Political and religious hatreds may persist over centuries and can seem immutable even as all else changes. Factional hatred has a powerful emotional hold over us even though it hurts us practically, psychologically, and somatically.
The origins of tribalism are mysterious. It may not be a pan-human trait as evolutionary psychologists sometimes claim. Hunter-gatherers were remarkably peaceful and there is no archaeological evidence for warfare prior to settled agriculture.
Even if marked group hostility is comparatively recent, there is no doubt that farming communities often went to war over fertile land. Warfare became even more intense in complex societies where neighboring tribes fought for control over cities and the treasures they contained.
Whatever its origins, group hostility is a common feature of human social behavior that plays out in bitter antagonisms among kin groups, tribes, religions, and even sports teams.
Group affiliations are two-faced: In the plus column, they provide an important sense of belonging that improves our psychological and physical well-being. In the negative column, they may create social friction that compromises our health and happiness.
Hostility carries a steep health cost; hostile individuals are at greater risk of heart disease, and whether hostility is assessed as a personality trait, as an emotional condition, or as a propensity towards confrontational behavior, it is associated with worse health outcomes.
Confrontation evokes preparatory physiological responses, known as the fight-or-flight response, that produces respiratory arousal and produces physiological wear and tear. This is true of animals fighting during the breeding system, for example, and it is also true of civilians living through military confrontations and civil wars.
On the surface, feeling hatred for another group is a bad idea because it is so physiologically costly. Yet hatred also has a cohesive function: It can bind people together as they face a common foe.
The cohesive function of hostility is a feature of animal behavior. Small birds coalesce to mob a large bird of prey that threatens their nests. Similarly, territorial monkeys come together to threaten rival groups near their territorial borders.
Humans get in on the act as well, whether it is a group of fans chanting at sports event, or participants in a political protest screaming slogans against their enemies. Such events draw people together and contribute to a sense of togetherness and belonging. Whether one is a fan, an activist, or a member of any social group, these identities produce lifelong social affiliations and may become the central focus of a person's social life. Hatred of shared enemies is the adhesive that binds these groups together.
We should not conflate the harmless rivalry of football clubs with serious psychological consequences of civil wars and military engagements. It is true that one war – between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969 — was inflamed by a soccer rivalry but the conflict had its origin in immigration problems and land reform. Sports fans may shout at each other but they rarely go to war.
Unfortunately, political conflicts often do lead to violence that creates its own self-sustaining circular logic. We are all familiar with the seemingly intractable conflicts of history, sich as Protestant versus Catholic, Arab versus Jew, or autocracy versus democracy.
As they roll from century to century, religious and political hatreds have a certain tragic inevitability. These disputes are recursive and each iteration draws from a seemingly bottomless well of historical resentment. Most historians would accept that religious and ideological wars are unwinnable but they continue to be fought, drawing from a historical reservoir of hate. They cannot end until the hatred is challenged. One recent example of successfully confronting hate is the North of Ireland.
One reason that religious and political hatreds persist over generations is that groups are rigidly segregated. It is difficult to hate people with whom we interact on a regular basis whether they are schoolmates, teammates, neighbors, or those we encounter repeatedly in shops, restaurants, or public markets.
Northern Ireland was a divided community similar to apartheid-era South Africa. It had, and still has, barriers constructed to prevent violence between Protestants and Catholics. The barriers were called “peace walls.” They served largely as tourist attractions after the peaceful power-sharing government had been established.
The 1998 Good Friday accords that brought peace began with the extremists sitting down together and recognizing that their common interests were better served by renouncing violence. In addition to the advantage of peace, the agreement ingeniously recognized that residents could be British, or Irish, or European, or some combination of identities.
Unfortunately, the Brexit deal opened up old wounds, eventually freezing government action and preventing communication across the political divide. Brexit has opened Pandora's box.
How People Become Emotionally Invested in Hate
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15.02.2024
Political and religious hatreds may persist over centuries and can seem immutable even as all else changes. Factional hatred has a powerful emotional hold over us even though it hurts us practically, psychologically, and somatically.
The origins of tribalism are mysterious. It may not be a pan-human trait as evolutionary psychologists sometimes claim. Hunter-gatherers were remarkably peaceful and there is no archaeological evidence for warfare prior to settled agriculture.
Even if marked group hostility is comparatively recent, there is no doubt that farming communities often went to war over fertile land. Warfare became even more intense in complex societies where neighboring tribes fought for control over cities and the treasures they contained.
Whatever its origins, group hostility is a common feature of human social behavior that plays out in bitter antagonisms among kin groups, tribes, religions, and even sports teams.
Group affiliations are two-faced: In the plus column, they provide an important sense of belonging that improves our psychological and physical well-being. In the negative column, they may create social friction that compromises our health and happiness.
Hostility carries a steep health cost; hostile........
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