What does each person know?
Track how access to information shapes a person’s belief.
The picture in words
- Actual location
- The object has moved.
- Observed information
- The returning observer saw the earlier location.
- Belief
- The observer may expect the object where it was last seen.
Reading the illustration
Track what the observer has seen at each step. This example introduces reasoning about another person’s belief.
Try a question
Where might the returning observer look first, and why?
Show the explanation
They may look in box A because that is where they last saw the object. You have information about the move that they missed.
Read the sources
- Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/9-3-stages-of-developmentSelected rendered passage on theory of mind, reviewed in the topic-selection research.