Understanding and Overcoming Hate
  • Home
    • Content Previews
    • Petition to American Electrorate
  • Overview
    • Site Contents
    • About This Site
    • Features
    • Future Developments
    • Index of All Topics
    • Index of All Links
    • Links to all slideshows
  • Understanding Hate
    • Introduction
    • What is Hate? >
      • Hate as an Emotion >
        • Papers: Hate as an Emotion
      • Hate as a Belief >
        • Papers: Hate as Belief
      • Hate as an Act >
        • Papers: Hate as an Act
      • Hate as a Policy >
        • Papers: Hate as Policy
    • The Roots of Hate >
      • Early Imprints >
        • When Needs are Not Met
        • Papers; Not Meeting Needs
      • What Are We Doing To Our Children? >
        • Children in Dire Circumstances
      • Effects of Trauma and Abuse >
        • Papers: Stress Effects
        • Papers: Trauma Abuse Effects
        • Links: Stress, Trauma Research
      • Causes and Effects of Bullying
      • Trauma, bigotry, violence linked
      • Authoritarian Upbringings >
        • Papers: Authoritarian Roots
        • Papers: SDO and Authoritarianism
      • Absolutism and Insularity >
        • Papers: Absolutism
      • Papers: Early Roots of Prejudice
      • Impaired Cognition >
        • Papers: Impaired Cognition
      • The Violent Brain >
        • Papers: Violent Brain
      • Roots of Violence and Cruelty >
        • Chart: Powderkeg Formula
        • Papers: Roots of Violence
        • Articles and Blog Posts
      • Ghosts of the Past >
        • Ripples of revenge
        • Papers: Ghosts of the Past
    • How Hate Manifests >
      • Chart
      • Everyday Hate >
        • Papers: Social Rejection
        • Papers: Bullying
      • Social Injustice and Discrimination >
        • Papers: Discrimination
        • Papers: Inequality
        • Articles: Inequality Effects
        • Articles: Cognitive Exhaustion
        • "White" Privilege
      • Stereotyping and Caricature >
        • Papers: Stereotyping
        • Stereotyping
      • Prejudice, Racism and Bigotry >
        • Articles and Blog Posts
        • Papers: Prejudice Racism
        • Papers: Skin color and face
        • Papers: InGroup Outgroup
        • Papers: Implicit Bias
        • Evolutionary Issues >
          • More blog posts
      • Dehumanizing >
        • Views about the outsider
        • Papers: Dehumanizing
      • Hate Crimes >
        • Papers: Hate Crimes
      • Hate Groups >
        • Links: Hate Groups Research
        • Papers and news: Hate Groups
      • Abuse of Power >
        • Papers: Abuse of Power
        • Evil Men: Tyrants, Dictators
        • Blogs and news
        • Articles: SDO and RWA
      • Xenophobia >
        • Papers: Xenophobia
      • Collective Rage >
        • Papers: Collective Violence
      • Extremism >
        • Papers: Terrorism
        • Papers: Extremism
      • Cruelty on Mass Scale >
        • Links
        • Papers: Cruelty on mass scale
    • Hate in the News >
      • News: Hate in America
      • News: Hate Trends Worldwide
      • Extremism: Current Trends: News
      • Authoritarianism Trends
    • Group Influence >
      • Search for Belonging >
        • Papers: Search for Belonging
      • Social Cognition and Learning >
        • Papers: Fairness
        • Papers: Social Cognition
      • Group Think >
        • Papers: Intergroup Dynamics
        • Papers: Group Think
      • Status and Stigma >
        • Papers: Status and Stigma
      • Conformity >
        • Papers: Conformity
      • Obedience and Compliance >
        • Papers: Obedience
      • Bystander Effect
    • Social Defenses >
      • Papers: Social Defenses
      • System Justification >
        • Papers: System Justification
      • Projection >
        • Papers: Projection
      • Denial >
        • Papers: Denial
        • Examples of Denial
        • Papers: Denialism
      • Attribution and Comparison >
        • Attribution Fallacies
        • Papers: Attribution
      • Cognitive Dissonance >
        • Papers: Cognitive Dissonance
    • Fanning the Flames >
      • Media and Persuasion
      • Papers: Persuasion
      • Papers: Indoctrination
      • Papers: Hate Speech
      • Papers: Attitude change
      • News: Cyberhate
      • Links
      • Media Effects in the News
      • Persuasion: Blog Posts and Articles
    • How We Fool Ourselves >
      • Mechanisms: Cognitive Biases and Heuristics >
        • Papers: Brain Tricks
        • Biases: Blogs and Articles
        • Biases organized
      • On Being Wrong
      • Probability and Decision-Making Biases >
        • Papers and articles
      • Memory Distortions >
        • Papers: Memory illusions
      • Perceptual Illusions >
        • Papers: Perceptual Illusions
        • Illusions: Blog Posts and Articles
      • Self-Deception >
        • Papers: Self-deception
      • Delusion, Confabulation >
        • Papers: Delusions
        • Papers: False Beliefs
      • Conspiracy Theories
      • Papers: Neural mechanisms mystical states
      • Brain and Spirituality: Articles
    • Brain and Belief >
      • What is a Belief? >
        • Papers: Belief Formation
        • Papers: Automaticity
      • Perception and Processing >
        • Papers: Perception
      • Salience and Tagging >
        • Papers: Salience
        • Papers: Essentialism
      • Creating Categories >
        • Papers: Categorizing
      • Cognitive Unconscious
      • Embodied Cognition >
        • Papers: Embodied Cognition
      • Emotion Cognition Interplay >
        • Papers
      • Creating a Story about the World >
        • Papers: Story Creation
      • Investing in Cherished Beliefs >
        • Papers
      • Identifying Self with Belief >
        • Papers
      • Search for Meaning >
        • Papers: Meaning
    • Search for Certainty >
      • Dogmatic Beliefs
      • Belief Perseverance
      • Papers: Feeling of Knowing
      • Papers: Rigid Dogmatic thinking
    • Index: All Biases, Distortions and Influences
  • Overcoming Hate
    • Overview of Topics
    • Introduction
    • Prevention >
      • Meeting Formative Needs of Children >
        • Papers: Child and Brain Development
        • Papers: nurturing, attachment bonding
        • Links: Development
      • Promoting Parental readiness >
        • Papers
        • Links: Helping Parents
      • Supporting Healthy Families >
        • Papers
      • Enhancing Resilience >
        • Papers
      • Cultivating Empathy and Conscience >
        • Roots of Morality
        • Empathic Imagination
        • Mirror Neurons
        • Empathy Programs
        • Links: Empathy
      • All papers: Morality and Empathy >
        • Papers: Roots of Morality and Conscience
        • Papers: Empathy Altruism Compassion
        • Articles, Posts: Empathy
        • Papers: Moral Decision-Making
        • Papers: Moral Cognition
        • Papers: Mirror Neurons
        • Articles: Prosocial Behavior
      • Long-Term Social Investment >
        • Papers
    • Education >
      • Enhancing Emotional and Social Skills >
        • Papers: Emotional Intelligence
        • Papers: Social Cooperation
        • Links: emotional development
      • Building Reflective Minds >
        • Critical Thinking >
          • Papers: Critical Thinking
        • Metacognition >
          • Papers: Metacognition
        • Perceiving Bias >
          • Papers: Perceiving Bias
        • Creative and Lateral Thinking >
          • Papers: Creative Thinking
        • Mindfulness >
          • Papers: Mindfulness
          • Blogs and articles
        • Interoception >
          • Papers: Interoception
        • Fluid and Flexible >
          • Papers: Fluid Intelligence
      • Cross-cultural Awareness >
        • Links: Cross-Cultural
        • Papers: Cultural Neuroscience
        • Articles: Cultural Awareness
      • Media Awareness >
        • Links
        • Papers
      • Teaching an Honest History >
        • Papers
        • Links: Honest History
      • Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility >
        • Papers
      • Ethics Training >
        • Papers
      • Whole Child Learning >
        • Papers
    • Intervention >
      • Social Support and Inclusion >
        • Papers: Social Support
      • Helping Children in Dire Conditions >
        • Papers: Helping children
      • Preventing Violence and Bullying >
        • Anti-bullying programs and resources
        • Helping At-Risk Kids
        • Papers on helping kids
      • Standing Up To Prejudice, Racism, and Bigotry >
        • Papers: Reducing Prejudice
        • Articles: Reducing Prejudice
        • Papers: Stopping hate crimes
        • Papers: Offsetting Extremism
        • Programs and Projects
        • Hatebraker Examples: News
      • Training Our Protectors >
        • Papers: Training Protectors
      • Healing the Hurt >
        • Papers: Healing Hurt
        • Articles and Blog Posts
      • Educating Our Leaders >
        • Papers: Educating Leaders
      • Resolving Conflict >
        • Papers: Resolving Conflict
        • Programs and articles
      • Israel-Palestine >
        • Papers: Israel-Palestine
        • News and blog posts
      • Promoting Dignity >
        • Links: Human Rights
        • Papers: Human Rights
      • Healing the Ghosts of the Past >
        • Papers: Reconciliation
      • Restorative Justice >
        • Papers: Restorative Justice
      • Confronting Mass Atrocities >
        • Papers: Confronting War Crimes
    • Social Advances >
      • Charters and Declarations
      • Slideshow: Social Advances
      • Links: social advances history
      • Timelines: Social Advances
    • More Solutions >
      • Classroom Tools
      • Organizations
      • Programs and Projects
      • Effective Models
  • Resources
    • Academic Papers: Topic Index
    • Background: Sciences Related to Hate >
      • Related Sciences of Hate
      • Social Psychology Subtopics
      • Brain and Life Sciences
      • New Research Tools
      • Links: Brain Mapping
      • Process of Science
      • What is Good Science?
      • Links: Understanding Science
      • Papers: About Good Science
    • Science Links
    • Timelines of Knowledge >
      • Index of all Pioneers
      • Timeline: Early Pioneers
      • Timeline: Group Psychology
      • Timeline: Prejudice
      • Timeline: Persuasion
      • Timeline: Social Psychology Pioneers
      • Timeline: Authoritarianism
      • Timeline: Scientific bias
    • Researchers and Experts >
      • Developmental Foundations
      • Moral Cognition, Empathy
      • Search for Meaning
      • Search for Belonging
      • Search for Certainty
      • Ghosts of the Past
      • Breaking Cycle of Hate: Solutions
    • Other Research and Studies >
      • Syllabi
      • Bibliographies
      • Our Syllabi
    • Recommendations >
      • Books: Topic Overview >
        • Development
        • Empathy, Morality
        • Brain and Belief
        • Tricks of Mind
        • Stress, Trauma, Violence
        • Prejudice, Racism, Stereotyping
        • Overcoming Prejudice, Racism
        • Historical Insight
        • Human Rights Abuses
        • Seminal Works
      • Journals and Magazines
      • Films and Videos
    • Timeline of Hate >
      • Links: Historical Injustice
      • History of Hate in America: articles
      • Index of Historical Injustice
  • Tools
    • Links: Games and Exercises
    • Self-Awareness Tools >
      • What Parents Can do
      • Learning about our Labels
    • Blog

What key lesson can we draw from the rich multidimensional research described in the previous "Understanding Hate" sections? 


Hate does not arise in a vacuum


Humans are endlessly diverse. 
We frequently misunderstand each other. 

We often harshly judge members of outside groups in order to distinguish ourselves from the "others".
And we can feel put down and judged by our rivals or adversaries. We may feel threatened, humiliated, betrayed and dishonored. This can lead us to experience fear, helplessness, vulnerability, and confusion.

These feelings are part of the normal range of human experience

These experiences can become building blocks of hate, especially when they are prolonged and traumatic—and remain unresolved and unacknowledged; When resentment and distrust grow and dignity has been denied.

What transforms hate into moral courage?—and hurt into a powerful desire for justice, compassion and healing? . . .

Around the world we find inspiring examples of those who show great courage, care and commitment toward overcoming hate and cruelty.

The Altruists and the Brave Ones
Examples of people who:
  • Have stood up for others (including strangers) who are being directly mistreated or bullied (at their own peril) 
  • Have risked their lives to rescue others from extreme situations (massacres, genocide, war zones, etc.)
  • Have fully acknowledged and made authentic amends for past abuse
  • Encourage their own nation or group to admit to and make restitution for past atrocities (i.e. Israeli soldiers in Breaking the Silence)
  • Have suffered and survived acts of hate or longer-term discrimination and found resolution or a readiness to forgive

The Freethinkers
Examples of people who:
  • Have overcome their own hate upbringing and become advocates for human or civil rights
  • Have broken the "Conformity Effect" (i.e. whistle-blowers who risk jobs and security to inform the public about cover-ups of torture)
  • Follow their conscience in the midst of peer pressure (kids who decline to join "cool" crowd who ostracize or bully "outcasts")
  • Have broken the "Bystander Effect" (act to stop abuse even when in a crowd of onlookers)

The Activists and Advocates
Examples of people who:
  • Dedicate their lives to changing laws and policies (anti-discrimination, hate crimes, equality, anti-violence, false detention, civil liberties)
  • Set up way-stations and sanctuaries for those in peril or under coercion (i.e. rescue girls sold to brothels, conscripted boys, polygamist cult victims, etc.) 
  • Directly fight against repressive regimes or coercive injustice to uplift disenfranchised groups (i.e. work with "Untouchables", etc.)

The Educators
Examples of people who:
  • Promote tolerance, empathy, and awareness in their communities 
  • Create opportunities for cross-cultural and cross-ethnic friendships (i.e. citizen diplomats, peacemakers, etc.) 
  • Teach the public about the history of hate (i.e. the Holocaust Museum, Vienna's Conscience, etc.)
  • Teach effective ways to mediate among enemies or adversaries (i.e. conflict resolution, etc.)
  • Publicize scientific knowledge about the roots and effects of hate, extremism, prejudice and cruelty
  • Teach the public about bias, denial, system justification, etc.
  • Use creative and artistic methods (art, composition, theater, dance, film, photography, etc.) to help students and survivors express themselves and inspire others
  • Provide opportunities for young people to participate in civic and civil engagement and social responsibility

The Healers
Examples of people who:
  • Help to heal or repair hurtful “Ghosts of the Past” (i.e. therapists for trauma or torture victims)
  • Enter zones of urban violence, war, or conflict to reach out to those in distress (skilled therapists, counselors, and social workers)
  • Facilitate ceremonies, rituals and practices that help communities express grief, loss, shock and hope

Click here for
"Main Topics" on
Overcoming Hate 

Picture

We divide our answer into three main sections:


  • Prevention

Picture
The purpose of prevention is to promote human flourishing by providing healthy, loving, nurturing, stable and stimulating developmental environments, and to offset the destructive effects of an adverse childhood. For example. a bully is more likely to have been abused, neglected or rejected.

How we nurture our children affects the brain wiring that are the precursors to "character" and conscience, morality, empathy, courage, caring, and concern for others.


Education

Picture
Citizenship in the 21st Century requires educating the next generation on multiple levels—including insight into their motives, biases and assumptions, media awareness, and the integration of cognitive-social-emotional skills.

Intervention

Picture
What can be done when conflict is already underway, the wounds actively painful, the scars beginning to form; when attitudes and biases are settling into dogmatic convictions? When the cycles of violence, revenge and further brutality seem insurmountable?

For every seemingly-intractable situation, there are methods, tools and approaches that can ameliorate, offset, confront and even heal the ghosts of the past, as well as protect the victims of injustice and cruelty.