ReviewPrimary spaces and their cues as facilitators of personal and social inferences

•Primary personalized spaces facilitate inferences about occupants' sociodemographic variables and personality traits.•Objects displayed by occupants of primary spaces communicate personal characteristics.•Instrumental and symbolic objects in personalized spaces are associated with inferences as to occupant's characteristics.•In-group inferences about sociodemographics are not more accurate than those about people from a different age group.

People leave 'footprints' in the environment in which they live and these become cues that reflect the occupants' identity. The aim of the present study was to determine the inferences about sociodemographic and personality traits made from the observation of primary spaces, and to identify the cues that facilitate such inferences. In Study 1, participants (N = 214) observed non-shared spaces and completed a questionnaire about sociodemographic variables and the Big Five regarding each bedroom's occupant. The results show that participants are able to infer resident's characteristics such as gender and age, although differences are identified according to the observer's age. Furthermore, different personality traits were associated with sociodemographic characteristics, thus Agreeableness and Extraversion were attributed to young occupants, and Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience were associated with older residents. In Study 2, participants (N = 150) reported the cues leading them to make inferences about both resident's gender and personality traits. Simple Correspondence Analysis shows that different types of cues -functional and symbolic-were related differently to sociodemographic variables and personality traits.