Children infer counterfactual information from others’ facial expressions

Being able to identify when other people experience regret and relief can be beneficial for adapting our own behaviour and when trying to act pro-socially. Although children begin to experience regret and relief for themselves around age 6, it remains unclear whether they can recognise these counterfactual emotions in others. Across two studies, we investigated if 4- to 9-year-old children (N = 192, mostly Australian and socioeconomically advantaged, data collected in 2023) could identify others’ regret and relief after making a decision that led to a better or worse outcome. Children watched videos of four different adult actors choosing between two boxes that concealed different amounts of cookies. Each actor first looked inside the chosen box and made a happy or sad facial expression, and children were then shown the contents of the actor’s chosen box. Critically, the actor then looked inside the non-chosen box and again made either a happy or sad facial expression, before children were asked what they thought was inside that box. In both studies, many children aged 6 years and older inferred that the non-chosen box contained more cookies than the chosen box when the actor made a sad face. Children were less likely, however, to infer that the non-chosen box contained fewer cookies than the chosen box when the actor made a happy face. Overall, these findings suggest that from around 6 years of age children can infer counterfactual information from others’ facial expressions, and that children may more readily recognise regret than relief.