Cats aren’t jerks. They’re just misunderstood.

If you’ve lived with cats, you’ve probably found yourself staring at them after they’ve toppled a plant or swept a mug off the table, thinking: “Why did you just do that?”

A precise answer isn’t easy to come by. Some recent studies have made strides in assuaging the more self-conscious human anxieties about cat ownership (allegedly, they know their names and they emotionally attach to us). But by and large, research that sinks its claws into domestic cat behavior, genetics and psychology remains somewhat nascent, especially compared to what’s available about dogs.