In some cases individuals may feel that the process in which they are engaged offers no better alternative than to be adversarial. Past experiences are important teachers. If individuals have never experienced an alternative strategy for managing disputes other than adversarial behavior, they simply know of no other way. They may feel trapped further by the details of the particular issue. The dispute, for example, may have escalated quickly to a political arena where individuals involved feel that any decision to be made is already out of their hands.
Litigation tends to further enhance polarization.
Collaboration, alternatively, can produce an environment more conducive to problem solving. If you watch the negotiations going on around you, you will see countless instances in which people react to each other without thinking. This reaction rarely diminishes a hostile environment. It tends, instead, to aggravate hostility. Also, adversarial people tend to be good at being difficult.