The Psychology of Hate

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/nurturing-self-compassion/201703/the-psychology-hate

https://time.com/4685169/douglasville-birthday-party-hate-crime-prison/

Recently, several members of a group calling itself “Respect the Flag” were sentenced to prison for terrorizing guests at the birthday party of an 8-year-old African-American girl in Georgia. Pointing a shotgun, they yelled racial slurs and death threats at guests, including children.

Fear of Ourselves

According to Washington, D.C. clinical psychologist Dana Harron, the things people hate about others are the things that they fear within themselves. She suggests thinking about the targeted group or person as a movie screen onto which we project unwanted parts of the self. The idea is, “I’m not terrible; you are.”

This phenomenon is known as projection, a term coined by Freud to describe our tendency to reject what we don’t like about ourselves. Psychologist Brad Reedy further describes projection as our need to be good, which causes us to project “badness” outward and attack it:

“We developed this method to survive, for any ‘badness’ in us put us at risk for being rejected and alone. So we repressed the things that we thought were bad (what others told us or suggested to us that was unlovable and morally reprehensible) and we employ hate and judgment towards others.

We think that is how one rids oneself of undesirable traits, but this method only perpetuates repression, which leads to many mental health issues.”

There are justified reasons for this sometimes:

Fear of “The Other”

According to A.J. Marsden, assistant professor of psychology and human services at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida, one reason we hate is because we fear things that are different from us.

Behavioral researcher Patrick Wanis cites in-group out-group theory, which posits that when we feel threatened by perceived outsiders, we instinctively turn toward our in-group—those with whom we identify—as a survival mechanism.

Wanis explains, “Hatred is driven by two key emotions of love and aggression: One, love for the in-group—the group that is favored; and two, aggression for the out-group—the group that has been deemed as being different, dangerous, and a threat to the in-group.”

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One thought on “The Psychology of Hate”

  1. The White South is just a sea of horrific “people” as we’ve seen throughout the Trump Era and especially now. We’d be a much better more civilized and safer country if we just let them, or better yet, FORCED them to secede.

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