How do Behaviours Work?

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Oh, behave!
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So I just today saw a description of a study that determined that puppies have a natural ability to interpret pointing by humans.

What formal definition are you using for "higher" animals?

I judge that domestic cats and dogs function as brood parasites of humans. They look cute, which is just another way of saying they trigger the instinct in humans to take care of children.

Your discussion of brood parasitism neglects to take coercion into account.

I'm very glad to see more of this series!

Wow. This is so thorough yet accessible!

Also I believe the red dot thing was also subject of experiments where they painted over dots, etc. and it lines up perfectly with what you say here!

Thank you for this! I'm hoping to work on research in human behaviour & development, so this is really interesting. If you have some reading you want to recommend on the topic I would really appreciate any suggestion!