Accounting for Accounts

Reviews the book, Interpersonal Accounts: A Social Psychology Perspective by John H. Harvey, Ann L. Weber, and Terri L. Orbuch (see record 1990-98908-000). This book is really a progress report on a developing conception of interpersonal accounts in dealing with severe stress and loss. The book was stimulated by an interesting invited address by two of the authors, Harvey and Weber, at the first International Conference on Personal Relationships, held at Madison, Wisconsin, in 1982. Their address focused on the naturalistic accounts that people give about dilemmas in their close personal relationships. It has since become clear to the authors that accounting is a central feature of human activity; they see it as a mechanism for the creation of understandings and meanings of important events and as critical to healthy coping with the unavoidable tragedies and losses of life. The book uses a wide variety of sources to illustrate accounts and the accounting process, including literature, poetry, theater, and diaries, in addition to conventional research material. In addition, the authors stress the considerable value of naturalistic settings and data in the study of account making and emphasize both intraindividual and social processes. In general, the ideas contained in this book have great promise, but publication might better have been delayed another year to allow for further empirical and editorial refinement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)