Anxiety Assessment

Introduction

The first assessment of individual differences is reported in the Bible in the Book of Judges, Chapter 7 on Gideon. God asked Gideon, who was battling the Midianites, to thin out his troops by rejecting individuals who were both fearful and afraid of battle. However, too many men were left, so God instructed Gideon to lead his men down to the water and used the following selection procedure. Out of 10,000 persons, 300 lapped with water from their hands, with their tongues. They were selected. The ones who knelt to drink were not.

This entry will focus on the assessment of anxiety as an individual differences variable; the dimensional conceptualization of anxiety. Dimensionality arises from a personality psychology tradition, in which traits and behaviours are measured ...