Page 151 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

A Portrait of a Christian Psychologist: Paul C. Vitz

Paul C. Vitz (USA)
Hatred and Christian Identity

The full version of this text will be published as: Vitz, P. C. (2014). Hatred and Personal Identity. In. C. S. Titus (ed.). Vio-
lence, Forgiveness, and the Moral Order. Arlington, VA: The Institute for the Psychological Sciences Press.”

In general, hatred has been ignored by psy- Anger and Hatred: The Difference between
chologists both as an important characteri- them
stic of personality and as a contributor to per- Anger is a natural reaction to almost any actu-
sonal identity. Some psychoanalysts (Klein, al or perceived attack hurt or threat. Anger is
1
1957; Kernberg, 1990, 1991; Akhtar, Kramer & both the immediate emotional and behavioral
Parens, 1995) and a few other theorists (Gilli- response to such attacks and it is familiar to all.
gan, 1996) are exceptions, but in general I be- This kind of anger is so immediate that it is pre-
lieve it is correct to say that hatred and its asso- sumably part of how we are made and part of
ciated states such as rage and resentment have a natural requirement for survival. Therefore,
been neglected. anger is often normal and appropriate, not psy-
This paper is a modest attempt to remedy this chologically harmful. Such quite normal anger,
neglect. First, we will need some definitions created by actually threatening stimuli, can be
and then we will look at psychological theories called reflexive anger.
about hatred’s origin. Next we will turn to why Hatred, by contrast, is not an immediate reac-
hatred is so popular especially in relatively nor- tion, but commonly, perhaps always, depends
mal people (like you and me) and in particu- upon the cultivation of anger. This cultivation
lar how it contributes to personal identity. We creates supporting cognitive structures, which
will then take up the Christian understanding produce new anger and negative affect long af-
of hatred and of identity. Finally some possib- ter the original reflexive anger. For example, I
le, and I believe optimistic future social conse- might collect all the negatives I could find about
quences of the rejection of hatred as a basis for a person and weave them into a summary of
identity will be addressed. So although the to- my enemy’s character. Then various scenarios
pic is something of a “downer” it is important to where I triumph over this “bad” guy or get even
stay to the final interpretation. might be built up and enjoyed. There are many
The understanding of hatred developed here such possibilities. Such chronic anger or resent-
raises the basic theological issue of sin and its ment is really a response to our personally con-
origin. (This is not to imply that psychological structed cognitive structures and can be called
theorists think in terms of concepts like sin.) cultivated anger or hatred. For present purposes
However, the familiar ease with which human this kind of hatred will be restricted to hatred of
beings develop and then hold on to hatred in another person not hatred of injustice or harm-
response to pain and trauma and even to insult ful social structures or of evil. These latter hat-
and criticism is an obvious sign of a natural hu- reds are, of course, often valid. Instead the focus
man condition central to much aggression and here is on situations where hatred of the person
harmful conflict, in short our fallen nature. has eclipsed the actual bad behavior. Thus, as a
psychologist I am addressing only interperso-
nal cultivated anger or hatred. The scriptural
injunction “Be angry but sin not. Do not let the
1 An important cultural, literary and anthropological sun go down on your anger” (Ep 4:26) is pre-
treatment of hatred and violence directed at the scape- sumably aimed at preventing the development
goat from a Christian perspective has been developed by
Rene Girard. (1977, 1986, 2001) This rich and profound of such cultivated anger and the resulting per-
work has yet to be unpacked, especially with respect to its sonal hatred with the serious problems which
psychological significance although some has been done go with it.
by Bailie,1995.

151