The Alexithymia and the Engagement with Beauty

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of the connection between alexithymia and sensitivity to beauty among students of the department «Psychology» of the Institute of Medicine and Psychology V. Zelman of Novosibirsk State University and students of the department «Mechatronics and Robotics. Artificial Intelligence» of the Institute of Intelligent Robotics of Novosibirsk State University. The sample consisted of 74 subjects aged from 17 to 33 years (30 men and 44 women). The subjects were equally distributed in the areas: 37 people were bachelors in the department of «Psychology» and 37 people were bachelors in the department of «Mechatronics and Robotics. Artificial intelligence». The study used the Toronto Alexithymic Scale TAS-26 and the Engagement with Beauty Scale. A negative relationship was confirmed between the level of alexithymia and the level of sensitivity to the beauty of ideas. Additionally, results were obtained related to the differences between students of the department «Psychology» and students of the department «Mechatronics and Robotics. Artificial intelligence». Psychology students are more susceptible to the inner beauty of a person than programming students and, accordingly, they have a greater level of general sensitivity to beauty. Also, as additional confirmation, the results obtained in a previous study about the difference between men and women in the level of receptivity to the beauty of nature were confirmed: women are more receptive to the beauty of nature than men [Nosova, 2022].