ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the major ways in which anxiety in evaluative situations may be defined, and to assess the usefulness of these definitions in developing treatments that reduce anxiety or its undesirable effects on performance. From this discussion, a number of questions are developed about relationships among the various components of anxiety that have served as operational definitions. Some hypotheses concerning ways in which the undesirable effects of anxiety may be reduced are advanced. Some of these hypotheses have been tested and are reported in subsequent chapters of this volume. Others remain to be tested.
