Reading the room: Children integrate multiple social factors to predict and interpret objects' locations

Adults infer social information from objects' locations by integrating multiple causal factors, which is often challenging for children. To test for integrated reasoning about objects' locations, 5- to 10-year-olds (N = 72; 38 girls; 62.5% White; tested 2024) viewed scenes with toys at high/low locations, in social contexts with/without competitors for toys, and inferred owners' preferences. In Experiment 2, 4- to 7-year-olds (N = 72; 27 girls; 52.8% White, tested 2023) predicted where objects would be placed, from social context and owners' preferences. Four- to 5-year-olds failed to integrate information when reasoning about objects' pre-existing locations but succeeded when predicting placement behavior. Six- to 7-year-olds succeeded in both experiments, as did adults (N = 144, 114 women, 86% White). From 4- to 7-years of age, children increasingly reason about objects' locations as the product of interacting social causes.