Hate: Toward understanding its distinctive features across interpersonal and intergroup targets.

Abstract

Is hate fundamentally different from other negative emotions? Despite a fair amount of theorizing about hate, there is little empirical evidence that helps to answer this basic question. The present research examines how people construe interpersonal and intergroup hate and provides an empirical analysis of how hate is conceptually different from dislike, anger, contempt, and disgust. In five preregistered studies, using exploratory (Pilot Study) and confirmatory (Studies 1, and 2a through 2c) within-subjects designs, we asked adult participants in the United States (N total = 1,074) to describe examples of their interpersonal and intergroup targets of hate, dislike, anger, contempt, and disgust. We assessed their subjective experiences of each emotion by measuring the associated intensity, duration, arousal, valence, perceived threats, and action tendencies. Across studies, results revealed that participants feel consistently more emotionally aroused, personally threatened, and inclined toward attack-oriented behaviors when experiencing hate as compared with dislike, anger, contempt and disgust toward interpersonal targets. At the intergroup level, results revealed that participants experience hate as more arousing than the three moral emotions, more intense than dislike, anger and contempt, and feel more inclined toward attack-oriented behaviors than when they feel dislike and contempt. Results are in line with a general pattern of increasing differentiation suggesting that hate is conceptually closer to disgust and contempt than to anger and dislike. We discuss the specific differences and similarities between hate and these emotions across targets and their implications for future research on hate and negative emotions.

Intergroup threat, knowledge of the outgroup, and willingness to purchase ingroup and outgroup products: The mediating role of intergroup emotions

“…As compared to anger, which is usually short-term and triggered by an explosive event, hatred, as a long-term and extremely negative emotion, is more arousing and intense and more strongly drives attackoriented behaviours (Martínez et al, 2022). In fact, research has shown that hatred is conceptually closer to disgust than to anger, as disgust is also a stable and long-lasting emotion (Martínez et al, 2022).…”

“…In fact, research has shown that hatred is conceptually closer to disgust than to anger, as disgust is also a stable and long-lasting emotion (Martínez et al, 2022). Although disgust is usually considered to elicit avoidance reactions according to research on pathogen threat from evolutionary psychology (e.g., Dawydiak et al, 2020), it also predicts active harm to an outgroup, most typically by means of stigmatizing and discriminating against its members (Hodson, et al, 2013;Martínez et al, 2022). We therefore predict both hatred and disgust to mediate the effects of outgroup threats on willingness to purchase ingroup and outgroup products as follows:…”

“…Although anger has long been assumed to be the most powerful emotional determinant of intergroup aggression, recent research suggests that hatred, which usually emerges in prolonged intergroup conflicts, can be an even stronger predictor of aggressive actions against the outgroup (Halperin, 2011; Halperin et al., 2009). As compared to anger, which is usually short‐term and triggered by an explosive event, hatred, as a long‐term and extremely negative emotion, is more arousing and intense and more strongly drives attack‐oriented behaviours (Martínez et al., 2022). In fact, research has shown that hatred is conceptually closer to disgust than to anger, as disgust is also a stable and long‐lasting emotion (Martínez et al., 2022).…”

“…As compared to anger, which is usually short‐term and triggered by an explosive event, hatred, as a long‐term and extremely negative emotion, is more arousing and intense and more strongly drives attack‐oriented behaviours (Martínez et al., 2022). In fact, research has shown that hatred is conceptually closer to disgust than to anger, as disgust is also a stable and long‐lasting emotion (Martínez et al., 2022). Although disgust is usually considered to elicit avoidance reactions according to research on pathogen threat from evolutionary psychology (e.g., Dawydiak et al., 2020), it also predicts active harm to an outgroup, most typically by means of stigmatizing and discriminating against its members (Hodson, et al., 2013; Martínez et al., 2022).…”

“…In fact, research has shown that hatred is conceptually closer to disgust than to anger, as disgust is also a stable and long‐lasting emotion (Martínez et al., 2022). Although disgust is usually considered to elicit avoidance reactions according to research on pathogen threat from evolutionary psychology (e.g., Dawydiak et al., 2020), it also predicts active harm to an outgroup, most typically by means of stigmatizing and discriminating against its members (Hodson, et al., 2013; Martínez et al., 2022). We therefore predict both hatred and disgust to mediate the effects of outgroup threats on willingness to purchase ingroup and outgroup products as follows: Hypothesis Realistic and symbolic threats will increase hatred of the outgroup, thus increasing willingness to purchase ingroup products while decreasing willingness to purchase outgroup products. Hypothesis Realistic and symbolic threats will increase disgust of the outgroup, thus increasing willingness to purchase ingroup products while decreasing willingness to purchase outgroup products.…”