In pre-adolescence period the examination of the empathy levels in gifted students in proportion to the children with normal development

The empathy ability which stated as the ability of the individual to feel and understand person's emotional and psychological state by putting itself in person's place is said to be not only the ability to understand the feelings of the other person but also the ability to express these feelings. The empathy skills required for healthy communication and interaction of the human who is a social being are a subject that has been frequently researched and discussed in recent times. The main purpose of this study is to compare the in pre-adolescence period, the empathy levels in gifted students in proportion to the children with normal development. Empathy sense has an important role in interpersonal communication and positive relationships. For the sense of empathy that cannot develop suddenly, in this development process, the effect of family, school and immediate environment is great. In this study, empathy levels of students were also compared with some of their demographic characteristics. The research is made with the students between the ages of 12- 14 who get training in the Istanbul province of Turkey. In this research, the Demographic Questionnaire organized by me and the Ka-Si Empathic Tendency Scale on the Adolescents developed by Kaya and Siyez in 2010 were used. As a result of the research, it was found that the empathy levels of the gifted students were significantly higher than the students with normal development. Key Words: Gifted Students, Empathy, Adolescence