Characteristic features of the manifestation of empathy of psychologists and psychology students

Profession of psychologist requires from the individual special abilities: to understand the emotional state of the client, to be sincere in the relationship with the client, to reflect and convey the feelings experienced at the moment. It is impossible to achieve efficiency in the professional activities without practical mastering of such psychic reality as empathy. The approaches to the problems of empathy abound with dozens of definitions, models of empathic process, stages, levels, and mechanisms. The polysemantic character of the term «empathy» often causes researchers to use rather monosemantic, in their opinion, concepts such as «identification», «sympathy». Empathy (from GK. empatheia - empathy) is a category of modern psychology, which means understanding of the emotional state of another person, involuntary experiencing similar feelings, sympathizing with him. The problem of studying empathy is always topical in psychology. The problem of research and development of empathy is especially important for the professional development of students-psychologists. To show empathy towards the person means to look at the situation from his point of view, to experience similar feelings, to understand and accept his current emotional state. To be in the state of empathy means to perceive the inner world of another person accurately, maintaining the emotional connotations, what enhances efficiency in professional psychological activity.