Empathic Skills Research Articles

THE EFFECT OF CREATIVE DRAMA ON EMPATHIC TENDENCIES, COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING OF PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENTS

The empathic tendency, communication skills, and critical thinking are the professional attitude behaviors that should be in a physiotherapist. The study was planned to investigate the effects of creative drama on empathic tendencies, communication skills and critical thinking of physiotherapy students. This study was carried out in Hasan Kalyoncu University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation between October 2017 and December 2018. 75 freshman physiotherapy students (44 women, 31 men) were included in the study. According to the results obtained from the study; there was no significant difference between empathic tendencies, communication skills and critical thinking skills of individuals in both groups (p> 0.05). When the creative drama group was compared in terms of gender, there was no significant difference between individuals' empathic tendencies, communication skills and critical thinking skills (p> 0.05). Similarly, when the control group was compared in terms of gender, there was no significant difference between individuals' empathic tendencies, communication skills and critical thinking skills (p> 0.05). We think that this study is a preliminary study on empathic tendencies, communication skills, and critical thinking skills of physiotherapy students. Parameters such as gender, different years of education, and welfare levels can affect empathic tendency, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. There are limited studies in the literature investigating the effectiveness of creative drama in the field of health. Therefore, this work can give an idea for subsequent studies. The studies that are conducted with more patients and which are multi-centered should be done.

Intérêts et enjeux de l’évaluation de la reconnaissance des émotions chez les auteurs d’infractions à caractère sexuel (AICS)

IntroductionThe communication of emotions is moderated through self-regulation including emotion regulation. It seems fundamental to correctly interpret social cues like face, voice or body expressions. According to a prominent hypothesis, an accurate recognition of emotional cues is correlated with empathic skills and manifestation of prosocial behaviours. However, while research have been undertaken towards specific populations in the forensic psychiatry field, little is known concerning the ability to recognize emotions among sexual offenders. ObjectivesOur first objective is to highlight, through a literature review, the interests and issues of research in this domain. Secondly, on the base of preliminary meta-analysis results on the recognition of facial expressions of emotions (FEE), we draw future perspectives in the fields of research, evaluation and therapeutic outcomes. Future perspectives and ConclusionThe creation of innovative experimental design, followed by the implementation and validation of a battery on the recognition of emotions (unimodal and multimodal) is essential. This will allow researchers and clinicians to assess sexual offenders on this specific ability, which is related to the enhancement of prosocial behaviours.

Empathic Tendencies and Empathic Skill Levels of Nursing Students: A Descriptive and Cross-sectional Study

Objective: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted to determine empathic tendencies and empathic skill levels of nursing students.Methods: The population of this study consisted of 580 nursing students. Interviews were conducted with 412 students. The data were collected using a Personal Information Form, the Empathic Tendency Scale and the Empathic Skill Scale (ESS). Evaluation of the data was performed with calculation, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: Among the students, 64.8% (n=267) were within the 20-22 age group, 87.6% (n=361) were female, and 27.2% (n=112) were enrolled in the fourth year. The mean of the Empathic Tendency Scale was 68.84±8.42, and the mean score on the ESS was 139.67±20.11. Empathic Tendency Scale and Empathic Skill Scale scores were statistically significant according to gender, age and class year (p<0.05). The mean scores of the female students on the Empathic Tendency Scale and Empathic Skill Scale were the highest for those in the 23-25 age groups and in the fourth year.Conclusions: The result concluded that mean scores on the Empathic Tendency Scale and Empathic Skill Scale of nursing students were at a medium level. It is important to support students during their professional education.

Palyatif Bakım Hemşirelerinin Empatik Eğilim Düzeyleri ve İletişim Becerilerini Etkileyen Faktörler

Aim: This study was planned as a descriptive study to determine the factors affecting the empathic tendency levels and communication skills of palliative care nurses. Method: The study was conducted in two hospitals affiliated with Samsun Province Public Hospitals General Directorate between the dates of 01/12/2017-30/12/2017. The sample consisted of 60 nurses, including 30 nurses responsible for the care of palliative care patients, 30 nurses working in internal and surgical units. The data was collected using a questionnaire consisting of 23 questions introducing the socio-demographic and professional characteristics of the nurses and Empathic Tendency Scale and Communication Skills Assessment Scale. In the evaluation of the data, percentage calculation, Kruskal Wallis, Spearman correlation test, Mann Whitney U test were used. Findings: The total score of the Empathic Tendency Scale of the nurses was 72.21 ± 7.22 and the mean of the Communication Assessment Scale was 80.23 ± 7.82. The mean Empathic Tendency Scale score of the nurses in the palliative care units was 71.46 ± 7.53, and their mean Communication Skills Assessment Scale score was 80.03 ± 8.42. The mean Empathic Tendency Scale score of the nurses in internal and surgical units was 72.96±9.94, and their mean Communication Skills Assessment Scale score was 80.43±11.30. A weak positive correlation was found between the Empathic Tendency Scale scores of the nurses and the Communication Skills Assessment Scale scores (r=0.298 p<0,05). Conclusion: No statistically significant difference was found between the Empathic Tendency Scale and Communication Skills Assessment Scale scores of the nurses working in palliative care nurses and internal and surgical units (p>0.05).

Assessment of Black Patients’ Perception of Their Dermatology Care

The availability and quality of skin and hair care for black patients in the United States has been a subject of growing interest in dermatology. There is limited understanding of the perceptions of black patients about the care they receive from dermatologists and the factors affecting their care satisfaction. To elucidate black patients' perceptions of their dermatology experience in and outside of a skin of color clinic (SOCC). A cross-sectional study involving a survey and focus groups was conducted including adult black patients treated in an SOCC. Recruitment was conducted April through June 2015 through clinic-posted flyers. Participants engaged in 1 of 4 focus groups on July 14, 15, 29, or 30, 2015, and completed a survey. Data were analyzed March 2016 through June 2017. Planned outcomes of the focus groups were black patients' inductively generated themes on their perspectives and experiences in dermatology clinics. Planned outcomes of the survey were patients' ratings of SOCC and non-SOCC dermatologists in terms of interaction style, cultural awareness, and treatment satisfaction. Importance of patient-dermatologist racial concordance was a planned outcome in both measures. Given lack of existing prior research, no specific hypotheses were generated. Of the 19 adult black patients who participated in the study, 18 (95%) were women, and the mean (SD) age was 50.0 (14.2) years. All patients reported positive experiences in the SOCC. Compared with non-SOCC dermatology treatment experiences, patients reported higher levels of overall satisfaction with SOCC dermatologists (t13 = 2.85; P = .01). Patients perceived that SOCC dermatologists were better trained to care for black patients (t13 = 4.42; P = .001); showed patients greater respect and dignity (t13 = 3.37; P = .005), as well as understanding (t13 = 2.56, P = .02); and were more trustworthy (t13 = 3.47; P = .004). The majority of the comments in the focus groups (n = 207) described 2 themes: dermatologists' interaction style (62/207; 30.0%) and knowledge about black skin and hair (42/207; 20.3%). Other themes were partnering with patients on outcomes (17/207; 8.2%), shared life experiences (14/207; 6.8%), and economic sensitivity (7/207; 3.4%). These themes accounted for a large part of the participants' discussion. Of all respondents, 71% (12/17) stated that they would prefer a black (or race concordant) dermatologist; this included 91% (10/11) of the race-concordant group and 33% (2/6) of the race-discordant group. Participants reported that the SOCC dermatologists provided unique and uniformly beneficial care to black patients. Care satisfaction appeared most related to dermatologists' interpersonal style and specialized knowledge in care of black skin and hair. Findings suggest that black patients' dermatologic care satisfaction would increase if dermatologists underwent enhanced residency training in skin of color, cultural competency, cost-conscious care, and empathic communication skills, and if there were greater dermatology workforce diversity.

Memory of the Present: Empathy and Identity in Young Adult Fiction

Recent studies in cognitive literary criticism have provided scholars of literature with new, stimulating approaches to literary texts and neuroscientists with new insights about human emotions, empathy, and memory through evidence from fiction. What have so far been largely neglected are the implications of cognitive criticism for the study of literature targeting a young audience, whose theory of mind and empathic skills are not yet fully developed. A cognitive approach to children's and young adult literature has to meet several challenges less relevant in general fiction. Firstly, how is a young fictional character's consciousness represented by an author whose cognitive and affective skills are ostensibly superior? Secondly, how do texts instruct their young readers to employ theory of mind in order to assess both the young protagonist's emotions and their understanding of other characters' emotions (higher-order mind-reading)? Thirdly, how can fiction support young people's development of their theory of mind? The paper will discuss these issues with a particular focus on memory and identity, expressed textually through tense and narrative perspective. Drawing on work by Lisa Zunshine (2006) and Blackey Vermeule (2010), the predominantly theoretical argument will be illustrated by a contemporary young adult novel, Slated (2012), by Teri Terry.

Reading fiction is good for children's cognitive, emotional and social development

On October 3, 2013, Science published an article with the provocative title ”Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind”. While the results of the study may have come as a surprise for brain researchers and cognitive psychologists, literary scholars received experiment-based confirmation of something they have known for centuries: reading fiction is good for our social and emotional development. Since then, numerous empirical studies have confirmed the findings. However, what has so far been largely neglected is the implications of cognitive criticism for the study of literature targeting a young audience, whose theory of mind, empathic skills and ethical values are not yet fully developed. The imbalance of the cognitive, affective and social competences of the sender and the receiver makes children's literature a unique study object. In addition, the representation of a young protagonist's consciousness and emerging empathy poses specific demands on the writer as well as the reader. In this talk I will consider how cognitive literary criticism can explain how reading fiction is particularly beneficial for young readers' understanding of the material and social world, of themselves and of other people. I will explore how fiction, though its specific construction of time, space and narrative, stimulates young readers' perception, attention, imagination, memory, empathy and other aspects of cognitive activity. Drawing on the work by Lisa Zunshine (2006) and Blackey Vermeule (2010), the predominantly theoretical argument will be illustrated by a number of classic and contemporary children's novels.

Türk Toplumunda Empatinin ve Empatik Becerinin Artırılmasında Empati Eğitim Programlarının Etkililiği: Meta-Analiz Çalışması

The concept of empathy has become a concept that increasingly emphasized in human relations. However, there are some arguments in the literature about whether or not empathic skills can be learned. Based on these discussions, a meta-analysis study was conducted to examine the findings of the studies in which empathic skills training was carried out in the Turkish society. The use of empathy trainings prepared in the focus of empathic skill development, its application to the Turkish society and its implementation within the last 20 years have been determined as the inclusion criteria of the study. In line with these criteria, it is planned to reach the articles published in national and international refereed journals with the master's and doctoral theses carried out empathy training. Google Scholar, Scopus, ISI Database, Turkish Council of Higher Education National Thesis Center, To-kat, and Ulakbim database are scanned with Empathy, Empathy Training, Empathy Skills words. As a result of this screening, 13 studies were reached in accordance with the search criteria. For the analysis of the data, Hedges' formula g was used to calculate the effect size by means of the Comprehensive Meta Analysis (CMA) program. The mean effect size of 13 studies included in the study was found to be E = + 5,668. The high effect size of our study shows that empathy education programs are effective in increasing empathy and empathy skills in Turkish society.

The Prosocial-Antisocial Behavior and Empathic Skill Levels of Wheelchair Basketball Players in Sports

This study aims to find out the prosocial and antisocial behavior as well as the empathic skills of wheelchair basketball players in sports. A total of 230 wheelchair basketball players (216 males and 14 females) participated in this study which uses relational screening model. The Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Sport Scale (PABSS) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) were used as data collection tools. Independent t-test, Cronbach Alpha, One-Way Anova, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis were used for the analysis of data. The data obtained shows that there is a low level, meaningful and positive correlation between the empathic skills of wheelchair basketball players and their tendency for prosocial behavior in sports. In addition, a medium-level, meaningful and negative correlation between their empathic skills and tendency for antisocial behavior was found. It has been concluded that perspective taking, empathic concern and fantasy which are dimensions of empathy do not show a difference in the variable being a national athlete or non-national athlete. It was seen that personal distress is higher in athletes who are not national athletes. As a result of the analysis it was found out that as the antisocial behavior of wheelchair basketball players towards their teammates and opponents increase, their fantasy levels decrease. In light of these findings, it may be said that while emphatic skills promote prosocial behavior in wheelchair basketball players, they decrease antisocial behavior. Based on these results, the empathy training which will be given to athletes to promote prosocial behavior in sports is of great importance.

Effects of a Dog-training Intervention on At-risk Youth

ABSTRACTIn the past few decades, interventions that involve animals have gained support among therapists, as they encourage verbal and non-verbal expressions of emotions. Our aim was to examine the impact of a dog-training intervention on the empathic skills of at-risk youth, compared with an intervention using empowerment groups. We hypothesized that participants in the dog-training group would report improved empathic abilities, compared with those in the comparison group. A prospective study was conducted, with a final sample of 55 at-risk youth: 30 in the dog-training group and 25 in the empowerment-based group (n = 25). Empathic skills were measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which consists of four subscales: fantasy abilities, perspective taking, empathic concern, and personal distress. We found a significant improvement in the empathic concern subscale only among participants in the dog-training group (F(1,53) = 16.6, p < 0.01). This is discussed, along with limitations of the research and possible avenues for future research.

Investigation of the Relationship between Empathy and Burnout Levels of Nursing Students

ÖZAmaçBu araştırma, hemşirelik öğrencilerinin empati ve tükenmişlik düzeyleri arasındaki ilişkiyi belirlemek amacı ile planlandı.YöntemTanımlayıcı ve kesitsel türde gerçekleştirilen araştırmanın evrenini bir Hemşirelik Fakültesi’nde 2016–2017 eğitim-öğretim yılında öğrenim gören 1294 öğrenci; örneklemini ise; tabakalı rastgele örnekleme yöntemi ile belirlenen 290 hemşirelik öğrencisi oluşturdu. Veriler, “Yapılandırılmış Soru Formu”, “Empatik Beceri Ölçeği B-Formu” ve “Maslach Tükenmişlik Envanteri-Öğrenci Formu” kullanılarak toplandı. Araştırmanın yürütüleceği fakülteden yazılı izin ve Etik Kurul’dan etik onay sağlandı. Veri analizi, SPSS 21.00 programında, tanımlayıcı ve önemlilik analizi kullanılarak yapıldı.BulgularÖğrencilerin %84.1’i kız, yaş ortalaması 20.28±1.47 yıldır. Empatik Beceri Ölçeği B-Formu puan ortalaması 143.86±23.93; Maslach Tükenmişlik Envanteri-Öğrenci Formu alt boyutları puan ortalamaları ise tükenmede 15.11±4,69, duyarsızlaşmada 9.34±3.62, yetkinlikte ise 12.78±2.67 olduğu saptandı. Öğrencilerin Empatik Beceri Ölçeği puanı ile Maslach Tükenmişlik Envanteri Duyarsızlaşma alt boyutu puanları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düzeyde negatif bir ilişki bulunmaktadır (p<0.05).SonuçHemşirelik öğrencilerinin tükenmişlik ve empati becerilerinin orta düzeyde olduğu ve bazı sosyo-demografik özelliklerin empati ve tükenmişlik düzeylerini etkilediği belirlendi.

Improving nursing students’ perspective taking, perceptions of humanness, and attitudes toward older adults

ABSTRACT Whereas prior work has examined the role of nursing courses in improving empathic skills and reducing dehumanization of older adults, little research has explored how perspective taking and perceptions of humanness of older adults acquired through nursing curricula predict attitudes toward this age group. Nursing students (N = 43) completed surveys at the beginning (Time 1) and end of gerontological coursework (Time 2). Perspective taking and perceived human nature and human uniqueness of older adults increased from Time 1 to Time 2. Perceived human nature of older adults was associated with more positive attitudes at the end of the semester, compared to the beginning. Improved perceptions of the human nature of older adults also predicted lower ageism at the end of the semester. Strategies for improving perspective taking and perceptions of humanness of older adults in nursing courses are discussed.

Investigation of the Experiences of Mothers Living Through Prenatal Loss Incidents: A Qualitative Study.

ABSTRACTBackground:Fetal death causes women to experience negative feelings after the loss. These lived experiences influence the future pregnancies and maternal health of women negatively.Purpose:The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences of women whose pregnancies were terminated because of medical indications.Methods:A “design for definitive status study” type of qualitative research design was used. Ten women who were hospitalized between April and July 2017 at the Akdeniz University Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology and had subsequently experienced pregnancy loss during their hospitalization were enrolled as participants. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.Results:The pregnancy loss experiences of participants were investigated under the five main themes of (a) lived experiences before the termination of pregnancy, (b) lived experiences after pregnancy termination, (c) willingness to see the baby after termination, (d) posttermination care requirements, and (e) physical condition of hospital rooms during hospitalization. The participants expressed feelings of hope, fear, and worry over being unsuccessful before fetal death and feelings of loneliness, disappointment, blame, and avoidance after fetal death.Conclusions/Implications for Practice:In the aftermath of fetal death, health professionals should use insightful and empathic communication skills to help mothers cope with their loss. In addition, some of the participants wanted to see their babies, and some did not. Thus, individualized care is very important for women who experience pregnancy loss.

Training residents in patient-centred communication and empathy: evaluation from patients, observers and residents

BackgroundPatient-centred communication and empathy are key enablers for patient-centred care. However, several studies suggest a downward trend regarding the empathic communication skills of physicians during medical residency. It is known that communication training can have a positive effect on patient-centred communication, empathy and relational skills. Training residents in patient-centred communication and empathy can be an opportunity to improve the patient-centred care. To evaluate the training a tri-focal perspective will be used.MethodsA 3-day training was developed to improve residents’ patient-centred communication and empathy skills at an academic medical health centre, in the Netherlands. The training included: (1) the basics of patient-centred communication and empathy (through presentations, scientific literature), (2) practicing with actors, and (3) reflecting on residents’ video recorded consultations (by themselves and communication experts). A pilot study with a pre-post design was conducted to evaluate the training from patient and observer perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were used to get insight into residents’ perspective. Nine residents from different specialities followed the training and enrolled in the pilot study. During two random days consultations between residents and patients were video recorded. Patients were asked to fill in two questionnaires, indicating their perspective on residents’ empathy and communication skills before as well as after the consultation. All video recorded consultations were coded to rate residents’ communication skills, empathy, computer use and agenda-setting. Statistical analysis were performed using multilevel analysis.ResultsA total of 137 eligible patients took part in the pilot study. Trained residents showed significant improvement in patient-rated empathy scores. According to observers, residents’ computer use improved significantly after the training. The communication skills of trained residents did not improve significantly. Agenda setting by residents showed a downward trend. Almost all residents were satisfied with the training, especially with the video-feedback.ConclusionsA brief training significantly increased residents’ empathy scores according to patients and significantly decreased residents’ computer use according to observers. These findings indicate that the quality of patient-centred care can be improved by integrating patient-centred communication into residency programs, at an academic medical health centre. The ultimate goal is to structurally embed the training in residents’ education program.

Sociocultural Education and Empathy in Early Childhood: Analyzing The Battle of Gallipoli

We aimed to set a precedent for the sociocultural education of preschool children by qualitatively analyzing the Battle of Gallipoli, which has an important place in Turkish history. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was carried out in 2 stages with groups of 6-year-old children: a pilot study (n = 11) and the main application (n = 13). In the main application, participants completed a series of activities, comprising listening to songs, participating in drama skits, drawing pictures, and writing letters. The main aim of these activities was to determine participants' level of empathic thinking skills. Our findings showed that, within the context of sociocultural education, 6-year-old children can empathize and use dynamic and static imagination types, and that they have a sense of history and understand the concept of time. Thus, we recommend that sociocultural education topics be included in the current preschool curriculum in Turkey.

Patient-rated physician empathy and patient satisfaction during pain clinic consultations.

Little is known about the influence of patient-perceived healthcare provider empathy on patient satisfaction in the setting of a hospital pain clinic consultation. The objective of this research was to examine the relationship between patient-rated physician empathy and patient satisfaction after a single new pain clinic consultation. After institutional ethics committee approval, a sample of 140 adult patients completed a two-page questionnaire, directly after a pain clinic consultation. This included a brief sociodemographic questionnaire, the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure and an overall satisfaction rating. The sample, N = 140 patients, was balanced for gender and 80% of participants ranged in age from 30 to 70. Of these patients, 80.7% had been living with chronic pain between 1 and 5years. The data were deemed to be non-parametric and a Spearman's ranked order correlation analysis yielded a strong positive correlation between patient-rated physician empathy and patient consultation satisfaction. Patient-rated physician empathy was strongly correlated with patient satisfaction in a pain clinic consultation. Patient satisfaction plays a significant role in adherence to treatment and contributes to a positive working patient-physician therapeutic relationship. This research supports the growing body of research citing the importance of investing in, promoting and developing educational programs for physicians and medical trainees to enhance empathic communication skills within the clinical setting.

Investigating Attachment Status Effects on Preschoolers’ Empathic Perspective-Taking

Attachment theory emphasizes that parents’ responses to children’s emotional distress might shape their ability to empathize with others. Previous research showed that securely attached preschoolers are prone to exhibiting more empathy towards others’ distress compared to insecurely attached children, but less is known about the way attachment influences a particular empathy-related skill, namely perspective-taking. The current study’s aim was to evaluate attachment status effects on preschool children’s empathic perspective-taking employing a multi-component conceptualization including affective, cognitive and behavioral perspective-taking. The sample included 212 children aged between 3 and 5. The attachment story completion task was employed to assess children’s internal working models concerning the quality of the parent–child attachment relationship. Additionally, a modified version of the Kid’s Empathic Development Scale was administered to evaluate children’s self-reported affective, cognitive and behavioral empathic perspective-taking. The results consistently revealed that the insecure avoidant group, but not the insecure ambivalent group, scored significantly lower on all dimensions of empathic perspective-taking compared to the secure category. These findings suggest that in typically developing preschoolers, insecure avoidant attachment patterns might be associated with overall difficulties in perspective-taking abilities, whereas insecure ambivalent attachment patterns could be responsible for more specific perspective-taking difficulties related to eliciting prosocial behaviors (i.e., behavioral perspective-taking). These findings could have implications for designing interventions aimed at enhancing parents’ ability to support the development of their children’s empathic perspective-taking skills.

Interrelation between empathy and friendship development during (pre)adolescence and the moderating effect of developmental language disorder: A longitudinal study

AbstractThe association between empathy and friendship quality in children and adolescents is well established, but longitudinal studies are lacking. Because social interactions typically involve language, these relations might be moderated by children's communication problems. The current study examined the interrelation of friendship quality (positive and negative) and empathy (affective, cognitive, and prosocial motivation) development of 317 children (8–16 years old) at three time points across 18 months. Of these children 112 had a developmental language disorder (DLD). Results confirmed a bidirectional relation between empathy and friendship quality across time. Cognitive empathy and prosocial motivation contributed to the development of more positive friendship features in children with and without DLD. For children with unstable friendships, more cognitive empathy was related to fewer negative friendship features. Positive friendship features in turn contributed to higher empathy on all three aspects. Negative friendship features were related to higher affective empathy and lower prosocial motivation in both groups, but did not predict empathy development across time. These results imply that positive friendship features are important for development of empathic skills and vice versa that empathy enables children to grow in friendship quality in children with and without DLD.

A proactive targeted approach to preventing adolescent aggressive behaviours

ABSTRACTThe aim of this research was to critically examine methods for reducing incidences of aggression within adolescence. To achieve this aim, a proactive intervention programme was devised and implemented aimed at changing attitudes towards physical and relational aggression through social skills education within the College’s tutorial programme. The research involved the implementation of an intervention programme that consisted of three workshops based on social skills training, problem solving and anger management techniques, the development of empathic skills, education on the role of the bystander, and victimisation prevention strategies (N = 158). Two self-report questionnaires were administered, pre-test and post-test to analyse the effectiveness of the intervention programme. The questionnaires included measures of attitude towards physical and relational aggression; victimisation; popularity and aggression; bystander and victimisation beliefs; and empathy towards victims. A control group completed the two questionnaires in the same time frame but without undertaking the intervention workshops. Post implementation, aggression scores for both physical and relational aggression significantly decreased for the intervention group against a control. Additionally, popularity was found to positively correlate with both physical and relational aggression. This study highlights the necessity for intervention programmes in educational environments in terms of the shaping of prosocial attitudes of students and to ensure the safeguarding of students.

ADVERTISING IN THE CONTEXT OF EMPATHY

Globalization, commodity parity, consumer sovereignty, super competition and a broad variety of other factors, including the roll-out of the mass media, the emergence and rapid rise of the new media formats and platforms as well as the exchange of information provided by social networks pose new challenges for the advertising industry. Throughout its 150 years of history, since we have known it as a distinct occupation and practice, advertising shows adaptive sustainability quality and greatly enhance its capacity as features, forms, user approaches and distribution channels. Nevertheless, by its very nature, advertising retains the constant of an asymmetric pattern of communication in which, in nowadays environment, the success of effort is expressed in the formula of understanding others and the willingness they to understand us in return. In practice, beyond the abstract of this formula, the effort of advertisers in the process of creating and planning a certain campaign would be greatly facilitated by putting the basic principles of empathy theory. Numerous experiments and studies of this human ability establish working models to achieve effective contact both at the level of personal communication and in the cases of direct and indirect communication with huge quantity and variety of audiences with specific composition. Synthesized and brought to a universal level of application, the basic principle of empathy is the ability, rather cognitive than emotional, to understand and to feel the feelings of others. The achievements in this psychology field currently apply mainly to psychotherapy, clinical psychiatry, pedagogy and political rhetoric theories and ractices. Experience proves that empathic skills help the communicator for faster, easier, more effective and more properly understood and accordingly more efficient as a moderator. This article provokes a new paradigm for advertisers in communicating with the public - about the content, forms and planning of communication activities of the principles of empathy. The goal of the effort is clear - creating more effective communication and achieving a sustainablecompetitive advantage.