Weakness theory

Weakness theory (also known as 'reverse Milgram experiment') is the theory that individuals who express, demonstrate or act in ways seen as or perceived as weak will more likely be ignored and/or exploited.

Origin of the theory
The theory originated when it was observed that individuals are more likely to ignore quieter, gentler or otherwise nicer individuals and were less likely to challenge statements that were more assertive or aggressive.

Evidence of the theory
The theory can be demonstrated in that, in the instance of the Milgram experiment, people were less likely to challenge even an unethical decision if it originated from someone who seemed both credible and authoritarian.

The theory can be attributed, in a sense, as a 'reverse Milgram experiment', in the sense that as the user's influence, authority and credibility diminish, so does their capability to influence or alter individual opinion.

Contradictory perception
Contrary to the perception an individual is weak, the individual may in-fact be strong, in that gentle and generous behaviours seen as weak and exploitable are, in-fact, strong-behaviours. Individuals who are generous clearly have more resources to share (negating they may be weak resource-wise) and gentler individuals may, in-fact, be expressing greater self-control (negating they may be weak personally).

However, the individual may be seen as a resource supply, and efforts to exploit (for example, in the case of generous behaviour) may be the end result, with individuals attempting to push threshold boundaries of an individual.

Individuals who are more aggressive may less likely be challenged due to fear of harm resulting from what may be a potentially threatening individual, also known as the pufferfish effect. However, kindness may be seen as a form of bribery or manipulation and thus frowned upon, with aggression seen as a type of forwardness and thus, contradictorily, as a type of honesty (with generousity being seen as subtle manipulation), despite it potentially being a form of control.