Empathy as a moral quality of a future professional ⁴²⁹³

The author argues that personality of a contemporary professional should be regarded in unity with his/her moral qualities. Personal moral qualities have complex multi-aspect contents. It is not a rigidly selected and isolated group of personal traits, thus one cannot define a certain list of “unconditionally moral” qualities. Empathy as a positive attitude towards the other may be regarded as a moral quality of a personality, including a future professional’s personality. The results of empirical research are described, revealing the limits of diapason of emotional responsiveness and empathic perception in future professionals as well as gender differences in indicators of general empathy level in the sample. Prevailing components in empathy structure of the future professionals are attitudes promoting or inhibiting empathy, that demonstrates the significance if emotional responsiveness and empathic perception for the research participants.

Keywords: empathy, moral qualities, attitudes towards the other, future professional, empathy channels

Column: Developmental Psychology