Why do people hate?

Ideas53:58Why do people hate?

Why do we hate others? What is behind the strong sense of hatred between groups in our society?

The anger and animosity felt towards others can result, in its extreme, in deadly outbreaks of violence.

The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, or CIFAR, is a globally influential research organization that involves scholars from around the world.  

CIFAR members have identified a list of 10 reasons to hate others.

A list, if left unchecked, turns into a cycle of hate that only builds and intensifies. 

IDEAS producer Mary Lynk talked to three of the CIFAR scholars who helped identify the 10 reasons we hate the other, and also how to break this cycle of hate, onstage at Neptune Theatre, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Here are some excerpts from the panel discussion.

Stephen Reicher | Professor of Social Psychology, University of St. Andrews, Scotland

"In many ways, you could argue that hate and love, rather than being opposites, are two sides of exactly the same coin. If you go to a Trump rally, which, from the outside, many people might see as talking about hate, hatred for immigrants, hatred for people of different sexuality, ethnicity, and so on. Trump talks about those rallies as an occasion of love.

"And if you listen to those who are there, they too talk about the love for each other, their patriotism, their love for America. That particular and toxic definition of 'we,' and their love of the 'we,' entails a hatred and a desire to destroy all that they see as at odds with, and as threatening the 'we'. So yes, love and hate are often integrally tied together. They're not two opposites." 

Prerna Singh | Professor of Political Science, Brown University, U.S.

"Hate is neither intrinsic nor is it inevitable. And for me, as a political scientist and as perhaps for all social scientists, it is constructed, it is mobilized. And the cycle of hate that we describe really begins by talking about:  'How does that begin? So to answer your question about how did we get to this point now, when I think certainly a lot of people would agree that hate, in terms of hateful attitudes, hateful behaviour, is having an unprecedented moment, not just in the United States, but in India, where I'm from, and also in many other parts of the world. But where does it begin? "


Victoria Esses | Professor of Psychology, Western University, London, Ontario 

"We're hoping that the cycle and publicizing the cycle and really getting it out to the public, will allow people to see that if they have particular thoughts, if they're starting to think things, if certain things are starting to happen, it's time to stop. And that you can break the cycle early on. It's easier to break the circle than once it gets going. And so the idea is really to inoculate people and to also develop some sort of early warning sign…

"I think we have more power than we think we do. And that it really is… up to us to intervene, it's up to all of us to intervene and to think about how sometimes our lack of action is just as bad as our action. Not intervening when you see something happening or when you hear about something. So I would say remember that we all do have some power to stop hate."

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*Excerpts are edited for clarity and length. This episode is produced by Mary Lynk.