based on the idea that niceness is the cause of all anxiety.
All anxiety? Surely not. People get anxious about exams and going to the dentist and mortgages and impending wars and loads of other stuff that hasn't got squat to do with this particular behaviour. That's so obvious that nobody would make their model that absurdly broad.
I think what the author wanted to say was "based on the idea that there exists a psychological pattern that leads to anxiety and is caused by niceness."
(Just nitpicking bad writing here, but it has to be said.)
(Just nitpicking bad writing here, but it has to be said.)
It's not bad writting, it's you judging writing based on not having the context. Likely you misunderstand the word model.
But as far as the dentist example goes, a large part of the anxiety of going to the dentist is about you not wanting to feel pain but allowing someone else to do something painful to you without you being allowed to be angry at them. That's what niceness is about in that model.
Most people who feel anxiety before exams have a history of surpressing anger at their teachers but o...
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