Evidence from psychological and behavioral studies refutes the idea that extreme anxiety or stress increases selfishness, instead showing that mortality salience and challenging environments tend to enhance prosocial behavior and altruism.
The claim posits that extreme anxiety increases selfishness. However, empirical literature examining terror management and stress responses (such as papers [1] and [7]) consistently shows the opposite: existential anxiety and resource scarcity actually heighten altruism, prosociality, and charitable giving. Thus, the claim is refuted by the provided evidence.