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A Gauge of Communication AnxietyFigure 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 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA1 A2 U3 D4 SD5 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA1 A2 U3 D4 SD5 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 ___ 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. SA1 A2 U3 D4 SD5 SA1 A2 U3 D4 SD5 SA1 A2 U3 D4 SD5 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 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 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 SA5 A4 U3 D2 SD1 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 Date: 2015-02-16; view: 1043
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