I can’t speak for other people but I have what I think is a similar impulse occasionally to OP. There is certainly a power dynamic to it but it’s not exactly what you describe, because it doesn’t present itself in response to weak individuals acting in prosocial or “healthy” ways.
I believe it’s a subconscious determination that an adult male member of the tribe is unsafe or mentally unwell. The instinct is to protect the weak and drive the danger elsewhere. Provoking a social confrontation could give the other male a chance to prove they have the willpower and social skills to remain in the tribe.
That is entirely my subjective parsing of a soup of hormones. The more aware of it I am, the better I can be at overriding the instinct and using empathy.
Yeah, that idea could certainly have some merit to it.
I think there’s a difference between “weak but desirable” (e.g. grandma, small children, etc) and “weak and undesirable.” You feel justified in attacking the second for whatever reason, whether that’s some “protect the tribe” motive or a simpler discomfort avoidance strategy. The discomfort is what I was getting at, but perhaps there’s more nuance to it.
Regardless, it’s a pretty common impulse to punch down on people you dislike.
Weakness isn’t factored in here consciously. A greasy guy with a knife would trigger a similar response. I think the linkage is that the same issues that cause someone to register as ‘undesirable’, as you put it, also reduce a person’s social network, which compounds their issues with integrating into society.
I am sorry if this seems pedantic, it’s not on purpose, but punching down implies a desire to increase social status by reducing the status of other members, implying they remain part of the tribe but subordinate. The impulse is existential rather than social - eliminating a threat as opposed to gaining social power.
Idk, I struggle to see how someone with a poor social network is a threat. I suppose it’s possible for them to become unhinged and lash out, but I highly doubt that’s what most people interpret an incel as. So I think it has more to do with elimination of discomfort than removing a threat. The same could be said for an elderly homeless person, who causes discomfort by being dirty and smelly, but isn’t really a threat.
Then again, perhaps different people have different motives/triggers, people are complex and I’m not a psychologist or anthropologist.