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It's called "autistic hostility," and it may help explain the unusually poisonous atmos-phere between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill this week. The term describes breaking off contact with an opponent and letting anger fester without any further outside information.
"You lose the capacity to see the other person," says Solon Simmons, who teaches conflict resolution at George Mason University. That blindness often leads hostile parties to dehumanize one another and spiral into worsening discord. Add to the mix an election season, presidential politics, white-hot e-mails from angry constituents, and conflicting market ideologies -- and you have the recipe for a nasty and protracted dispute.
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