"Malle's impressive scholarly work offers a critical perspective on attribution theory, advancing instead a folk theory of mind and behavior with intentionality at its foundation. This is a significant contribution to psychology, and it will have lasting value."
-- Bernard Weiner, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles

In this provocative monograph, Bertram Malle describes behavior explanations as having a dual nature-as being both cognitive and social acts-and proposes a comprehensive theoretical model that integrates the two aspects. When people try to understand puzzling human behavior, 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 verbal actions 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, trying to save face, or casting blame. Malle's account makes clear why these two aspects of behavior explanation exist and why they are closely linked; along the way, he illustrates the astonishingly sophisticated and subtle patterns of folk behavior explanations.