Communication context, explanation, and social judgment

The effects of the communication context on explanations and judgments were investigated in two experiments where participants explained a boy's violent behavior either to a disciplinarian or to a permissive addressee. The results of Study 1 showed that the participants' explanations varied as a function of communication context, but their judgments of responsibility were not influenced. In Study 2, the communication demand was either subtle or blatant. The participants' explanations varied as a function of communication context independently from the communication demand. However, participants' responsibility judgments were influenced only when this demand was subtle. The implications of this for explanations in everyday social settings are considered.