Summary Sizikova M (Эмпатия как личностная черта и профессиональное качество психологов-консультантов с различным стажем практической деятельности)

National Research University Higher School of EconomicsMargarita SizikovaEmpathy as Personality Trait and Professional Quality ofCounselling Psychologists with Different Length of ProfessionalExperiencePhD Dissertation Summaryfor the purpose of obtainingPhilosophy Doctor in Psychology HSEAcademic supervisоr:Prof., Doctor of ScienceVadim PetrovskiyMoscow 2018Relevance of the studyThe profession of counseling psychologist is nowadays acquiring moreandmoreimportanceinRussia.However,personalpsychologicalcharacteristics of an expert who has been trained in this profession, dynamics ofdevelopment of counseling psychologist’s essential skills and competenciesduring professional experience are still little studied. Empathy is one of thecentral features of a successful counseling psychologist as is recognized by themajority of experts.

Thereby current study is focused on investigation andcomparison of empathy degree among novice and experienced professionals.Personal characteristics and skills of a specialist don't remain static andunchangeable with an increase of working experience. Individual andprofessional investigation approaches to empathy are of particular scientificinterest. In such a way it is possible to investigate two forms of empathy: onethat is a personality trait and the other that is a professional quality, shown inprofessional contact with client.The subject is relevant due to a high necessity of studying personalcharacteristics and professional skills of a counseling psychologist at differentstages of professional life with a view to improving the subjective well-being,increasing the effectiveness of psychological assistance and preventing theburn-out which is affecting those who work in human service professions.Research problemNondistinction of concept of empathy as a personality trait and as aprofessional characteristic of personality is widespread.This results in acommon inconsistency of approaches to definition and investigation ofempathy, in paradoxical results, difficulties in interpretation and predictivemodeling of empirical data.

Most of psychotherapists of different schoolsemphasize the importance of empathy for the psychotherapeutic processorganized by the counseling psychologist, but hardly anybody give concreteexpression to which empathy it is. Correlation between personal and individualand professional and role empathy demonstration of counselors is seldomconsidered and discussed.2An unreasonable transfer of the results of investigation of personalempathy at understanding and characterization of professional empathyexpression is in evidence. Extrapolating of data obtained in tests of empathy aspersonality trait to make decisions on professional empathy is considerednormal by default (V.

Boyko's questionnaire use is an example).Many Russian and foreign researches highlight that empathy degreearouses along with working time, thus appearing that empathy level is biggerwithin experienced psychotherapists than within young professionals, herewithit is not defined whether we're talking about personal and individual empathy orthe professional one. Consequently it is very important to decide on legitimacyof such conclusion.Thus we find important to make a distinction, to define and to study thetwo concerned empathy types of a counseling psychotherapist at various stagesof practice.Theoretical assumptions of B. Ananiev and V. Shadrikov are keys toanalyze the two types of empathy.

Their work highlights the importance ofdistinction of such human capacities as "personality", "actor/subject of activity",which in terms of S. Rubinstein are "united but not equivalent".We also proceed from the understanding of "personality" that don'treduce the person term to a complex ("collection") of "characteristics", butdescribes it as incorporated in a set of activity-mediated social bonds andrelations (A.

Petrovsky), as a "significant other to significant others" (V.Petrovsky).Research object: Empathy of counseling psychologistsResearch subject: Expression of empathy as personal characteristic andprofessional skill within counseling psychologists with various practicalexperience.Goals of the study: Investigate characteristics of empathy as personalquality and professional skill in counseling psychologists with different lengthof practical experience.Research objectives:31. To analyze scientific literature concerning empathy concept in order todemonstrate the importance of considering empathy as personal trait andprofessional quality of counseling psychologist.2. To seek and select methodology for study empathy as empathy aspersonal trait and professional quality of counseling psychologist.3.

To ascertain and analyze the level of empathy as a personal trait amongcounseling psychologists with different length of practical experience.4. To investigate and compare professional empathy level of counselingpsychologists with different length of practical experience.5.Toidentifycorrelationsbetweenpracticalexperienceandparticularities of empathy acts among counseling psychologists.HypothesisEmpathy as personality trait is more intense within experiencedpsychologists than in beginning ones.Empathy as professional trait comes at a higher level within experiencedpsychologists than within beginning ones.The theoretical basis and methodological framework of this study arethe fundamental principles of subject-assignment (B.

Ananiev, A. Leontiev,S.Rubinstein, V. Merlin, V. Shadrikov), general personology (V. Petrovsky, E.Starovoitenko), person-centered and accepting therapy (C. Rogers, F. Vasiliuk,T. Kariagina, A. Orlov) approaches.Research design.We used questioning, psychological survey and expert assessment ofcounseling audio records in this study.We used the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the BarrettLennard Relationship Inventory for testing. We used the Therapist empathyscale (TES), description and assessment scale of Empathy Semiotic factors andRogers and Truax Empathy scale for expert assessment.We used methods of descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha estimate ofinternal consistency, comparison of means techniques (Mann-Whitney U-test)4and correlational analysis (Spearman correlation coefficient) in statistical andempirical data analysis.Reliability and validity of the results are ensured by representativesampling and theoretical and practical relevance of methods used.

A total of 63respondents participated in this study: 32 counseling psychologists with 1-3years of working experience and 31 counseling psychologists with a workingexperience of 7-15 years. We managed, recorded and postprocessed 63experimental sessionsv as part of the study. All respondents were consulting inhumanistic psychology approach.We used IBM SPSS 23 software package for statistical analysis ofresults.The scientific novelty of the studyTwo forms of empathy were described within counseling psychologists:personal empathy and professional empathy.

Multivariate analysis of empathy'sdemostration of counseling psychologist as part of professional work wasperformed. Relationship between empathy's degree in personnality andempathic manifestations in working activities was determined. Comparativeanalysis of empathy's degree within begginning and experienced counselingpsychologists was made.We applied professional empathy's studing techniques translated fromEnglish (Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (BLRI), designed for atripartite assessment of empathy (from the consultant, client and observer'spoints of view) and the Therapist Empathy Scale, which allows to asses variousaspects of therapist empathy to russian-speaking population for the first timeever.Theoretical relevance of research consists in distinction and correlationof two empathy's aspects – personality trait and professional quality ofcounseling psychologist.

With regard to psychotherapic counseling we confirmthe relevancy and necessity of the differenciation of such human being levels as“actor” and “personality” (in combination of its features and its outcome onother people), mentioned in literature.5Practical issues. Collected data on development and changing ofconsultant psycologists' empathy can be used to work out effective studyprogramms for the field. Research results can be applied to screen futureprofessional counseling psychologists, to render professional support for expertsduring their practice with a goal of improving the effectiveness of professionals,and to counteract the emotional burnout.Techniques translation made as part of research can be used to assesscounseling psychologist performance in theraupeutic interactions and foreducational purposes.

Those techniques can help in realizing assistance qualitycontrol and reviewing efficiency of counseling psychology training.Theoretical and empirical parts results can be applied to academicalprogram in general and counseling psychology sections. On basis of dissertationresults, we elaborated a practical workshop in development of empathy asprofessional characteristic for counseling psychologist.Key points.1.We shall differentiate two constructs: empathy as personality traitand empathy as professional characteristic of personality when we describeempathy of counseling psychologist.As personality trait, empathy is arelatively immanent personal tendency to understand feellings of other byplacing oneself in another's position which manifests in behaviour. Professionalempathy is a deliberate mindset of psychologist displayed over process ofcounselling, that can be arranged by a professional in order to experience andunderstand feellings of the client by placing oneself in client's position withoutloosing a personal boundry, resulting in client feeling oneself heard andunderstood.2.We found no significant difference in personal empathy degreewithin beginning and experienced counsellors, except an intention of gettinginto the inner world of fictional characters, which is strongly expressed, innovice professionals.3.Professional empathy comes in a higher level within experiencedthen within beginning psychologists.64.Novice counsellors show positive correlation between lenght ofprofessional experience and degree of some characteristics of personal andprofessional empathy.