10 0 COGNITIVE THEORY AND RESEARCH ON ANXIETY
states (i.e., Hypothesis 6). However, research on cognitive content- specificity was much
less consistent in demonstrating that threatening thought content is specific to anxiety.
It may be that cognitive specificity would be more apparent if researchers focused on
disorder- specific cognitions rather than on general forms of apprehensive thought.
Hypothesis 7, which proposes that an automatic defensive response is elicited
by immediate threat mode activation, has mixed support. Although there is a well-
established behavioral literature demonstrating the prominence of behavioral escape as
an automatic defensive response in anxiety, there has been little research on an auto-
matic cognitive avoidance and safety- seeking defensive response.
The final three hypotheses reviewed in this chapter deal with the secondary, elabo-
rative phase of anxiety. This component of the anxiety program will be of greatest
interest to practitioners because the processes involved in the elaboration of anxiety
have a direct impact on its persistence. This is also the phase that is specifically targeted
in cognitive therapy of anxiety. Empirical support for Hypothesis 8 was strong, with
numerous studies demonstrating that anxious individuals exhibit a deliberate threat
interpretation bias for ambiguous stimuli, which is indicative of a conscious, strategic
threat- processing bias. However, it is unknown whether diminished elaborative process-
ing of safety information occurs in anxiety (i.e., Hypothesis 9) because there is practi-
cally no research on the topic. Empirical evidence for maladaptive cognitive coping
strategies in anxiety is very strong (i.e., Hypothesis 10), with numerous studies dem-
onstrating the detrimental effects of worry, excessive safety- seeking behavior, thought
suppression, and, more recently, experiential avoidance. This research clearly highlights
the importance of targeting these response strategies when offering cognitive therapy
for anxiety.
Our extensive review of the extant empirical research clearly supports a cognitive
basis to anxiety. Specific cognitive structures, processes, and products are critical to the
activation and persistence of anxiety. Although this research provides a basis for advo-
cating a cognitive approach to the treatment of anxiety, it does not address the question
of etiology. In the next chapter we consider whether there might be a causal role for
cognition in the etiology of anxiety.