Excuses: Masquerades in Search of Grace (Wiley Series on Personality Processes)

This book describes the roots and causes of excuse-making, and offers the first theory for explaining excuses, examining the ways that people "cope" with negative feedback through excuses. It presents an interdisciplinary approach drawing on philosophy, psychology, law etc to develop a complete explanatory picture of excuse-making. It also discusses the positive and negative aspects of the subject and reviews related research indicating applications of the the analysis in understanding behavior.