It doesn't make that clear at all, it's just an editorialisation.
The thrust of the paper, which is that behaviours seem to be on some level 'contagious' is an absolutely important issue.
If these can be contagious, imagine what other 'in the range of normative' types of behaviours are equally contagious?
Anyone who's around small children knows how immediately and intimately they observe and learn behaviour, it's definitely something we don't think of enough.
I'm not sure if I agree with the thesis in that attention-seeking is a fundamental driver for most, I think it is for a very large cohort and is a 'relevant factor' for further study. Though it's a tough one to decompose no doubt.
It's unusual to editorialize in the abstract like that. It's not uncommon to puff up the merit of the work in the last sentence or two, but making sweeping generalizations about "modern man" is usually beyond the pale.
The thrust of the paper, which is that behaviours seem to be on some level 'contagious' is an absolutely important issue.
If these can be contagious, imagine what other 'in the range of normative' types of behaviours are equally contagious?
Anyone who's around small children knows how immediately and intimately they observe and learn behaviour, it's definitely something we don't think of enough.
I'm not sure if I agree with the thesis in that attention-seeking is a fundamental driver for most, I think it is for a very large cohort and is a 'relevant factor' for further study. Though it's a tough one to decompose no doubt.