Form of emotionally charged angry behavior

“Hostile” redirects here. For other uses, see Hostile (disambiguation) .

Medical condition

Hostility is fundamentally an emotionally charged form of aggressive behavior. In the vernacular, it’s often used interchangeably with terms like anger and aggression , though its psychological underpinnings are more nuanced. It’s a concept that surfaces repeatedly in various psychological frameworks. For instance, within the Revised NEO Personality Inventory , hostility is identified as a specific facet of neuroticism . It also plays a role in George Kelly’s personal construct psychology , a theory that delves into how individuals construct their understanding of the world.

Hostility/hospitality

Historically, for small, isolated hunter-gatherer groups, any stranger from outside the immediate community represented a potential threat, a source of hostility. [1] This primal instinct for suspicion towards the outsider echoes in archaic Greece, where communities often existed in a state of latent or overt hostility with one another. This inherent tension was only gradually softened by the established rights and duties associated with hospitality . The dynamic between these two opposing forces – hostility and hospitality – continues to exert a potent influence on the global landscape in the 21st century. [3]

Us/them

Robert Sapolsky , in his extensive work, posits that the human propensity to form in-groups and out-groups – the “Us” and “Them” dichotomy – and to direct hostility towards the latter, is an innate characteristic. [4] Sapolsky also examines the intriguing possibility, raised by Samuel Bowles , that hostility within a group can actually decrease when that group directs greater hostility outward towards an external “Them.” [5] This phenomenon is a tactic exploited by leaders who, feeling insecure, might orchestrate external conflicts to deflect internal dissent and reduce hostility directed at themselves from within their own group. [6]

Non-verbal indicators

From an automatic, almost instinctual mental processing standpoint, certain universal human indicators of hostility emerge. These include the grinding or gnashing of teeth, the clenching and subsequent shaking of fists, and facial grimacing. [7] Desmond Morris would further add physical actions like stamping and thumping to this repertoire of involuntary hostile expressions. [8] The Haka , for example, is a powerful cultural expression that incorporates a ritualized display of these very non-verbal signs of hostility. [9]

Kelly’s model

From a psychological perspective, George Kelly conceptualized hostility as an individual’s attempt to extract validating evidence from their surroundings to confirm specific social predictions or constructs that have, in reality, already been disproven. [10] Instead of revising their constructs to accommodate disconfirming evidence and generate more accurate predictions, the hostile individual endeavors to force reality to conform to their existing, flawed worldview. This is often a futile endeavor, demanding significant emotional energy and potentially causing harm to oneself or others. [11]

In essence, Kelly viewed hostility as a form of psychological extortion . It’s an effort to compel reality to yield the desired feedback, [12] manifesting in behaviors like bullying by individuals and groups across various social contexts. The goal is to reinforce pre-existing beliefs, regardless of their accuracy. Kelly’s theory of cognitive hostility thus provides a parallel to Leon Festinger’s assertion of an inherent drive to reduce cognitive dissonance . [13]

While challenging reality can be a constructive part of life, and persistence in the face of setbacks can foster valuable traits, such as those seen in invention or discovery, [citation needed] hostility represents a deviation. In such cases, evidence isn’t being assessed objectively; it’s being forcibly molded into a Procrustean bed to preserve one’s belief systems and avoid any challenge to one’s identity. [14] Hostility, therefore, suggests the presence of suppression or denial , where unfavorable evidence that might indicate a flaw in a prior belief is consciously or unconsciously ignored and actively avoided. [15]

See also

• Antisocial personality disorder • Death drive • Narcissism of small differences • Righteous indignation • Cook–Medley hostility scale