State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory

Abstract Anxiety was defined by Freud as “something felt,” an emotional state that included feelings of apprehension, tension, nervousness, and worry accompanied by physiological arousal. Consistent with Darwin's evolutionary perspective, Freud observed that anxiety was adaptive in motivating behavior that helped individuals cope with threatening situations and that intense anxiety was prevalent in most psychiatric disorders. In measuring anxiety, Cattell (1966) emphasized the importance of distinguishing between anxiety as an emotional state and individual differences in anxiety as a personality trait.