An Introduction to the Psychology of the Explainer

Abstract

The explainer, the central topic of this and the following chapters, is not necessarily the person who creates a hierarchical explanatory system, out of interwoven concepts drawn from different levels of abstraction, in the manner of idealized theory; the explainer here is the observer of behavior, particularly complex human behavior, and is defined through the simple act of characterizing others’ behaviors and behavioral tendencies. It is not important whether we apply the term explain, sort out, define or characterize. For the present, the central figure is the everyday observer of the human who then comments, in more or less sophisticated style, on that which is observed. What is “more or less sophisticated”? For a start, let’s try out two cases of observer acounts for observed behavior.