Peculiarities of development of empathy and reflection of students engaged in visual art

The goal of this research is to determine the peculiarities of development of empathy and reflection of students engaged in visual art. The article employs the following methodology: “Diagnostics of the level of empathy” of V. V. Boyko,  “Diagnostics of reflection” of A. V. Karpov, questionnaire of D. A. Leontiev, E. M. Laptev, E. N. Osin A. Z. Salikhov “Differential type of reflection”, the author’s original questionnaire that contains questions on the pursuit of creative activity. The research is based on the method of statistical analysis of frequency distribution tables; one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov criterion; statistical analysis of two-dimensional contingency tables; univariate dispersion analysis . The survey involved the first, second, third and fourth year university students majoring in different disciplines. It is established that the level of development of empathy and reflexivity, as well as such types of reflection as systemic reflection, quasi-reflection and introspection among students engaged in visual art is higher than that among students of other faculties (with the exception of psychology students). The novelty of this work is substantiated by the empirical data on psychological nuances of the students engaged in visual art. The results can be useful in psychotherapy and educational practices. The conclusion is made that creative activity may contribute to understanding other people's emotions and the reasons behind own feelings. It is also noted that persons with vivid empathic and reflexive traits can pursue visual art.