How the Mind Explains Behavior: Folk Explanations, Meaning, And Social Interaction

In this provocative monograph, Bertram Malle describes behavior explanations ashaving a dual nature -- as being both cognitive and social acts -- and proposes a comprehensivetheoretical model that integrates the two aspects. When people try to understand puzzling humanbehavior, they construct behavior explanations, which are a fundamental tool of social cognition.But, Malle argues, behavior explanations exist not only in the mind; they are also overt verbalactions used for social purposes. When people explain their own behavior or the behavior of others,they are using the explanation to manage a social interaction -- by offering clarification, tryingto save face, or casting blame. Malle's account makes clear why these two aspects of behaviorexplanation exist and why they are closely linked; along the way, he illustrates the astonishinglysophisticated and subtle patterns of folk behavior explanations.Malle begins by reviewingtraditional attribution theories and their simplified portrayal of behavior explanation. A morerealistic portrayal, he argues, must be grounded in the nature, function, and origins of the folktheory of mind -- the conceptual framework underlying people's grasp of human behavior and itsconnection to the mind. Malle then presents a theory of behavior explanations, focusing first ontheir conceptual structure and then on their psychological construction. He applies thisfolk-conceptual theory to a number of questions, including the communicative functions of behaviorexplanations, and the differences in explanations given for self and others as well as forindividuals and groups. Finally, he highlights the strengths of the folk-conceptual theory ofexplanation over traditional attribution theory and points to future researchapplications.

Rosamond Rhodes, Ph.D., is Director of Bioethics Education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a Member of the Doctoral Faculty of the Ph.D. Program in Philosophy at The Graduate School, City University New York. She is Editor of the APA Newsletter on Philosophy and Medicine and was coeditor of Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate (Routledge, 1998).