“If you are envied [maliciously], you might act more socially afterward because you try to appease those envious people,” said van de Ven. He and his colleagues confirmed their findings with another, simpler ploy, purposely dropping a handful of erasers but staging it to look like an accident as the volunteers who’d gotten money were leaving. Those who’d been randomly rewarded were likelier to stop and help than those who’d won their money.