AIM Framework glossary
Anxiety
Canonical definition
Anxiety is the felt signature of the Thinker's Ground-Resolution function recruited by a problem, an open question whose resolution bears on action, that cannot be resolved. Anxiety is distinguished from Curiosity not by whether the question closes, which Curiosity does not promise, but by what waits on it: the open question that recruits Curiosity can be left open at no cost, and the problem that recruits Anxiety cannot be set down, because action waits on its resolution. A problem stays unresolved by one of two routes. On the explanatory route the problem cannot be answered: the source of the engagement is absent from the Hypothesis Space, as in Vigilance, and the Thinker resolves onto the most probable account available, which is a danger, so that the danger is the reason given and not the driver, and the avoidance it selects withholds the Evidence that would answer the problem. On the material route the problem cannot be acted on: no available action resolves it, as where a deficit cannot be remedied, and the problem stays open whether or not the Individual holds the correct account of the deficit, which is the material barrier of the Opt-Out Paradox. Because a problem that cannot be resolved always leaves a residue, Anxiety has no termination signal corresponding to Boredom. The explanatory route yields to AIM Vocabulary Acquisition and to falling Salience; the material route yields only to a change in the conditions.
Explanation
Anxiety is what it feels like when your mind is held by a problem it cannot settle. Curiosity can also go on without an answer, but you can walk away from it, because nothing depends on the answer. With Anxiety something does depend on it, so you cannot let it go. Sometimes the problem cannot be answered: the real cause is hidden, and the mind fills the gap with a danger. Sometimes it cannot be acted on: you have no money and no way of getting more, and understanding why makes no difference. Either way the problem stays open, and so does the feeling.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct. Derived from the recruitment condition of the Thinker (Chapter 4, Section 4.4.3) and the release rate of the Belief Register (Appendix A, Sections A.5.6 and A.9.7). The construct characterises the motivational configuration; the affective, hormonal and chemical processes that shape the accompanying experience lie outside the characterisation (Chapter 9, Section 9.22).