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Often the verb "to hate" is used casually as an exaggeration to describe things one merely dislikes, such as a particular style of architecture, a certain climate or some particular kind of food.

"Hatred" is also used to describe feelings of prejudice, bigotry or condemnation (see shunning) against a class of people and members of that class. Racism is the most well-known example of this. The term hate crime is used to designate crimes committed out of hatred in this sense.

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According to evolutionary psychologists, hate is a reaction to people whose interests consistently conflict with one's own. People whose behavior threatens one's own survival interests are to be hated, while people whose behavior enhances one's survival prospects are to be liked or even loved (as in the case of offspring and other genetic kin).^{[citation needed]}

The passions of hate arise from several features of our thinking process. These include a desire to strengthen our community and to alleviate our fear. The ability to quickly separate friend from foe is essential to self-defense and safety and provides the origins of hate.^[1]

However, hatred in modern life is frequently unrelated to survival or self-defense. People are capable of hating others for any particular reason, people with different political and religious views, different lifestyles, and fans of opposing sports teams, to name but a few. Hatred is often a long-term side-effect of an incapability to satisfy one's desire for revenge against another particular person.

Also, the feelings of hate can arise unexpectedly. If one has experienced maltreatment in the past, it is proven that one is more likely to maltreat and learn to dislike or "hate" people before they get to know the person. This is shown clearly in the pattern of people who are abused, ignored, neglected, or maltreated by their parents, and those children's tendency to become abusive or angry.

In English, the subject of hatred of a thing is generally given the name mis-<> or anti-<>, e.g.: misanthropy, misogyny, misandry, antisemitism, etc.

There is a thin line between love and hate, as often the object of one's love becomes the person they hate, and vice versa. An example of this occurs in 2 Samuel 13:15.

• The Psychology of Hate by Robert Sternberg (Ed.)
• Hatred: The Psychological Descent into Violence by Willard Gaylin
• Why We Hate by Jack Levin
• The Psychology of Good and Evil : Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others by Ervin Staub
• Prisoners of Hate : The Cognitive Basis of Anger, Hostility, and Violence by Aaron T. Beck
• Becoming Evil : How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing by James Waller

• Hate.info - Vent your Hate and Evolve!
• Survivor bashing - bias-motivated hate crimes
• The Hate Blog

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