The Cognitive Model of Anxiety 37
Exaggerated Threat Appraisals
We previously introduced the concept of exaggerated threat appraisal as a primary, core
feature of anxiety. The process of appraising or evaluating external or internal cues as
potential threat, danger, or harm to personal vital resources or well-being involves a
rapid, automatic, and highly efficient cognitive, physiological, behavioral, and affective
defensive system that evolved to protect and ensure the survival of the organism. Many
writers have noted the obvious evolutionary significance of a cognitive system primed
to rapidly and selectively scan the environment for anything that might pose a physical
danger to our primordial ancestors (Beck, 1985; D. M. Clark & Beck, 1988; Craske,
2003; Öhman & Mineka, 2001). Threat is rapidly appraised in terms of its temporal/
physical proximity or intensifying nature (i.e., “threat imminence” [Craske, 2003] or
“looming vulnerability” [Riskind & Williams, 2006]), probability of occurrence, and
severity of outcome. Together these evaluated characteristics of the stimulus will result
in the initial assignment of a threat value.
This primary assignment of threat value is inherent in all experiences of anxiety. In
the cognitive model this initial, relatively automatic threat appraisal is due to activation
of the primal threat mode (see Figure 2.1). The appraisal of threat will involve various
cognitive processes and structures including attention, memory, judgment, reasoning,
and conscious thought. This is illustrated in the following example. Imagine an indi-
vidual running along a fairly isolated country road. He suddenly hears the bark of a dog
in the yard of a house he is approaching. Instantly his muscles tighten, his pace quickens,
his breathing and heart rate accelerate. These responses to the barking dog are triggered
by a very rapid initial threat appraisal that just barely registers in the runner’s conscious
awareness: “Am I in danger of an attack?” The situation will be assigned a high threat
value if the runner is close to the house in question, thinks there is high probability that
the dog is not leashed, and assumes the dog is large and vicious (high severity). On the
other hand, the runner might assign a low threat value with increased distance from the
dog, or if he concludes that the dog is probably leashed or simply a friendly household
pet. An immediate threat appraisal, then, will be apparent in all experiences of both
normal and abnormal anxiety states. In clinical anxiety, the primary threat appraisal is
exaggerated and disproportionate to the actual threat value of an event.
Clinician Guideline 2.3
Cognitive therapy focuses on helping clients recalibrate exaggerated threat appraisals and
increase their tolerance for risk and uncertainty related to their anxious concerns.Heightened Helplessness
A secondary appraisal of personal resources and coping ability involves a more con-
scious, strategic evaluation of one’s ability to respond constructively to perceived threat.
This appraisal occurs at the secondary elaborative phase of the cognitive model (see
Figure 2.1). This secondary appraisal will involve Bandura’s (1977, 1989) concepts of
self- efficacy (“Do I have the ability to deal with this threat”?) and outcome expectancy
(“What is the likelihood that my efforts will reduce or eliminate the threat?”). Positive