Neural Correlates of Hate

October 29, 2008 3:21 PM

Brain's 'Hate Circuit' Identified."People who view pictures of someone they hate display activity in distinct areas of the brain that, together, may be thought of as a 'hate circuit', according to new research by scientists at UCL (University College London)."
posted by homunculus (34 comments total)

I'm gonna laugh when it turns out Bodhisattvas light up the sensors like the rest of us.
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:36 PM on October 29, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:38 PM on October 29, 2008

Dude, Bodhi died in the 50 year storm, and is unlikely to participate in fMRI studies.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 3:39 PM on October 29, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

i've certainly felt my hate circuit lighting up with some of the people at work.
posted by LiviaLive at 3:39 PM on October 29, 2008

I find studies like this to be frustrating because this type of bran scan imagery only shows activation, it in no way shows us inhibition that can also be occurring within the neurons of the brain. It's misleading to say a "Hate Circuit" is identified, just as it was misleading to say there's a "love circuit". If anything, this is emphasized by the fact that the areas that "lit up" (I hate that term) were the same. It shows obvious areas of elevated blood flow that may happen in relation to a strong emotion carried chemically through the brain but it's not so black and white as "Hate" or "Love".
posted by thatbrunette at 3:51 PM on October 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Just so you all know, I was into Hate Circuit back before they started getting play.
posted by kid ichorous at 3:56 PM on October 29, 2008 [6 favorites has favorites]

I've only skimmed over the paper from the second link, but this bit made me grin:

Only subjects expressing a strong hatred for an individual were selected. With one exception, all our subjects testified to the hatred of an individual, either an ex-lover or a competitor at work. The one exception was a female who expressed an intense hatred of a very famous political figure.

I imagine that the call for participants looked something like "Hate-filled individuals needed, apply within."
posted by agent at 4:02 PM on October 29, 2008

Really interesting. Originally I misread the post to say "Britain's Hate Circus Identified" which also would've been interesting.
posted by cell divide at 4:14 PM on October 29, 2008

It's not a Hate Circuit; it's just the viewee sending out Jerk Rays.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:15 PM on October 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I, the undersigned, do solemnly swear (or affirm) to read the fucking paper in its entirety before coming in here to say something stupid.
posted by roll truck roll at 4:19 PM on October 29, 2008

Signed,
The set of people who are not Ryvar
posted by Ryvar at 4:21 PM on October 29, 2008

(Anyone who wants to comment on this thread in ignorance can paypal me $5 to post your uninformed bloviating)
posted by Ryvar at 4:23 PM on October 29, 2008

I tried to job the entire hate circuit once but my dodgy knee acted up.
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:27 PM on October 29, 2008

"Interestingly, the activity in some of these structures in response to viewing a hated face is proportional in strength to the declared intensity of hate, thus allowing the subjective state of hate to be objectively quantified. This finding may have legal implications in criminal cases, for example."

Your honor, the accused has a measured hate against the victim of 200 milliCheneys.
posted by qvantamon at 4:33 PM on October 29, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

And all this time I thought it was being caused by the 4th Circuit.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 4:38 PM on October 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'm gonna laugh when it turns out Bodhisattvas light up the sensors like the rest of us.

It would be interesting to find out. They should try the hatred experiment with the same bunch of meditators from this compassion study and see if they get similar results.
posted by homunculus at 5:03 PM on October 29, 2008

The Isopraxis Conjecture: Activation of hate circuits is directly proportional to douchebag magnitude and frequency, and is an inverse square function of distance to douchebags.
posted by isopraxis at 5:12 PM on October 29, 2008

And all this time I thought it was being caused by the 4th Circuit.

Fool! No man has reached that circuit!
posted by homunculus at 5:26 PM on October 29, 2008

Now that we know where the hate circuit is located, we can make the world a better place by going up to people and belting the living crap out of that part of their head with a hammer.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:02 PM on October 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

My hate circuit runs on vacuum tubes. It takes a while to get warmed up, but when it's running it sounds great.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 6:05 PM on October 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Does this mean that Golds Gym is going to start offering hate circuit training?
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:25 PM on October 29, 2008

I came here hoping for a Final Crisis viral. Now I'm sad.

Also, shouldn't we measure in milliHydes?
posted by Iosephus at 6:25 PM on October 29, 2008

If my brain hates something it doesn't necessarily mean that I do.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:39 PM on October 29, 2008

milliCheney's for the win.

A full Cheney's worth of hatred is the amount that causes one's heart to become black tar, necessitating replacement with a mechanical heart.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:54 PM on October 29, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Related: Apparently there is a part of the brain now identified as a hate circuit. These Neo Nazis guys probably would light up like a cop car siren.
posted by nickyskye at 7:16 PM on October 29, 2008

Using an LRAD-like projector, these circuits could possibly, one day, be selectively activated or deactivated from afar - a neuroray....
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 9:55 PM on October 29, 2008

Iosephus: It could become one. Quick! Email Morrison!
posted by Pronoiac at 2:23 AM on October 30, 2008

I find studies like this to be frustrating because this type of bran scan imagery only shows activation, it in no way shows us inhibition that can also be occurring within the neurons of the brain.

This is an acknowledged drawback of fMRI. Neuroimaging is a technology that is essentially still in its infancy, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot to be learned from BOLD fMRI studies. In the actual journal article, not the 'Science Daily' write up, I don't think the authors used the term "Hate Circuit" once. In fact, neuroscientists are generally hesitant to label new findings with terms like circuit at all, in my experience. However, the neural correlates of any given emotion are worth investigating, and even if BOLD fMRI is a limited tool, it is still a useful one.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 9:09 AM on October 30, 2008

Call me when they find the hate resistors, inductors, capacitors, transmission lines, voltage sources, current sources, and switches.
posted by srboisvert at 12:45 PM on October 30, 2008

Hmm...no explanation as to why it might be set off by steampunk.
posted by dontoine at 1:16 PM on October 30, 2008

Kronos_to_Earth: these circuits could possibly, one day, be selectively activated or deactivated from afar

I was thinking of something similar:

Me: *does something really horrible*

Them: you complete prick! I can't believe you did that, I'm so furious right now...

Me: No you are not... *waves hands, activates hate switch disabler*

Them: but... but... Oh, your a fucker. But I still love you man.

Me: bwahaha

If it were able to be isolated and activated or deactivated, the moral implications would be so beyond staggering as to be nearly unimaginable.
posted by quin at 3:20 PM on October 30, 2008

I wonder if some people's hate circuits are bigger than others? Can they be developed? It seems like some people-- Richard Nixon, Barbara Bush, Madonna-- are just better at hating people than others.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 5:23 PM on October 30, 2008

You know who else was better at hating people than others?
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:52 PM on October 30, 2008

People who drink Haterade?
posted by Pronoiac at 8:39 AM on October 31, 2008