The Possibilities of Empathy in Preventing Interpersonal Conflicts in the Educational Environment of a Higher Education Institution

Abstract

The present article studies the possibilities of empathy in preventing interpersonal conflicts in the sphere of higher education. Interpersonal conflicts are regarded from the sociopedagogical perspective as a complex phenomenon, the emergence and development of which is predetermined by the personal features of the participants of the education process. The success of mediation in a conflict between learners is determined by the knowledge of factors that decrease the probability of a conflict situation. Empathy is one of the personal features that may be employed to prevent conflict situations and to expand the range of applicable mediation technologies. The empirical study was carried out with students majoring in psychology, medicine and technical science aged from 18 to 24. The empathy level diagnostic questionnaires by V.V. Boyko and A. Megrabian were used. It was found that the psychology students feature the best developed empathy. Empathy brings the learners together, cuts down aggressive tendencies, blocks competitive attitude towards students with special needs. Empathy develops the fundamental neutral relations between conflicting parties, which is essential to prevent interpersonal conflicts. A conclusion on the importance of developing empathic capacity of the students majoring in mediation is made Pages

Well-Being Literacy in the Academic Landscape: Trioethnographic Inquiry Into Scholarly Writing

“…People experience feeling cared for and respected (Rogers, 1951;Stephens et al, 2012), positive energy (Quinn & Dutton, 2005), vitality (Liu et al, 2022), wellness (Deci & Ryan, 2014), personal growth (Lee et al, 2018;Stephens & Carmeli, 2015), and high-quality motivation and performance (Ryan & Deci, 2017), all of which could be argued as valuable enablers of academic writing. Relationships are a valuable workplace resource (Reis & Gable, 2003) that can be developed (Smith et al, 2021) via perspective-taking (cognitive skill; Longmire & Harrison, 2018), expression of empathy (Smolyaninova et al, 2020), expression of positive emotion (emotional skills; Vacharkulksemsuk & Fredrickson, 2013), and being respectful and taskenabling (behavioural skills; Stephens et al, 2012). As collaborative scholars who value ongoing intellectual and personal growth, our intentional nurturing of positive relationships, with ourselves and with others, is pivotal for both writing well and well-being.…”

Humanitarization of University Training by Means of Mediation: Problem Statement

“…However, at universities these events often have one-time character, and therefore formation of the conflict-free communication culture is not carried out systematically. One of the key conditions for organizing educational process at the university is creation and maintenance of a conflict-free educational environment, which implies developing personal qualities of the actors of the educational process, the qualities necessary for positive interaction: empathy, benevolence, authenticity, purposefulness, initiative, openness, decisiveness, reflexivity (Smolyaninova, Korshunova, 2019;Smolyaninova, Posokhova, Izotova, 2020). It is possible to develop these qualities while mastering basis of mediation.…”

Strategic Upgrade of the Master’s Programme “Mediation in Education” in Digital Transformation Context

“…The university environment based on the "education pipe" type with a comparatively stable curriculum and a set of disciplines loses to the model of individual education plans. The question of the influence made by the personal qualities of the mediators on the success of mediation procedures have been previously studied by many authors (Allakhverdova, 2012;Zdrok, 2018;Smolianinova, Posokhova, Izotova, 2020).…”