Emotional intelligence, empathy and professional interests among psychology students

Posljednjih dvadesetak godina došlo je do povećanog interesa za konstrukte emocionalne inteligencije i empatije. Kako su sve više istraživani u raznim kontekstima, i mi smo se odlučili istražiti postoji li razlika u ova dva konstrukta među studentima psihologije s obzirom na dob i spol te kakve profesionalne interese u psihologiji imaju. U svrhu otkrivanja koji su profesionalni interesi u psihologiji „hladni“, a koji „topli“, provedeno je predistraživanje na apsolventima psihologije (N=34). U glavnom istraživanju sudjelovalo je 325 sudionika preddiplomskih studija psihologije Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Instrument korišten u istraživanju sastojao se od kratkog demografskog upitnika koji je uključivao pitanje o njihovim profesionalnim interesima te upitnika emocionalne inteligencije UEK-45 i upitnika empatije PROLI_Empatija. Studentice psihologije su imale više rezultatena svim skalama empatije, no u emocionalnoj inteligenciji nije bilo spolne razlike. Dobne razlike nisu pronađene ni za jednu od skala. Razlika s obzirom na profesionalne interese u emocionalnoj inteligenciji i njezinim subskalama nije bilo, a isti rezultat dobiven je i za subskalu kognitivne empatije. Međutim, razlike su se pokazale značajnima na subskali emocionalne empatije. Takvi rezultati nam ukazuju na to da sposobnost prepoznavanja, imenovanja i izražavanja emocija, koja je u domeni emocionalne inteligencije i u određenoj mjeri kognitivne empatije, posjeduju svi psiholozi u istoj mjeri, dok upravo oni psiholozi koji imaju snažnu potrebu za emocionalnim empatiziranjem odabiru „tople“ grane psihologije.Over the past 20 years, we have seen an increase in interest concerning emotional intelligence and empathy. Adding to studying these constructs within different fields, the aim of this study was to test whether there were any statistically significant differences in emotional intelligence and empathy among psychology students in regard to their gender, age andprofessional interests. To investigate which branches of psychology were considered „warm“, and which „cold“,a preliminary study was conducted among advanced university students (N=34). In our main study, we tested 325 undergraduate students of psychology from University of Zagreb. Our participants filled in 3 separate instruments – a short demographic questionnaire which also contained questions about their professional interest, UEK-45, an emotional intelligence measure and PROLI_Empatija, an empathy measure. Regarding gender we found that women scored higher on empathy and its subscales, while there was no gender effect in emotional intelligence. Age differences were not found for any of the scales used in this research. Regarding differences in professional interests, no substantial differences were found in emotional intelligence or its subscales, as well as in cognitive empathy. However, we found statistically significant differences in emotionalempathy. These results show that while all psychologists may have the same desire and ability to recognize, name and express emotions, only those who have a strong need for empathizing with others have „warm“ professional interests