It is an interesting issue, and I am out of touch with academe these days and didn’t know this is a “thing”. I just wanted to add another “key” problem with this research, although it is held in common with tons of social research, and that it relies on self-ratings of internal states.

It rests on the assumption that they are “accurate”. It would have been much better to use some physiological indicators of anxiety PLUS self report, in order to cross validate the findings, and the measures. If the self reports are invalid, it’s all garbage.