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Module 2
By:
Dr Jennifer Tylee
The Self in Communication This module examines the concepts of the self and self-awareness. It covers aspects of the self, models of the self and why one develops self-awareness. Objectives At the completion of the module you will be able to:
Bolton (1986) describes a situation where nineteenth-century cartoonist Thomas Nast was asked at a party to draw a caricature of everyone present. He quickly did so and the drawings were passed around for people to identify. Everyone recognised the others who were present but hardly anyone recognised themselves. This situation illustrates how little we know of ourselves. However if nurses are going to use themselves as therapeutic tools they need to be able to identify themselves, that is they need to know what is the self. This module is an exploration of what is the self. It provides models of the self and reasons for the development of self-awareness.
What does it actually mean to talk about the self? Of what is the self composed? Is it physical, social or spiritual or is it all of these? These questions have long occupied philosophers and psychologists. Burnard (1992) suggests that psychologists have tackled these questions from a number of directions. Some have tried to analyse the variables of the self and consider that there are consistent aspects of the self that, in part, determine the way we live. Still other psychologists consider that there is no real core self but that the sense of self is ever changing and that which we call the self at any point is the set of beliefs, attitudes and values that affect our perception of the world. It can be seen then that the notion of the self is very complex. It is not a thing as such but an abstraction - a way of talking - a shorthand for the part of us that deals with thinking, feeling, valuing and so forth (Burnard,1992). One common way of dealing with the self is to consider its aspects. Whilst it should be remembered that the self is more than the sum of its parts it is easier to discuss its sections rather than to discuss it as a whole. Burnard (1992) provides the following aspects:
The Physical Self- this is the felt sense of the self and includes our physical body. It covers our perceptions of our body; the images we have of our body - how fat, thin, muscular and so forth. The Spiritual Self- this is the aspect involved in the investment of meaning into what we do as humans. This meaning may be framed in religious terms or it may be found in philosophy, psychology, politics and so forth. The meaning systems that people have vary. Jung (1968) considered the search for meaning as the process of individuation, that is the search for the self. The Darker Self- the notions of self-actualisation (that were made popular by the works of Maslow, 1972) suggest a growing into the full potential of ourselves. A part of the understanding and growing into the full potential of the self, however, is the darker side, those aspects to ourselves that are not generally allowed full consciousness. Jung (1968) called the darker side the shadow. He stated
Jung considers that in order to become self-aware we must be prepared to examine the shadow part of our self. The Social Self - this is the part that is openly shared with others in various social situations such as work, home, with friends and so forth. The Private Self - This is an aspect that we are aware of but do not show to others. Burnard’s Outer/Inner Self Model The aspects of the self listed above need to be brought into perspective and this can be done via the use of a model. Burnard (1992) presents an outer/inner self model. He considers the self to be made up of thoughts, (Thoughts are the ideas, problem solving, questioning and memory and so forth that make up our mental life.) feelings, (Feelings are the emotional aspects – the anger, joy, happiness and so forth.) senses (The five senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight plus the proprioceptive (the ability to know the position of our body in space) and kinaesthetic (our sense of body movement), intuition (Intuition refers to the knowledge and insight that arrives independently of our senses) and behaviour (Behaviour is any action we carry out – facial expressions, gestures, movement and so forth.). Although all three aspects overlap and affect one another, Burnard (1992, 167) divides them into the outer aspects of body and behaviour and the inner aspects of thoughts, feelings, senses and intuition.
The Johari Window Joseph Luft (1970) developed the concept of windows to the self. This is now a frequently used model for looking at various parts of the self and for understanding self-awareness.
The open self (Q1) represents all the information, behaviours, feelings and so forth that are known to both the self and others. This is the part of the self that engages in social activity. The type of information that might be here includes: names, hair colour, age and political and religious affiliations. The size of this open aspect varies from one person to another. Generally communication depends on the degree of openness. Therefore, the more open, the better the communication. This is at least the case in general interpersonal interactions. The blind self (Q2) represents information about ourselves that others know but about which we are ignorant. In this quadrant is information about how persons affect others intentionally and unintentionally (Wilson and Kneisl, 1979). The hidden self (Q3) represents the knowledge one has of oneself that is not known to others. These are the secrets, personal and private feelings. The extremes in this quadrant are the overdisclosers and the underdisclosers. The overdisclosers tell all – they keep nothing hidden (DeVito, 1991). The difficulty with the overdisclosers is that they do not distinguish between who should and should not hear the information. The underdisclosers keep the information to themselves. They may encourage others to talk but they wont talk about themselves. Most people fall between the extremes. The unknown self (Q4) contains knowledge about the self that is unconscious for the person and unknown to others. The Johari Awareness Model maintains that interpersonal interaction in a group setting is facilitated when people have sufficient knowledge about the other persons’ feelings, motivation and actions. An element of this model is that people respond to the feedback they receive in the communication from groups and that they are able to learn and change following such interactions. The model can be applied to groups as well as to individuals in the groups. Wilson and Kneisl (1979, 499) provide the following adaptation of the work by Luft (1970). Intragroup Relations In new groups Q1 (openness) is limited because free and spontaneous interaction does not occur. As the group develops Q1 becomes larger and Q3 shrinks accordingly. This means that the group is becoming freer to be themselves and to see others as they really are.
You will notice these changes in the tutorial groups in this subject. Initially communication is somewhat stilted, but as the members of the group begin to know one another the communication and the openness in the group increases. This means that there is more of the group energy available for the achievement of the tasks associated with the group. A group can be diagrammed and understood on the basis of the individual members. Wilson and Kneisl (1979, 500-501) provide the following example. Sam was a person with limited freedom. Although he was polite, he appeared to be superficial and constricted. He devoted large amounts of energy to walling off the behavior and motivations of Q2, Q3 and Q4 by intellectualizing (Intellectualisation is a defence mechanism in which the intellectual processes are overused to avoid closeness or affective experience and expression). Laura was a group member whose great inner resources allowed her to develop a very large area of free activity. In contrast, Debbie was what Luft has termed a plunger. Debbie’s spontaneity and "openness" lacked discretion and created distance in her relationships with other group members. Van and Maria, the other two members of this group, tend not to take many risks in their interactions with others, although their moderate openness indicated flexibility
Van
The Johari Awareness model with the aspects of open, blind, hidden and unknown self provide an introduction to the concept of self-awareness. Burnard (1992, 176) consider that self awareness is
Bradley and Edinberg (1982) suggest that developing self-awareness is part of the ongoing process in our growth as individuals and professionals. Stein-Parbury (1993) consider that nurses develop their self-awareness so that they can be authentic, congruent and open with their patients. Authentic in the sense that nurses are sincere and genuine, not only with the people who happen to be their patients but also as people who are unafraid to show that they are human. Self-awareness also enables nurses to act in a way that is truly them, that is congruent and true to themselves. Similarly, being open with the patient means that the nurse can allow the patient to be who they are and communicate at a deeper level than if most of the person is ‘hidden’ (Stein-Parbury 1993, 23). Further benefits in developing self-awareness as outlined by Stein-Parbury (1993) are:
All of these facets of developing self-awareness will make it more likely that the nurse will be able to interact with patients in a therapeutic manner. Developing self-awareness is the topic of Tutorial Session 2. In this tutorial exercises are used which aim at developing self-awareness. The notion of the self is a complex issues that has been divided into the aspects of the physical self, the spiritual self, the darker self, the social self and the private self. There have been models developed that present a way of understanding the self. These models include Burnard’s outer/inner self and the Johari Awareness models. Both models provide insight into the self and in particular the Johari Awareness model is useful in diagramming and understanding individual and group interactions. Self-awareness is an extension of understanding the self and has many benefits for nurses as it enhances their interactions with patients and will increase the likelihood that the interactions will be therapeutic.
Stein-Parbury, J. 1993, Patient and Person: Developing Interpersonal Skills in Nursing, Churchill Livingstone, Melbourne. (This has also been set as additional reading following the tutorial session. You do not need to complete this reading before the tutorial, however it would be helpful for the tutorial if you have read pp.21-25) DeVito, J. 1989, The Interpersonal Communication Book, 5th edn, Harper and Row, New York.
Bolton, R. 1987, People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts, Simon Schuster, Maryborough. Burnard, P. 1992, Effective Communication Skills for Health Professionals, Chapman and Hall, London. DeVito, J. A. 1991, Human Communication: The Basic Course, 5th edn, Harper Collins, New York. Jung, C.G. 1968, Collected Works Number 9 Part1 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, 2nd edn, Princeton University Press, London. Luft, J. 1970, Group Processes: An Introduction to Group Dynamics, Mayfield, California. Maslow, A.H. 1968, Towards the Psychology of Being, 2nd edn, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. Wilson, H.S. & Kneisl, C.R. 1979, Psychiatric Nursing 2nd edn, Addison-Wesley, Menlo Park California.
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