A 1998 British study has noted that allogrooming (grooming one another, especially around the head and neck) is related to behavioral forms of confidence expression. They observed high-ranking animals grooming lower-ranking ones.
They also stated that the high-ranking groomer often adopted a higher posture by standing on all four or sitting on hind paws with outstretched forepaws while the allogromees were sitting or lying. The researchers have also hypothesized that allogrooming in domestic cats is an alternative way to redirect potential aggression rather than get into a fight that can harm cats as species.