Are Some People Born To Be Hateful?

I suspect after a difficult altercation with someone and a few expletives muttered under your breath, you’ve probably pondered this very question.

And the answer is …. Possibly!

Helper and Albanacin (2013), in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, have hypothesized that people may be wired to inherently like or dislike things, even if they know nothing about it.

Researchers asked study participants questions on a number of topics, and despite a high variation in answers, the group could essentially be split into “likers” or “haters”.

Said another way, it seems that people generally have an initial stance towards things, which is to either “like” or “dislike” it, even if they know very little about it. This is thought to be a component of personality.

Take Home Message

So, what do you do if you suspect you’re wired to “hate” as a component of your personality?

Well, the good news is, just because you may be wired to “hate”, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn to catch this thought pattern, challenge these thoughts and alter behaviour.  No free passes here!