Determination of Perceptions of Social Studies Teacher Candidates about Empathy by means of Metaphors

In this study, it was aimed to determine the perceptions of social studies teacher candidates about the concept of empathy through metaphors. The study group consisted of 116 teacher candidates studying in the Department of Social Studies Education of Abant ？zzet Baysal University in 2017-2018 Academic Year. The study is a qualitative research in descriptive screening model. Social studies teacher candidates who participated in this study were asked to complete the sentence of “empathy is like …………. because…………….” The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis method. Each participant generating metaphors is identified by the codes. In the study, teacher candidates developed a total of 54 metaphors. These metaphors are gathered under 8 themes. These themes are self-fulfilling, sharing feelings and thoughts, mutual empathy, the symbol of love and respect, respect for differences, lifestyle, healthy communication and reflections of feelings. Only one of the teacher candidates in the research used a negative expression by developing the metaphor of identity theft for empathy. All other teacher candidates developed metaphors corresponding to positive expressions related to empathy