A Gauge of Communication Anxiety

Figure 2.2

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

30 Part One The Foundations of Public Speaking

___ 20. I would be bothered by a very fast heart

rate just as I started the speech.

___ 21. I would experience considerable anxiety at

the speech site (room, auditorium, etc.)

just before my speech was to start.

___ 22. Certain parts of my body would feel very

tense and rigid during the speech.

___ 23. Realizing that only a little time remained

in the speech would make me very tense

and anxious.

___ 24. While giving the speech I would know that

I could control my feelings of tension

and stress.

___ 25. I would breathe too fast just before

starting the speech.

___ 26. I would feel comfortable and relaxed in the

hour or so just before giving the speech.

___ 27. I would do poorly on the speech because

I would be anxious.

___ 28. I would feel uncomfortably anxious when

first scheduling the date of the speaking

assignment.

___ 29. If I were to make a mistake while giving

the speech, I would find it hard to

concentrate on the parts that followed.

___ 30. During the speech I would experience a

feeling of helplessness building up inside me.

___ 31. I would have trouble falling asleep the

night before the speech.

___ 32. My heart would beat too fast while I was

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___ 16. I would feel that I was in complete possession

of myself during the speech.

___ 17. My mind would be clear when giving

the speech.

___ 18. I would not dread giving the speech.

___ 19. I would perspire too much just before

starting the speech.

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A Gauge of Communication Anxiety (Continued)

Figure 2.2

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 2 Managing Your Fear of Speaking 31

A Gauge of Communication Anxiety (Continued)

Figure 2.2

The greatest anxiety about public speaking generally takes place before you ever

stand to speak. Your worries may begin when you register for the course, when a

speech is assigned, or while you are preparing your presentation. In outside-theclassroom

situations, you may begin to get nervous when you know you will be

called upon to say a few words, when you have a report to make to a work group,

or when you feel impelled to speak up before others on a cause you really care

about. The nervousness that comes before you make a presentation is called

anticipatory anxiety.7

Because you usually know well in advance that you will be giving a speech, there

is a lot of time to build up fears. Understanding the causes of this anxiety can help

you cope with it. Some of the sources of such anxiety are external or inherent in the

situation. Other sources are internal or originate within the person.

External Factors

Let s begin with two rational reasons that people are not comfortable speaking before

a group: the unfamiliarity of the situation and the importance of the occasion.

anticipatory anxiety The fear of public

speaking that occurs before the actual

presentation of a speech.

___ 32. My heart would beat too fast while I was

presenting the speech.

___ 33. I would feel uncomfortably anxious while

waiting to give my speech.

___ 34. While giving the speech I would get so

nervous that I would forget facts I really knew.

To determine your score:

1. Fill in the blank next to each item with the NUMBER accompanying the response

you circled. BE CAREFUL to enter the CORRECT NUMBER. NOTICE that

the numbers printed with the responses are not consistent for every question.

2. Add up the numbers you recorded for the 34 questions. The sum is your public

speaking apprehension score.

Interpretation: 34 84 low

85 92 moderately low

93 110 moderate

111 119 moderately high

120 + high

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Source: Adapted from "Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety" by James C. McCroskey.

Appeared in "Measures of Communication Bound Anxiety," Speech Monographs 37, (1970),

p. 276. Used by permission of National Communication Association.

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

32 Part One The Foundations of Public Speaking

Unfamiliarity. For most of us, speaking to a large number of people face to

face is not an everyday activity. Almost all of us tend to be somewhat ill at ease in

unfamiliar situations. Fortunately, familiarity with a situation tends to reduce

anxiety. Practice your speech before a group of friends. Enlist your roommates,

friends, or family to be an audience. Practicing before someone gives you increased

familiarity with the speaking situation. Although practicing may not make it go

away as you might wish, it can help reduce your anxiety to a more manageable

level. When speaking to a group outside the classroom, especially a group of people

you don t know, try to arrive early and meet some audience members. By doing so,

you will have a familiar face to look for in the audience as you speak.

Importance. Anxiety can also be increased by realizing that you usually have to

speak in public only when a lot depends on how well you express yourself. When

things matter to us, we tend to worry in anticipation of them. This anticipatory anxiety

is often worse than the anxiety you may experience during the presentation of

your speech. It can cause sleeplessness and irritability. To counter this problem, prepare

your speech well in advance of your scheduled presentation. If you put off

preparing your speech until the night before it is due, you will simply magnify your

anxiety level. Try to find something relaxing to do the night before you are scheduled

to speak. Watch a silly television show or go to the movies, take a long walk

with a friend, or listen to someone else s problems and think about how you might

help him or her.

Internal Factors

How nervous you actually feel about giving a speech also may be related to your personality.

This nervousness is not always rational, but it can become a problem if you

let it. You may believe you don t have a great deal of control over these factors, that

it is simply the way you are, but understanding them may help you cope with them.

Anxiety Sensitivity. You may be the type of person who labels even the weakest

of the symptoms we discussed earlier as signs of fear. If so, you can blow your

nervousness all out of proportion. Psychologists call this tendency anxiety sensitivity.

8 It is a fear of fear itself. You think that you are afraid; therefore you become more

afraid. Fear feeds on itself, so try not to get too uptight about your normal anxiety.

@InterConnections.

LearnMore 2.1

Coping With Fear

Communication Anxiety

http://chattanoogastate.edu/cde/anxiety

An online resource for working through communication anxiety; prepared as a class project under the

direction of Debra Jones, Chattanooga State Community College.

Stage Fright

www.selfgrowth.com/articles/zimmer5.html

A self-help article, Transforming Stage Fright into Magnetic Presence, prepared by Sandra Zimmer,

consultant and director of the Self-Expression Center, University of Houston.

anxiety sensitivity The tendency to

label weak symptoms of anxiety as fear

and then to over-respond to them.

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 2 Managing Your Fear of Speaking 33

2.1

Common Causes of Communication Anxiety

Your communication anxiety may stem from any or all of the following causes:

Speaker s Notes

4. Perfectionism the dread of making a mistake

5. Audience misperceptions

6. Expectation of dire consequences

1. Unfamiliarity with the situation

2. Importance of the occasion

3. Anxiety sensitivity the fear of fear itself

Remember, the physical symptoms you may experience before or during speaking

are also associated with other reactions that we do not usually call fear. For

example, do you remember ever being so excited before a big event you looked forward

to that you couldn t sleep? How did you feel when you heard the first strains

of the processional for your high school graduation? Did you call these feelings

fear or excitement ?

Perfectionism. Another personal factor that contributes to communication

apprehension is perfectionism. As a beginning speaker, you may believe that your

speech has to be perfect for it to be effective. No presentation is ever perfect. Even

former president Ronald Reagan, who was known as the great communicator,

bumbled some lines and repeated himself in his presentations. It s all right if you

make a few mistakes, and besides, your listeners probably won t even notice unless

you call attention to them.

Audience Misconceptions. You may picture

your listeners as predators lying in wait, ready to

pounce on any little mistake you might make. In reality,

most audiences, especially college classroom

audiences, want speakers to succeed. If you look out

in the audience and see someone frowning, that person

is probably worried about some personal problem,

not preparing to pounce on you.

You also may worry that everyone in the audience

will know how nervous you are. Actually, most

listeners won t know this unless you tell them. They

are not clairvoyant! Communication consultant H.

Dennis Beaver brings this point home to his clients

by having them think back to a time when they felt

especially nervous speaking to a group. Then he

asks:

Did a single audience member come up to you

and comment on how loud your heart was beating?

Or how sweaty your hands appeared? Or how

dry your voice sounded? Or what an interesting

sound your knocking knees made?9

You may feel that the audience is just waiting for you to

make a mistake, but in truth, most audiences want you to

succeed.

perfectionism Believing that you must

be perfect to be effective.

Public Speaking, Eighth Edition, by Michael Osborn, Suzanne Osborn and Randall Osborn. Published by Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

34 Part One The Foundations of Public Speaking

One time when we were taping student speeches for a teaching video, a student

began her speech with an excellent interest-arousing introduction. About a

minute and a half into her speech she stopped, looked at us, and said, I can t do

this! I m too nervous. We have used the tape of this speech in many classes. We

show the speech up until right before the student stops. Then we ask the class to

estimate how anxious they think this speaker is. Typically, they say, She s not at

all nervous or She s very poised. Then we start the tape back up and show the

segment where she quits. The class is usually quite surprised, but the lesson is

clear.

Dire Consequences. You may believe that as soon as you stand up to speak,

something dreadful is going to happen to you you ll throw up or pass out. This seldom

happens, even with the most anxious students. In our many years of teaching,

we ve never seen a student throw up or pass out in a public speaking class.

Specific Fears That Bother Speakers

Two recent surveys of both the general population and college students identified

some specific fears that people have regarding public speaking.10 The fears cited by

the general public are listed in Figure 2.3. The students surveyed also mentioned

negative consequences (e.g., bad grades) as a major concern. Let s examine these

fears and see how troublesome they can be.

Trembling or Shaking. Trembling or shaking was the most common specific

fear mentioned in the surveys, and it may be the most common physical reaction.11

Indeed, as you make your first presentations, your hands may tremble a bit or your leg

muscles may begin to twitch. Is this really all that bad? Chances are you will be more

aware of the trembling than anyone in your audience. And, if listeners do notice it, what

will they think? That you re a failure? That you re incompetent? Or, that you like

them are somewhat uncomfortable in front of a group?

Actually, some slight trembling may have a positive effect on how the audience

reacts to you. Psychologists call this the pratfall effect. When people in a position

of power or authority (as you are when you give a speech) make a minor mistake,

they appear more human and make it more likely that people will respond positively

to them. Trembling probably won t affect how competent people think you

are, but it may make you seem more likeable.

Is there anything you can do to control your trembling? Probably not as much

as you would like. The best thing you can do is

focus on your message and not your body.

Also, plan some purposeful physical activity,

like gesturing or moving from behind the

lectern to channel your energy. Similarly,

pointing out the features of a presentation aid

gives your body a positive way to work off

some physical tension and, at least momentarily,

distracts your attention from your anxiety.

Mind Going Blank. The second-most

common specific fear people reported was

that they were afraid their minds would go

blank: that they would not remember how

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