<font color="blue">One advantage of Sternberg’s theory of hate is that various combinations of the three components result in several distinctly different kinds of hate which could help us better understand the nature of hate…and may yield clues to treating the hater.

The most intense type of hatred could be called “burning hate.” This occurs when all three components are so intense (burning passion of hate, scornfully avoiding interacting with the hated group, and a solidified belief that the enemy is bad) that the result may be a belief that the “enemy” should be annihilated. There is, of course, hate in milder forms: “cool hate” when the angry person just doesn’t want to be around the disliked group, “hot hate” like road rage where the person is feeling very angry for a short time but doesn’t know much about the other person and knows it is temporary, and “simmering hate” when the hater feels loathing or disgust towards a certain group of people for a long time but feels only a moderately intense passion of hate.

Some psychologists believe such people could stay angry for a long time and eventually work out plans to become quite dangerous to national leaders or to leaders of the enemy group, such as gays and lesbians. Several kinds of hate are described by Sternberg’s system.

Almost as an afterthought in his article Sternberg (2005) asks “is there a cure for hate?” No, he says, but there are things that could be done when war or terrorism is threatening:[list][*](1) Urge both sides to avoid using negative stereotypes and to cool the rhetoric by omitting the hate producing stories,[*] (2) recognize the three-legged stool that hate is built on and remember that hate increases when any ingredient is strengthened,[*] (3) remember that derogatory stories and propaganda rapidly escalate anger and hatred and increase the risk of violence,[*] (4) take action, if you can, to oppose hate and reduce tension rather than being a passive observer.

Sternberg believes that angry conflicts are best fought by wisdom, including understanding practically useful psychology and having empathy for others so you can see things from another perspective. Wisdom is the key to recognizing the exaggerations and hateful lies in the propaganda and stories that form the basis of prejudice and hatred of other people. He has proposed that schools develop programs to teach wisdom—or use the teaching program he has already developed (Sternberg, 2001).

Aaron Beck (2000), an early founder of Cognitive Therapy, presents a similar explanation of the cognitive distortions that lead to individual violent behavior and to group/governmental acts of terrorism, war, and genocide. If these atrocities are going to be stopped by rational people, much more needs to be learned about anger, prejudice, violence, and self-control. And a world movement against killing as a way of solving conflicts needs to be nourished.