Yes... I just thought of making this post when I was listening to Shake It Off.. What? That's a really catchy song.

Anyhow, while I was listening, something just struck into my mind - "Why do people hate? Is there a science behind it?" and who would ever knew that there was indeed!

A study, using 17 adults being exposed to an object to stimuli hatred and recording their blood oxygen level, shows that the brain behaves differently, and the most activated parts were the putamen and the insula. Surprisingly, these 2 areas were also known to be activated in love initiation. This shows that love and hate might actually share some similarities, yet the slightest difference leads to extreme differences in emotional behaviour.

The studies did indeed reveal a basic pattern. As far as the scientists can determine, it is unique to the sentiment of hate even though individual sites within it have been shown to be active in other conditions that are related to hate. The network has components that have been considered to be important in generating aggressive behavior and translating this behavior into motor action through motor planning. Finally, and most intriguingly, the network involves regions of the putamen and the insula that are almost identical to the ones activated by passionate, romantic, love.

The results also show that hatred is scientifically distinct from its relatively "close" emotions, like; fear, anxiety, aggression, and danger, even though they share common areas. However, in terms of hatred level, it's still yet to be researched.

The difference in the extent of deactivated cortex, compared to the deactivated cortex in the context of romantic love, may seem surprising, since hate too can be an all consuming passion. But whereas in romantic love, the lover is more likely to be less critical and judgmental regarding the loved person, it is more likely that in the context of hate the hater may want to exercise judgment in calculating moves to harm, injure or otherwise extract revenge.
This shows that there's probably a thin line between hate and love.

I guess this kinda explains why I hate "Shake It Off" at first, but then love so much that I played it on repeat now. #noshame
Don't judge me K