(hair dryer, space heater, towel warmer, incandescent bulb) that is intended to create heat,
Not to mention the heating elements on your stove snd oven!
Another aspect is that a loose connection that adds resistance (whether arcing or not), becomes a resistance in series with the load. That then causes a voltage drop at the load device. If the device is a motor, the voltage drop causes an increase in current, so it is indeed “helping” to get the protective device to trip. But if the load is an another resistive device, two resistances in series results in LESS current flowing in the entire circuit, so acting AGAINST the trip function of the protective device. So although there will be more heat AT the loose connection, there will be overall LESS current seen by a breaker.
When I was on a design team for motor overload relays, the general consensus was that, assuming properly sized conductors, a typical bimetallic thermal trip device is sensitive to ambient heat within about 10-12” inches of the device, meaning heating events taking place somewhere else in the conductor more than 12” away had little effect on the trip curve in that device. Most breakers use a bimetallic trip element.