Today we talk about one of the most destructive feelings. If you want to know more about why we hate or how it affects us, don't miss this article.
Last update: July 14, 2022
Have you ever heard of the psychology of hate? Our unique communication skills and the means at our disposal allow us to know a good part of the emotions and feelings that influence our social interactions.
Fortunately, most of them are positive, they help to grow and give value and importance to those who let themselves be permeated by them. Love is a clear example of this.
This sentiment has received enormous attention not only from human relations studies, but also from the consumer industry. But what about the other side of the coin: hatred? What place does it occupy in the study of human existence?
Numerous and disparate sources allows us to understand love: novels, films, scientific and philosophical research, etc. But what about hate? What materials do we consult to understand the psychology of hate?
What is hate?
There are many definitions of the term "hate". It has been considered in multiple ways: as an emotional attitude, normative judgment, sentiment, motivation, generalized evaluation, etc.
Despite the conceptual discrepancies, one component is always present: the desire to hurt the other. This desire can be a means to an end or an end in itself.
In other words, we may wish to harm another to restore established order, elevate ourselves, gain pleasure, assert our autonomy, or prevent abandonment. In all these cases, regardless of the intent, the aim is to harm.
On an interpersonal level, hatred performs various functions such as self-repair, revenge, communication of emotional states or restoration of autonomy. At the intergroup level, it was considered a functional means for political behaviors, such as affiliation and cohesion within the group.
Understood as a short or long term feeling, hatred is altered and intensified by other emotions, such as revenge, anger, contempt. Several factors intervene in the complexity, chronicity and stability of this feeling, especially at the motivational level.
Hate, therefore, is influenced by motivation which intensifies basic tendencies to action. Roseman (2008) has suggested that these action tendencies are an intrinsic part of the emotional experience and labeled them as "emotional" components of the emotional system.
Although hatred is influenced by other emotions, such as anger, dislike and contempt, it should not be identified with them. Scientific research reveals that hate is more exciting than these three moral emotions and is closer to contempt than anger and disgust.
A real surprise! Common sense tells us it's more like anger, but research says otherwise. As is often the case, our common sense doesn't always guess right.
Psychology of hate: differences between hate and anger
Hate and anger are distinguished in terms of evaluation, action tendencies and motivational goals. As far as evaluations are concerned, angry conduct is described as being influenced and modifiable.
In the case of hatred, however, the conduct is considered stable and unable to alter its negative characteristics. Furthermore, these assessments are directed at the person and not at the actions of him, as in the case of anger.
In relation to action tendencies and motivational goals, hatred differs from anger in that it aims to harm, humiliate or destroy (kill) the other, while anger aims to force the other to act in a given way. Although they both have some similarities, their emotional goals are totally different.
Neural Correlate in the Psychology of Hate
In a research it was found that seeing a hated face increases the activity of the medial frontal gyrus, specifically in the right putamen, premotor cortex, frontal lobe and medial insula.
The researchers also discovered three areas where activation is linearly correlated with hate levels: the right insula, right premotor cortex, and right frontomedial gyrus.
Research shows that there is a unique pattern of brain activity when the person feels hatred. Although this pattern differs from that associated with romantic love, the two share two areas: the putamen and the insula.
Psychology of hate and the theory of the triangle
Like the triangular theory of love, hatred also has a triangular structure according to Sternberg's theoretical model. The three components of this structure are: intimacy, passion and commitment. In the case of hatred, these are presented in their negative version.
Intimacy
The first component of hatred is the denial of intimacy. If in love, intimacy implies emotional closeness, in the case of hate, its denial it implies an active search for emotional distancing, for detachment.
This distance is due to the fact that the individual or group arouses repulsion or disgust in those who feel hatred. These feelings can lie dormant for years.
Passion
Passion in hate is made up of fear or anger in response to a threat. Anger leads to approaching the hated object in order to attack or destroy it, while fear leads to its avoidance.
The fight and flight reaction is part of hatred, because the person is perceived as a real or imaginary danger, so you have to run away or eliminate it.
Commitment
This component is characterized by devaluations and attitudes of contempt towards what you hate, be it a group or a person. It is very common for the hated object to be seen as subhuman.
The goal of those who promote hatred is for the group or person to be devalued by others as well and perceived as something to be rejected, destroyed or harmed.
As in the triangular theory of love, the combination of these three components forms different types of hatred:
- Freddo: disgust (denial of intimacy). Characterized by feelings of disgust.
- Heat: anger / fear (passion). It is characterized by feelings of anger or fear. The reaction can be flight or attack.
- Cold: devaluation / decrease (commitment). This type of cold hatred is based on thoughts of unworthiness towards the hated person or group.
- Boiling: disgust (denial of intimacy + passion). It is characterized by feelings of disgust combined with anger or fear towards the hated object.
- Simmer: disgust (denial of intimacy + commitment). It is based on feelings of aversion and thoughts of unworthiness towards the hated person or group. There are also feelings of disgust.
- Hot: insult (passion + commitment). The hated person is a threat, she always has been and always will be.
- Burning: annihilation (denial of intimacy + passion + commitment). It is characterized by a vehement desire to destroy the other, to annihilate him.
Conclusions
Hatred is a sentiment that has caused a lot of destruction on our planet, not only resulting in the deaths of millions of human lives, but also animals.
Although this sentiment has evolved for adaptive purposes, the way we use it it affects not only our survival as individuals, but also as a species.
