Clicking on a running application in the dock activates the application start animation

Every time I click on a running application's icon, it plays the "zoom and fade" animation for starting applications. While this looks fun, it certainly doesn't make a whole lot of sense. This happens when you have two or more applications open and you toggle between them using the dock. It also happens when an application is minimized and you click it's icon in the dock to un-minimize it.