective
warm
independent
spontaneous

Don't like the wordset much, I have to say. Too many near-synonyms and very few of the words are ones I'd normally choose to describe someone.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I was bothered by the synonyms too. I mean, "bold" *and* "brave"?

[mooism.livejournal.com]

dependable, self-conscious, quiet, friendly, happy, modest.

[elethe.livejournal.com]

Able, intelligent, caring, idealistic, warm, ingenious.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

dependable, intelligent, adaptable, reflective, idealistic, complex

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

Hard to chose, but I ended with: intelligent, friendly, spontaneous, searching, complex, and witty.

[kauket.livejournal.com]

spontaneous, loving, trustworthy, modest, caring, observant

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

My first pass, without overthinking it, resulted in:

proud, brave, caring, clever, searching, independent

I wanted to put "bold", but only in the "naughty child" sense of the word, obviously... ;)

[a-llusive.livejournal.com]

able, warm, bold, independent, giving, idealistic,

[holzfallen.livejournal.com]

intelligent, patient, accepting, dignified, giving, modest

[mr-snips.livejournal.com]

intelligent, idealistic, searching, caring, religious, spontaneous.


this is a meme I'd like to see lots of people picking up

Well, I opted to hidesously mutate it, but it lives on in some form...:-)

[wyvernfriend.livejournal.com]

intelligent, adaptable, reflective, calm, searching, complex

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Adaptable
Reflective
Modest
Complex
Observant
Wise

[dracunculus.livejournal.com]

intelligent, dignified, adaptable, friendly, spontaneous, mature

[kesstrel.livejournal.com]

intelligent, responsive, warm, powerful, wise, observant