I think it completely has to do with the situation. I'm not going to say that (to cite an earlier example) I'm going to touch wet paint just to contradict a sign warning against touching the wet paint; I know what the outcome's going to be. Either the paint has dried, or I'm going to get paint on my fingertip. There'd be no point to contradict the sign.

If someone tells me not to do something / to do something, there are times I'm inclined to do the opposite of what they tell me. It's not really for rebellion. The way I see it, they have their reasons for wanting me / not wanting me to do something. That's fine. If it's something that doesn't appeal to me or doesn't fit what I would like to do to achieve my own personal desired outcome, I'll generally do the opposite. It's not even so much to challenge them; I just figure that if it's not something life threatening or something to me or anyone else, then I can make my own judgment on the matter and go about doing it the way I would have done without their input.

Like, if someone tells me, "Don't spend all of your money this weekend," there's a good chance that I'll still do it. The reason being that it's my money, doesn't affect the person who's telling me not to spend it in any way, and is ultimately my call. If I know that I could safely spend all of my money in a weekend without any negative effects to me or others in the future, you can bet like hell I'm going to do it.

If someone's offering me constructive criticism or anything like that, though, I really do listen and take everything they say into consideration. If it's merely a condemnation of something I'd like to do, I don't really listen so much.

your cat does those things because her learning brain goes up to the equivalent of a 2-3 yo human child. if you tell a 2 yo kid not to do something they are not supposed to do , they will do it regardless of what you say.

:rofl::rofl:....thats funny..I would like to see that on discovery channel sometime.
No..nobody is gonna do that I dont think. Nobody of sound mind anyway

It meant that as more of a joke/rhetorical question.

No, I think it's more than that. It's not like she just does whatever she does regardless of my reaction, she does certain things because of my reaction.

I would assume the same thing about a wet paint sign but apparently, as I'm learning from this thread, there are still people who touch the paint.

yes, she is spiteful just like a little kid is. That's basically what I was trying to say, I may have worded it weirdly.

So how is that different from people who deliberately do things they've been told not to do just because they don't like being told "no"?

Spite is a quality people of all different ages seem to have. Not just a specific age group in my experience. Most adults are rather fond of this charateristic.

Not just people either.

true :) I specifically told Penelope NOT to touch the curtains in here. Now they are full of torn holes. As if she can't understand English or something. She's also fluent in German. Meöwz