During the course of this article we explore the sociological tradition of analysing motives and accounts. In doing so we contrast this with more recent methodological developments that have analysed similar phenomena as part of a strategy of respecifying psychological theories of cognition. Through the use of analytic examples we demonstrate how accounts and the invocation of 'inner' or 'underlying' states must be understood not only in terms of situated action but also in terms of the situated accomplishment of social organization. In this way the theoretical amnesia enveloping the analysis of accounts and motives can be confronted and their status as empirical sociological phenomena sustained within future avenues of qualitative research. © 2008 Sage Publications.