Even as a young toddler, I was told “she knows how to work it”, referring to how she would connect with adults, especially through the eyes and facial expressions, to direct interest and reactions in groups of 2 in deliberate ways.
Or would ‘summon’ stranger adults with eye contact.
But it seemed especially sex-specific when one parent displeased her, she’d evoke the sympathy of the other, knowing that mom or dad isn’t just some familiar protective figure like other mammals, but showed some awareness/grounding in her own protection-worthiness that these protections work in a system, in more complex social dynamics.
Jaynes’ theory of aptic structures might explain why these behaviours don’t need to be conditioned: