Counteracting hatred -- excerpts from "Why We Hate" by Rush Dozier, Jr.
Dozier, Jr., Rush. 2002. "Why We Hate: Understanding, Curbing, and Eliminating Hate in Ourselves and Our World." Contemporary Books.
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31 - The flood of recent scientific insights into the nature of our emotions suggests a set of ten strategies that, when used in tandem, could prevent hate from ever developing and minimize or eliminate hate where it takes hold. The strategies are be specific, empathize, communicate, negotiate, educate, cooperate, put things in perspective, avoid feeling trapped, immerse yourself, and seek justice not revenge ...First, be specific--in other words, identify any source of anger, pain, or threat with as much specificity and detail as possible ...
32 - This approach is critically important with children ...Second, develop and us-us orientation, which requires you to try to empathize with others, even those with whom you have little or no natural sympathy. Empathy is not the same as sympathy. Through empathy we seek to understand--not justify--another person's thoughts and feelings ...There is a growing body of evidence that the brain is remarkably like a muscle. The more its capacities are exercised, the more they strengthen ...When violence or war is unavoidable, an empathetic us-us perspective promotes reconciliation afterward.
33 - Third, simply communicating the specific reasons that you feel angry or threatened can help dissipate negative emotions. The important point, again, is to be specific ...Fourth, beyong simple communication, whenever possible seek to negotiate constructively and specifically to resolve sources of conflict and anger.
Fifth, educate yourself and others ... The more specific the knowledge you have about an individual, group, or culture, for example, the less likely you are to fall into stereotypes, which are the breeding ground of hate ... But education itself is not enough unless it incorporates empathy, specificity, and the
34 - other elements of this strategy. When Hitler came to power, Germany was probably the best-educated nation in the world.Sixth, try to cooperate with others in mutually beneficial ways whenever possible ... social pyschologists have discovered that cooperating with others to achieve a common goal tends to activate subconscious mechanisms in the primitive neural system that can erase us-them divisions ...Seventh, try to put things into perspective rather than overreact. You might ask, for example, whether your anger is worth it or whether a threat is really that important ...Eighth, make every effort to avoud a sense of being trapped. This may require the application of all previous steps, particularly communication and negotiation. If you are unhappy in your job, for example, let people know in a constructive way and, if possible, negotiate some changes. If you find that there is nothing you can do to change things, you might start exploring opportunities elsewhere. Or you might try to put things in a different perspective by viewing the frustrations you feel as creative challenges that can lead you to a new level of personal growth.Ninth, if for whatever reason ... you find yourself gripped by hostility, even hatred, make every effort to seek out opportunities to immerse yourself in a positive way with the source of your hate. At the height of the cold war, for instance, American presidents regularly met face-to-face with Communist leaders.
35 - Tenth, and finally, seek justice, not revenge. Vengeful hated tends to lock us into the past. In areas of the world that are dominated by hate, grievances are never forgotten, and the cycle or revenge and retaliation can go on for centuries ...
36 - Obtaining justice can be complex and difficult, but it requires a determined effort to seek a fair resolution of conflicts rather than a primitive venting of hostility and agression.
RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
Hate is irrational. Though the initial reason for dislike may, in some cases, by perfectly reasonable, once hatred has taken hold someone cannot be rationally talked out of it any more than you can rationally talk someone out of his or her fear of heights ...But hatred is often highly resistant to change because, unlike most phobias, hate can be linked to elaborate rationalizations ... People may passionately believe in these warped meaning systems and fool themselves into thinking that they are being completely reasonable when they are not. For beneath all their rational argument is intense, primitive, stereotyped hostility.
57 - Paul MacLean, who for many years was the chief of the laboratory of brain evolution and behavior of the National Institute of Mental Health, pioneered the modern formulation of the limbic system. Though the functional specifics of the human emotional system remain a matter of controversy, many neuroscientists have found the limbic system concept useful in understanding the evolutionary structure of the brain. MacLean put the limbic system in a larger context within what he called the triune brain. This framework conceptualizes the brain as having three interconnected evolutionary levels: the reptilian brain, the old mammalian brain, and the new mammalian brain. The reptilian level consists of the upper brain stem, diencephalon, basal ganglia, and rudimentary elements of the limbic system. MacLean found that the reptilian brain con- [continued on next page]58 - tains the largely instinctual programs for self-preservation: fighting, fleeing, mating, establishing territory, hunting. Many of these instincts are lodged in the basal ganglia, which are the most highly developed portions of the reptile brain. The basal ganglia are ancient motor centers that have a special responsibility for automatic movements. In humans, it is the basal ganglia that cause us to instinctively flinch, duck, jump, brace, bolt, or freeze when threatened. Reptomammals such as the therapsides were an intermediate step toward the old mammalian brain, which fully emerged with the evolution of true mammals. At this evolutionary level, the limbic system was greatly elaborated and became the most highly developed portion of the brain. In primitive mammals such as rodents and rabbits, the limbic system--including the amygdala, hippocampus, cingulate cortex, and related structures--occupies a much higher percentage of the brain than in advanced mammals such as primates. The old mammalian brain added elaborate emotional behavior to the instincts of the reptile. This included care for the young and play behavior.The most recent evolutionary level is the new mammalian brain, which reached its fullest development in primates. It is dominated by a huge neocortex. Within the neocortex of the new mammalian brain, consciousness emerged. The powers of abstraction, complex language, and planning attained their highest levels. The reptilian and old mammalian levels continue to function, however, and constitute the reptomammalian portion of the human brain--what we have previously referred to as the primitive neural system. Our version of the reptomammalian brain is more advanced than the therapsid version--because our limbic system is more highly developed--but it is still quite primitive, and its behaviors are mediated by structures such as the amygdala.
59- Complex mental states such as love and hate as well as complex behaviors such as sexuality and agression involve widespread networks of many specialized centers in the brain. Neuroscience is just beginning to understand...The basic archetecture of our brain helps explain why we consciously know the reptomammalian portion of our mind only indirectly--through the primitive emotions and stereotypes its signals to our consciousness. We never directly enter its primitive awareness. Like many other brain systems, it operates in parallel with the system that generates our consciousness, using a different network.
141 - [Dozier quotes genome scientist, J. Craig Venter, head of Celera company that sequenced genome; spaced-out dots are direct from book] "...In the five Celera genomes, there's no way to tell one ethnicity from another . . . as individuals we are all unique and population statistics do not apply. . . ."
141 - Human races, science is concluding, are fictions created by cultural meaning systems. The reason is that our species, from an evolutionary standpoint, is brand new. There has not been enough time for significant genetic differences to accumulate among different human populations ... modern humans seem to have evolved from a group of a few thousand individuals little more than a hundred thousand years ago. Scientists are learning that many of the differences in physical appearance among different human populations may boil down to the tiniest of genetic divergences--perhaps variations in only a single gene that affects the skin.
145- The racial, ethnic, and other distinctions we make among ourselves... are biologically superficial. Genetically, there are no significant differences among human groups.
228 - Psychologists have identified seven major characteristics of the primitive mind. The first of these is associative thinking. The primitive neural system tends to causally link phenomena that have only a superficial association, especially in time and space. This is a primary source of superstitions and taboos.
229 - A second characteristic of the primitive mind is generalized thinking. We have explored the limited ability of the primitive mind to grasp uniqueness. Thus, if one snake poses a threat, there is an innate disposition to see all snakes as threatening. This tendency to engage in another logical fallacy--hasty generalization--can have castastrophic consequences when combined with hatred ... Osama bin Laden doesn't limit his attacks to the governments of Israel and the United States--whose policies he abhors--but to all "Jews and crusaders." We see the same kind of primitive generalization and stereotyping over and over in genocidal conflicts. The limbic system is capable of lumping other human beings into enormous threat categories based on sweeping characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and so forth.
230 - When confronted with hated enemies the primitive mind often has a simple but terrifying response: kill them.This leads to the third major characteristic of the primitive mind, which is categorical thinking. Not only does the primitive neural system reason in terms of stereotypes, it assesses those stereotypes using a kind of either-or logic--somone or something is either good or bad, a friend or an enemy, one of us or one of them, superior or inferior. Unique individuality is lost on a racist or bigot, or on those consumed by other forms of hate. Associative thinking, misplaced causality, generalized thinking, and categorical thinking make it plain how easy it is for hate to spread ... Associations like this seem irrational to the advanced neural system, yet they are completely consistent with primitive logic. And if you talk with someone who honestly believes this kind of thing, he or she will assure you with great sincerity that he or she is being perfectly reasonable.We exist simultaneously in two worlds: advanced and primitive. As our thought processes shift from the advanced to the primitive neural system when confronted with a serious threat, ideas that once seemed preposterous can suddenly make sense.
231 - The primitive mind has other qualities that tend to subvert advanced rationality, including a fourth characteristic that can be described as personalized thinking. Here, everything is related to one's own emotional needs and desires. The primitive neural system contains stereotypes about ourselves as well as others. These stereotypes may incorporate our insecurities. Personalized thinking can lead to extreme sensitivity and overreaction to criticism ...The result could be feelings of hatred or self-hate. Personalized thinking tends to suppress empathy for others and focus only on oneself and one's perceived emotional needs.The capacity for empathy is centered in the orbitofrontal portion of the prefrontal cortex, one of the most advanced areas of the brain. Many of the attributes of the primitive mind result from disabling such advanced capacities. A fifth characteristic--thinking fixated on either the past or the immediate present--is another of these attributes. The prefrontal cortex allows us to spin sophisticated
232 - scenarios that look ahead to future possibilities. We can then analyze and choose from among these potential scenarios using advanced neural choice. But the primitive mind tends to interpret everything from the perspective of its current situation, wants, and needs. As part of this assessment, it considers past grievances, pleasures, and pains. Because it engages in little reflection or anticipation, the primitive mind often chooses quickly, reacting impulsively and emotionally. We see this in children and adolescents, whose prefrontal areas have not fully matured.
237 - Hate is personal. So is vengence. Justice is not.
264- Slobodan Milosevic, the ex-president of Yugoslavia, who was turned over to the international tribunal in June 2001 to face charges of genocide, war crimes, and crime against humanity...Milosevic... seems to represent another personality type that psychologistshave found potentially dangerous because of their extraordinary lack of empathy: the narcissist. Social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister said narcissism is "characterized by inflated or grandiose views of self, the quest for excessive admiration, an unreasonable or exaggerated sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy (that is, being unable to identify with the feelings of others), an exploitative attitude toward others, a proneness to envy or wish to be envied, frequent fantasies of greatness, and arrogance." The irrationally high self-esteem of a narcissist makes it almost impossible to admit mistakes and be empathetic with others, no matter what the situation ... Narcissists are sometimes
265 - attracted to politics because it provides the adulation and power (another word for control) to which they believe they are entitled. But the narcissist can be hypersensitive and react violently to any perceived threats....Although its inner mechanisms are not well understood, narcissism seems to include a form of primitive self-love. Primitive love--as, for example, the instinctive love between parent and child--involves primal bonding. In the case of the narcissist, this may take the form of a powerful, primitive bond with his or her positive self-image. The strength of this self-centered bond may leave little psychic energy for bonding with others, even vicariously...Thus, the narcissist's bond with his own self-image resembles the instinctive bond between a parent and child. Just as a parent tends to react strongly, even violently, to a threat to his child, the narcissist seems to feel the same protective urge toward his swollen self-image. The narcissist's limbic system, through some psychic quirk that we haven't yet discovered, appears to regard the protection of his self-image as vital to his survival and reproduction ... Thus, both individuals and groups, as Baumeister observed, "should beward of people who regard themselves as superior to others, especially when those beliefs are inflated, weakly grounded in reality or heavily dependent on having others confirm them frequently. Conceited, self-important individuals turn nasty toward those who puncture their bubbles of self-love." Narcissists make dangerous rulers.Studies of extremely violent criminals find that a high percentage believe themselves to be members of an elite group that deserves special treatment.
277 - What does all this mean? It suggests something quite remarkable: the mechanisms that produce us-them distinctions, prejudice, hate, and violence--though they are genetically structured and lodged in the mind of each of us--are largely activated by the environment.
------------------------------
31 - The flood of recent scientific insights into the nature of our emotions suggests a set of ten strategies that, when used in tandem, could prevent hate from ever developing and minimize or eliminate hate where it takes hold. The strategies are be specific, empathize, communicate, negotiate, educate, cooperate, put things in perspective, avoid feeling trapped, immerse yourself, and seek justice not revenge ...First, be specific--in other words, identify any source of anger, pain, or threat with as much specificity and detail as possible ...
32 - This approach is critically important with children ...Second, develop and us-us orientation, which requires you to try to empathize with others, even those with whom you have little or no natural sympathy. Empathy is not the same as sympathy. Through empathy we seek to understand--not justify--another person's thoughts and feelings ...There is a growing body of evidence that the brain is remarkably like a muscle. The more its capacities are exercised, the more they strengthen ...When violence or war is unavoidable, an empathetic us-us perspective promotes reconciliation afterward.
33 - Third, simply communicating the specific reasons that you feel angry or threatened can help dissipate negative emotions. The important point, again, is to be specific ...Fourth, beyong simple communication, whenever possible seek to negotiate constructively and specifically to resolve sources of conflict and anger.
Fifth, educate yourself and others ... The more specific the knowledge you have about an individual, group, or culture, for example, the less likely you are to fall into stereotypes, which are the breeding ground of hate ... But education itself is not enough unless it incorporates empathy, specificity, and the
34 - other elements of this strategy. When Hitler came to power, Germany was probably the best-educated nation in the world.Sixth, try to cooperate with others in mutually beneficial ways whenever possible ... social pyschologists have discovered that cooperating with others to achieve a common goal tends to activate subconscious mechanisms in the primitive neural system that can erase us-them divisions ...Seventh, try to put things into perspective rather than overreact. You might ask, for example, whether your anger is worth it or whether a threat is really that important ...Eighth, make every effort to avoud a sense of being trapped. This may require the application of all previous steps, particularly communication and negotiation. If you are unhappy in your job, for example, let people know in a constructive way and, if possible, negotiate some changes. If you find that there is nothing you can do to change things, you might start exploring opportunities elsewhere. Or you might try to put things in a different perspective by viewing the frustrations you feel as creative challenges that can lead you to a new level of personal growth.Ninth, if for whatever reason ... you find yourself gripped by hostility, even hatred, make every effort to seek out opportunities to immerse yourself in a positive way with the source of your hate. At the height of the cold war, for instance, American presidents regularly met face-to-face with Communist leaders.
35 - Tenth, and finally, seek justice, not revenge. Vengeful hated tends to lock us into the past. In areas of the world that are dominated by hate, grievances are never forgotten, and the cycle or revenge and retaliation can go on for centuries ...
36 - Obtaining justice can be complex and difficult, but it requires a determined effort to seek a fair resolution of conflicts rather than a primitive venting of hostility and agression.
RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
Hate is irrational. Though the initial reason for dislike may, in some cases, by perfectly reasonable, once hatred has taken hold someone cannot be rationally talked out of it any more than you can rationally talk someone out of his or her fear of heights ...But hatred is often highly resistant to change because, unlike most phobias, hate can be linked to elaborate rationalizations ... People may passionately believe in these warped meaning systems and fool themselves into thinking that they are being completely reasonable when they are not. For beneath all their rational argument is intense, primitive, stereotyped hostility.
57 - Paul MacLean, who for many years was the chief of the laboratory of brain evolution and behavior of the National Institute of Mental Health, pioneered the modern formulation of the limbic system. Though the functional specifics of the human emotional system remain a matter of controversy, many neuroscientists have found the limbic system concept useful in understanding the evolutionary structure of the brain. MacLean put the limbic system in a larger context within what he called the triune brain. This framework conceptualizes the brain as having three interconnected evolutionary levels: the reptilian brain, the old mammalian brain, and the new mammalian brain. The reptilian level consists of the upper brain stem, diencephalon, basal ganglia, and rudimentary elements of the limbic system. MacLean found that the reptilian brain con- [continued on next page]58 - tains the largely instinctual programs for self-preservation: fighting, fleeing, mating, establishing territory, hunting. Many of these instincts are lodged in the basal ganglia, which are the most highly developed portions of the reptile brain. The basal ganglia are ancient motor centers that have a special responsibility for automatic movements. In humans, it is the basal ganglia that cause us to instinctively flinch, duck, jump, brace, bolt, or freeze when threatened. Reptomammals such as the therapsides were an intermediate step toward the old mammalian brain, which fully emerged with the evolution of true mammals. At this evolutionary level, the limbic system was greatly elaborated and became the most highly developed portion of the brain. In primitive mammals such as rodents and rabbits, the limbic system--including the amygdala, hippocampus, cingulate cortex, and related structures--occupies a much higher percentage of the brain than in advanced mammals such as primates. The old mammalian brain added elaborate emotional behavior to the instincts of the reptile. This included care for the young and play behavior.The most recent evolutionary level is the new mammalian brain, which reached its fullest development in primates. It is dominated by a huge neocortex. Within the neocortex of the new mammalian brain, consciousness emerged. The powers of abstraction, complex language, and planning attained their highest levels. The reptilian and old mammalian levels continue to function, however, and constitute the reptomammalian portion of the human brain--what we have previously referred to as the primitive neural system. Our version of the reptomammalian brain is more advanced than the therapsid version--because our limbic system is more highly developed--but it is still quite primitive, and its behaviors are mediated by structures such as the amygdala.
59- Complex mental states such as love and hate as well as complex behaviors such as sexuality and agression involve widespread networks of many specialized centers in the brain. Neuroscience is just beginning to understand...The basic archetecture of our brain helps explain why we consciously know the reptomammalian portion of our mind only indirectly--through the primitive emotions and stereotypes its signals to our consciousness. We never directly enter its primitive awareness. Like many other brain systems, it operates in parallel with the system that generates our consciousness, using a different network.
141 - [Dozier quotes genome scientist, J. Craig Venter, head of Celera company that sequenced genome; spaced-out dots are direct from book] "...In the five Celera genomes, there's no way to tell one ethnicity from another . . . as individuals we are all unique and population statistics do not apply. . . ."
141 - Human races, science is concluding, are fictions created by cultural meaning systems. The reason is that our species, from an evolutionary standpoint, is brand new. There has not been enough time for significant genetic differences to accumulate among different human populations ... modern humans seem to have evolved from a group of a few thousand individuals little more than a hundred thousand years ago. Scientists are learning that many of the differences in physical appearance among different human populations may boil down to the tiniest of genetic divergences--perhaps variations in only a single gene that affects the skin.
145- The racial, ethnic, and other distinctions we make among ourselves... are biologically superficial. Genetically, there are no significant differences among human groups.
228 - Psychologists have identified seven major characteristics of the primitive mind. The first of these is associative thinking. The primitive neural system tends to causally link phenomena that have only a superficial association, especially in time and space. This is a primary source of superstitions and taboos.
229 - A second characteristic of the primitive mind is generalized thinking. We have explored the limited ability of the primitive mind to grasp uniqueness. Thus, if one snake poses a threat, there is an innate disposition to see all snakes as threatening. This tendency to engage in another logical fallacy--hasty generalization--can have castastrophic consequences when combined with hatred ... Osama bin Laden doesn't limit his attacks to the governments of Israel and the United States--whose policies he abhors--but to all "Jews and crusaders." We see the same kind of primitive generalization and stereotyping over and over in genocidal conflicts. The limbic system is capable of lumping other human beings into enormous threat categories based on sweeping characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and so forth.
230 - When confronted with hated enemies the primitive mind often has a simple but terrifying response: kill them.This leads to the third major characteristic of the primitive mind, which is categorical thinking. Not only does the primitive neural system reason in terms of stereotypes, it assesses those stereotypes using a kind of either-or logic--somone or something is either good or bad, a friend or an enemy, one of us or one of them, superior or inferior. Unique individuality is lost on a racist or bigot, or on those consumed by other forms of hate. Associative thinking, misplaced causality, generalized thinking, and categorical thinking make it plain how easy it is for hate to spread ... Associations like this seem irrational to the advanced neural system, yet they are completely consistent with primitive logic. And if you talk with someone who honestly believes this kind of thing, he or she will assure you with great sincerity that he or she is being perfectly reasonable.We exist simultaneously in two worlds: advanced and primitive. As our thought processes shift from the advanced to the primitive neural system when confronted with a serious threat, ideas that once seemed preposterous can suddenly make sense.
231 - The primitive mind has other qualities that tend to subvert advanced rationality, including a fourth characteristic that can be described as personalized thinking. Here, everything is related to one's own emotional needs and desires. The primitive neural system contains stereotypes about ourselves as well as others. These stereotypes may incorporate our insecurities. Personalized thinking can lead to extreme sensitivity and overreaction to criticism ...The result could be feelings of hatred or self-hate. Personalized thinking tends to suppress empathy for others and focus only on oneself and one's perceived emotional needs.The capacity for empathy is centered in the orbitofrontal portion of the prefrontal cortex, one of the most advanced areas of the brain. Many of the attributes of the primitive mind result from disabling such advanced capacities. A fifth characteristic--thinking fixated on either the past or the immediate present--is another of these attributes. The prefrontal cortex allows us to spin sophisticated
232 - scenarios that look ahead to future possibilities. We can then analyze and choose from among these potential scenarios using advanced neural choice. But the primitive mind tends to interpret everything from the perspective of its current situation, wants, and needs. As part of this assessment, it considers past grievances, pleasures, and pains. Because it engages in little reflection or anticipation, the primitive mind often chooses quickly, reacting impulsively and emotionally. We see this in children and adolescents, whose prefrontal areas have not fully matured.
237 - Hate is personal. So is vengence. Justice is not.
264- Slobodan Milosevic, the ex-president of Yugoslavia, who was turned over to the international tribunal in June 2001 to face charges of genocide, war crimes, and crime against humanity...Milosevic... seems to represent another personality type that psychologistshave found potentially dangerous because of their extraordinary lack of empathy: the narcissist. Social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister said narcissism is "characterized by inflated or grandiose views of self, the quest for excessive admiration, an unreasonable or exaggerated sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy (that is, being unable to identify with the feelings of others), an exploitative attitude toward others, a proneness to envy or wish to be envied, frequent fantasies of greatness, and arrogance." The irrationally high self-esteem of a narcissist makes it almost impossible to admit mistakes and be empathetic with others, no matter what the situation ... Narcissists are sometimes
265 - attracted to politics because it provides the adulation and power (another word for control) to which they believe they are entitled. But the narcissist can be hypersensitive and react violently to any perceived threats....Although its inner mechanisms are not well understood, narcissism seems to include a form of primitive self-love. Primitive love--as, for example, the instinctive love between parent and child--involves primal bonding. In the case of the narcissist, this may take the form of a powerful, primitive bond with his or her positive self-image. The strength of this self-centered bond may leave little psychic energy for bonding with others, even vicariously...Thus, the narcissist's bond with his own self-image resembles the instinctive bond between a parent and child. Just as a parent tends to react strongly, even violently, to a threat to his child, the narcissist seems to feel the same protective urge toward his swollen self-image. The narcissist's limbic system, through some psychic quirk that we haven't yet discovered, appears to regard the protection of his self-image as vital to his survival and reproduction ... Thus, both individuals and groups, as Baumeister observed, "should beward of people who regard themselves as superior to others, especially when those beliefs are inflated, weakly grounded in reality or heavily dependent on having others confirm them frequently. Conceited, self-important individuals turn nasty toward those who puncture their bubbles of self-love." Narcissists make dangerous rulers.Studies of extremely violent criminals find that a high percentage believe themselves to be members of an elite group that deserves special treatment.
277 - What does all this mean? It suggests something quite remarkable: the mechanisms that produce us-them distinctions, prejudice, hate, and violence--though they are genetically structured and lodged in the mind of each of us--are largely activated by the environment.
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