Hatred: Our Negative Moral Appraisals

Hate has been hypothesized as a learned emotion, which usually develops in the emotionally formative years of 6-8. However, researchers have argued that “hate is linked to morality through negative moral appraisals (1).” Moral appraisals are not learned between the ages of 6-8 but rather much later in life.

Propaganda, also not a learned experience of early childhood development, is also seen as a potential influencer toward hatred, especially when it relates to one’s political ideology.

Contempt and Hate

Contempt is characterized as a way of negatively and comparatively regarding someone who is presented as falling below one’s personal baseline (3). They are considered ‘less than’. This definition would encompass most forms of racial or religious prejudice and economic bias. This dimension of hatred provides the hater with feelings of superiority and entitlement. Contempt gives rise to a belief that the hater has the right to judge. Judgement becomes an outward expression of one’s hatred.

Anger and Hate

Anger is a significant part of hatred. However, hatred is more of an ingrained belief system. Anger can be the manifestation or reaction to the more complex concept of hate. Anger is the emotional response, usually more short-lived, but hatred is possibly the core of that response.

Hatred with anger contains a blaming component and this is where actions toward others can turn violent. Feelings of blame are usually projections onto others, freeing ourselves from being responsible.

Disgust and Hate

Disgust represents the most tangible example of moral appraisal. Those people experiencing disgust view their hatred as justified due to the immoral or undesirable qualities of the object of their hate. There is an attempt to avoid contact with anyone or anything that constitutes one’s disgust.

Moral Concerns

To date, research on hate is minimal. The moral appraisals gap at present is a worldwide issue. Differences in ideologies around the globe are fuelling massive hatred, which is mainly derived from ignorance and bias.

In a time when communication has never been more readily available, we have never been less efficient at fruitful dialogue. When moral appraisals are so diverse, we will need to be much more articulate in our ability to decrease these moral appraisal gaps.

We would have to start by forgiving our differences. By forgiving our differences we can eliminate the need for retaliation and take on new ideas and experiences that will help us bridge the gaps. This applies to individual differences as well as international. Hopefully, we will not forget what we have learned.