ABSTRACT
Everyday explanation is and should be a topic of considerable interest to social psychology. Explanation seeking and giving are activities people engage in strategically to attain personal and interpersonal goals. For example, an individual might ask for an explanation in an attempt to gain greater intimacy with someone or in order to understand. An explanation might be offered to make the self look better in the eyes of others or to fill a gap in someone’s knowledge. In addition to its strategic nature, everyday explanation is an eminently social phenomenon in two important senses: Everyday explanation both structures and is structured by the social world.
