What causes hatred? Is it learned or inherent?

[tabloid]

did anyone ever learn a lesson from the beheading of nicolas berg?a human being being butchered by fellow human beings.Hatred does exist;my question is,what causes hatred?is it something that comes as a result of someone using you,or is it just hatred for who someone is?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

did anyone ever learn a lesson from the beheading of nicolas berg?a human being being butchered by fellow human beings.

People kill for many reasons. Hate is only one of them.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=100992

Hatred does exist;my question is,what causes hatred?is it something that comes as a result of someone using you,or is it just hatred for who someone is?

From a completely dispassionate point of view, I would say that hate occurs when someone is perceived as a severe threat; either to life, liberty, property, or ideology. At the deepest level I would imagine that it is our survival and territorial instincts at work. .

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I see an often referenced book called The Science of Hate, by a Russian writer.
The science of hatred
by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007FR8A8/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Also,
Prisoners of Hate
The cognitive basis of anger, hostility, and violence.
http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060932008

 

[Danger]

How often do Bill Maher and Pat Robertson agree on politics?

Robertson is a parasite. He'll publicly embrace whoever is in power, then seize upon certain aspects of that person's ideology and try to pervert them to his own evil ends.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Are you feeling especially ideologically territorial today?

A number of people have commented on this signature...

Note also that what Robertson said is absolutely true. When you're right, you're right.

 

[Danger]

Are you feeling especially ideologically territorial today?

It's probably best that I don't get involved in a conversation about this. Things could get really ugly really quickly.
(Ivan, feel free to PM me if you want to have a serious discussion about it.
This offer doesn't apply to anyone else.)

 

[Loren Booda]

Does hate promote survival, or is it a pathological "gene" that expresses by chance?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It is easy to see how hate, or the base instinct for hate, could aid survival. One example that comes to mind is the dominant bully in elementary school. Often these kids have a lot of anger, which is why they bully, and they do usually rule the playground. In fact we have an entire Constitution that protects us from adult bullies, like Hitler.

 

[Brilliant!]

If Evolution is true, than hate is something that evolved in us. If Evolution favors those traits which aid in survival in a given environment, then hate is likely the "off" position of some survival light switch. Without researching it, we can assume that happiness is indicator of good circumstance, of favorable situation. Those things which inspire hate are often threats to our happiness. If we are most happy believing one thing, and we are told something to the contrary, we may feel anger and hate before we move to something more reasonable, like thoughtfulness or acceptance.

Perhaps that's it. In any situation where we are generally happy or complacent, we can describe ourselves as "surviving without immediate threat." Those things that we hate are those things that endanger this "safe" existence.

This may also be a partial explanation for why humans are creatures of habit, and get into routine so easily.

Sorry if this isn't very coherent. It was a "live" process of deduction, and I was typing as it occurred to me.

 

[Danger]

I agree with posts #8 & #9. Hate is generally based upon fear. That can result from a perceived threat to one's own position in society, one's group dynamics in society, or even one's entire society in relation to the rest of the world. However stupid the rational, people will always find a reason to hate. It's human nature.

 

[tabloid]

hatred needs to be treated seriously,ive seen it in someones eyes-its not a good thing.perhaps its jealousy,or its just a conflict of "soul image"

 

[redargon]

hatred needs to be treated seriously

what do you mean treated? Should it be studied or ways of reducing it be developed?

its not a good thing

that's the usual consensus

perhaps its jealousy,or its just a conflict of "soul image"

oh crap, it's one of those threads...

 

[BobG]

Does hate promote survival, or is it a pathological "gene" that expresses by chance?

I think some do have some internal problem that causes them to hate a lot.

But in healthy people, hate promotes survival. Sometimes there's a direct benefit to hating other groups - at least at a hunter-gatherer level of culture. Sometimes, genning up some good old fashioned hate makes it easier for a person to do something that's definitely in their best interest, but they feel pretty bad about having to do it.

Divorcing an alcoholic, for example. In one respect, it's like being on a sinking ship with one lifeboat left and you tell them, "Guess what. It turns out I never did love you enough to die for you. I'm getting on the lifeboat and you're just going to have to swim for it. You might make it. I mean, people have swum the English Channel, after all." It's a lot easier to leave a situation you just can't handle anymore if you hate the other person for everything they've ever done because of drinking.