The Psychology of Hate & Evil
What is the psychology of hate, what mindsets cause it, how it develops, and what hate can lead to if it continues to grow and fester? Potentially leading to extremism and evil acts.

Groups & Individuals
Hate can be focused towards individuals, and also entire groups of people. Hate towards groups is particularly dangerous. Probably the most well-known and obvious example of this is the persecution of the Jews during World War 2.
Causes of Hate
Oppressor & Oppressed
Hate can develop when individuals or groups of people think that they have been oppressed. People throughout the entire course of human history have been oppressed at some stage. So, there has never been a shortage of hate.
Oppression can also be perceived and interpreted. Oppression can also be taught. This is particularly dangerous if this hate is taught to children, because they are extremely susceptible to being influenced. Children can be programmed to hate and to see themselves as victims.
Bullying & Abuse
It’s easy for victims of bullying and abuse to develop hate towards the perpetrators of that abuse. We tend to dislike people that cause us mental or emotional pain, or any form of negativity. Depending on the seriousness of the action, dislike can turn to hate.
Hate & Personality
Certain personalities make people more susceptible to developing hate. Those high in neuroticism are more sensitive to negative emotions. If someone does them wrong, they are more likely to be hurt and affected by that wrong doing. High neuroticism also increases the risk of emotional volatility and instability. It’s also a predictor of certain personality disorders. Being low on the trait of agreeableness would also likely contribute.
Hate, Perception & Perspective
Sometimes hate can be created and dispersed by our perceptions and perspectives. A change of perspective can cause us to see things differently. This may result in a change of blame, from perhaps blaming a third party to the realization that some of the blame may lie with ourselves. Or that ignorance from both parties was partly to blame, also, that the issue may have been caused by things that are out of our control.
Hate & Extremism
Hate can certainly lead down the path of extremism. Extremism can come from a combination of hate and absolute certainty. Belief that one is oppressed, or a victim can nurture hate, combined with a certainty of that oppression. This type of certainty can come from black and white thinking, which is a type of cognitive distortions and biases.
Committing Evil Due to Hate
Hate at its most extreme can turn to committing acts of unbelievably great evil. The process often starts with dark fantasies. Dark fantasies are not uncommon. However, with some disturbed individuals, they can become excessive. Sometimes these dark fantasies can be repeated thousands of times. Eventually, they can act out those fantasies.
Sometimes, hate is not just limited to the perceived oppressors or bullies. They can even start to hate the world, the universe, reality, perhaps even god, if they believe in such a thing. This can be a reason why some commit evil acts against the most innocent and vulnerable. It’s basically a way of giving the finger to reality, and the universe. It’s sort of a “you mess with me, I will mess with you attitude”. At the root of it, it’s seeing themselves as a victim. They allow themselves to be taken over by their inner demons.
This is similar to the psychology of envy, which at its worst, has the twisted mentally of “if I can’t have something, no one can have anything”. It’s also born out of weakness.
They also may have psychological issues and personality disorders that contribute to this. They may be high on traits of the dark tetrad such as psychopathy and sadism. They would also be low in morality, and they may have issues with regulating emotions, with high negative emotions resulting from being high in neuroticism.