Reason or not

In a recent New Yorker article, Malcolm Gladwell looks at a new book by Charles Tilly called "Why?" which explores "our reasons for giving reasons."

The idea is that we have four different reasoning approaches

1. Convention (social formulae -"its not you, it me")
2. Stories (common sense narratives - "I'm really sorry, I've been having a bad day")
3. Code (legal formulae - "Company policy dictates that must comply with the standard”)
4. Technical accounts (specialised stories - "Because of the way our PBX system routes calls it caused the delay")

Understanding why we explain things they way we do, helps us to learn when certain approaches are beneficial and when others are inappropriate. This in turn makes our ability to relate to other people more effective and will determine the quality of our relationships to family, friends and colleagues.