The Influence of Different Types of Being Envied on Helping Decisions

Helping behavior is one of the important strategies individuals use to cope with the negative consequences of being envied. However, existing research has produced mixed findings regarding the relationship between being envied and helping behavior. From the perspective of relationship maintenance, being envied may motivate individuals to repair relationships through helping. In contrast, from the perspective of status maintenance, being envied may inhibit helping in order to protect one’s advantaged status. Integrating these two perspectives, the present research systematically examined the effects of the type of being envied (benign vs. malicious) and the presence versus absence of harmful behavior on willingness to help and preferences for different types of help (autonomy-oriented vs. dependency-oriented). It also tested the mediating role of agency and the moderating role of interpersonal closeness. Across three studies (N = 838), the results showed that being maliciously envied significantly reduced willingness to help and weakened preferences for autonomy-oriented help only when the envier engaged in harmful behavior. This effect was mediated by increased agency. When no harmful behavior was involved, the effect of being maliciously envied was relatively weak. The facilitating effect of being benignly envied on willingness to help was more pronounced in low-competition contexts (e.g., school settings), but relatively weaker in high-competition contexts (e.g., workplace settings). In addition, under low-threat conditions, individuals showed a stronger preference for autonomy-oriented help. Moreover, interpersonal closeness buffered the negative effect of being maliciously envied accompanied by harmful behavior on willingness to help. These findings reveal that helping decisions made by targets of envy essentially reflect a dynamic trade-off between relationship-maintenance goals and status-maintenance goals. The present research not only provides empirical evidence for reconciling existing theoretical disagreements, but also offers a new perspective for understanding the choice of helping strategies in competitive contexts.