A COGNITIVE-MOTIVATIONAL ANALYSIS OF ANXIETY

Evidence of preattentive and attentional biases in anxiety is evaluate d from a cognitive-motivational perspective. According to this analysi s, vulnerability to anxiety stems mainly from a lower threshold for ap praising threat, rather than a bias in the direction of attention depl oyment. Thus, relatively innocuous stimuli are evaluated as having hig her subjective threat value by high than low trait anxious individuals , and it is further assumed that everyone orients to stimuli that are judged to be significantly threatening. This account is contrasted wit h other recent cognitive models of anxiety, and implications for the e tiology, maintenance and treatment of anxiety disorders are discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.