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The association between attentional bias for threat (ABT) and anxiety has conventionally been studied from the information-processing approach, via research traditions adapted from the field of cognitive psychology. While ABT is thought to play a causal role in anxiety, the tendency to orient more quickly to negative compared to neutral stimuli can also represent an adaptive habit which facilitates survival by preparing the organism to respond swiftly to danger. The latter notion bears implications for the design of research on the ABT-anxiety link which are not well reflected within the information- processing approach. Specifically, given the adaptive aspects of ABT, the pathway between ABT is not likely to be direct, nor does the expression of ABT unmask underlying anxiety in all instances. However, led by the dominant information-processing approach, a significant proportion of studies on the ABT-anxiety link has focused on characterizing ABT in anxiety via methodologically rigorou ....