The Cycle of Hate, and What We Can Do About It

Victoria Esses, Allison Harell, Matt Lowe, Hazel Rose Markus, Aaron Mills, Manasi Rao, Vijayendra Rao, Stephen Reicher and Prerna Singh

No 11304, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Intergroup hate—both shaped by and shaping development processes—is spreading worldwide as hate speech becomes normalized, hate groups proliferate, and political discourse increasingly frames opponents as enemies rather than as partners in compromise. Drawing on historical, economic, political, and social-psychological research, this paper synthesizes 10 drivers of intergroup hate into four interlocking components: history, current context, call to arms, and justification of mistreatment. These components form a self-reinforcing cycle that escalates animosity and legitimizes harm, making hate difficult—but not impossible—to disrupt. The paper shows how the 10 drivers interact over time and uses the cycle of hate framework to organize evidence from experiments and program evaluations aimed at reducing intergroup animosity. This evidence indicates that intergroup hate can be interrupted at multiple points through coordinated psychosocial, institutional, and economic interventions. By contrast, policies that neglect any of the four components—particularly elite and media mobilization—consistently underperform. Context sensitive, integrated, institutionally embedded strategies hold the greatest promise, including the potential to support inoculation and early-warning systems that detect and counter intergroup hate before it is politically mobilized.

Date: 2026-02-09
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