ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some limitations of the animal paradigm as a basis for extrapolation to complex human behavior. Cognitive and self-regulatory events have generally been part of the definition of human anxiety. An important limitation to studying the full range of sequences and components of human anxiety in the animal laboratory is highlighted by the role of worry in the sequence. Worry has been conceptualized as representing an attempt at “problem solving on an issue whose outcome is uncertain but contains the possibility of one or more negative outcomes. The dependence of the human anxiety response on social norms is implied even in the common definition of anxiety as a response “‘out of proportion’” to demands of the situation. In achievement-oriented western cultures, test taking, speech giving, social confrontations with others, sexual performance, and situations generally in which a person’s social or physical competence and achievement must be demonstrated are recurrent themes in the complaints of patients with anxiety disorders.
