Prisoners of Hate: The Cognitive Basis of Anger, Hostility, and Violence

Landmark book supporting the importance of using all of ones frontal lobes to balance and make sense of all that primal neural circuitry beneath. To fail to do so is to be at more risk for maladaptation . Beck makes a good argument for its application all the way out to the level of international conflict, politics, and war. He does a great review of the historical manipulation of hate in the populace by leaders for political ends. He clearly shows history repeating itself. Ignorance is not bliss.

A book for the times. Never before have we as a society needed to understand how hate-filled persons think, what makes them tick, and what to do about it. Excellent reading and seeing the very nature of the evil person you know and live or work with. Do not delay in getting this excellent informative book!

First, it is Aaron Beck. You expect nothing but perfection. If you want to understand human conflict from an individual to national concept, this is your read.

Beck's Cognitive Therapy is a kind of mindfulness that asks one to be aware of subtle thoughts that occur before one reacts to an event or encounter. It calls for recognizing and articulating one's claims, demands, and expectations as a way of discovering the roots of emotions and actions. This book is very appropriate today because Beck not only discusses violence in intimate relationships but collective violence, including the images and misperceptions in war. Beck says: "When people are in an aroused state-for example, the hostile mode-their thinking reverts to the level of a young child. If another person appears to run roughshod over their needs, they relive the old drama: the other person is wrong and bad and is knowingly mistreating me. As a participant in a group, the individual perceives a similar theme in response to a challenge to the group. The members of his group are innocent victims, and the challengers are wrong, bad, and immoral. And as in the medieval morality plays, the sinners must be punished. A similar kind of thinking becomes pervasive throughout a nation when it is infected with war fever." He emphasizes the need to understand the thinking of the aggressor when deciding upon responses; to broaden our perspective to see "alien" people as human, like ourselves; to recognize that biases exist on both sides. In times of conflict, we need to remember that empathy, cooperation, and reason are just as intrinsic to human nature as hostility and violence. Beck uses many historical examples to make his points clear in this thoughtful book.

Great book

Recommended read for people you get angry too often.Helps understand where the anger and hate comes from.

Excellent book. Delivered promptly and in perfect condition. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how a once adaptive behavior is now so destructive

This review is about the horrible print of the paperback version.Super faded printing in a soft grey color. Very difficult to read.

Me encanta el contenido y la edición muy buena, es Justo lo que esperaba

The media could not be loaded.  The book font is small but it's not bad. A person can easily read it and it has a lot of information about the topic. Also revived in good condition

Very easy to read, for layman and professionals alike.The extreme nature of the subject makes this book compelling reading. Beck looks at the underlying causes of hostility and hate, in the process showing where the motivation for violence come from.Within the media and commons sense discourse, individuals and groups that commit acts of violence are simply labelled as monsters, fanatics, evil and so forth. There is no examination as to the question why? Why are these acts committed?Beck not only shows why, but also presents a simple system using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques. The system is very well explained and easy to understand. Furthermore, it offers real viable answers to the question why? in understanding many forms of abberant/abnormal behaviour on an individual or group basis.Read this book and take a look at Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, General Suharto, General Pinochet, Pol Pot or any other dictator and you will see definite commonalities between them. Reading Jeffrey Dahmer's comments after he was convicted also supports Beck's argument.If you are open to being challenged, you can test the argument in this book on yourself and others. This method of understanding prejudice, hostility, hatred and violence can be applied very easily.I have used this system when debating contentious subjects with others to great affect. Using this method reveals a great deal about belief systems and patterns of thinking. It also allows for a greater deal of tolerance between opposing social, political and religious groups.Overall, a highly enojoyable read, unlike most popular psychology books this one offers a system you can easily use in your day to day life to understand the motivations of others.

Ayuda a comprender por qué las personas actúan de manera ofensiva y reactiva.El libro no es substitute de terapia. No te analiza, ni te trata. Eso solo bajo tratamiento profesional como se puede ayudar a una persona hostil.

Have not read the book yet but print quality is really bad. Letters are way too small to read.