Lecture 3: Public Speaking Apprehension

Public Speaking Apprehension

  • A type of communication anxiety

  • Level of fear a person experiences when anticipating or actually speaking to an audience.

  • Also known as stage fright

Beginning Filipino Students’ Attributions about Oral Communication Anxiety

  • The eight factors are expectation, training and experience, audience, self-worth, rejection, verbal fluency, preparation, and previous unpleasant experience.

Monroe and other communication researchers have identified two major manifestations of stage fright:

  • Physiological Manifestation

    • Clammy hands

    • Weak knees

    • Dry mouth

    • Trembling or cracking voice

    • Butterflies in our stomach

  • Psychological Manifestation

    • Mental blocks

    • Vocal hesitation

    • Nonfluency

Deinzer’s Experiment

  • Deinzer convinced 16 novice people to skydive for the first time.

  • She was trying to discover how the body responds to incredible stressors: she wanted to know if there was a biochemical expression of fear to match the frightened expressions she saw before her.

  • She was interested in whether people habituate to the rush of skydiving. Apparently, hurtling to the earth in a free fall is something you can get acclimated to.

Rohleder’s Experiment

  • “Death is not a potential outcome in ballroom dancing” — Hunter Thompson

  • Nicolas Rohleder was equipped with sponges to chew. He analyzed the subjects—comparing practice days and rest days to contest days

  • The pressure of ballroom dancing induced stress rush just as strong as someone’s second skydive jump. Many of the ballroom dancer’s stress response was every bit as high as the first skydive jump.

What was the real difference?

  • The real difference between skydiving and dancing is not defined by the physical environment. Not even the jeopardy to life and limb.

  • It’s the PSYCHOLOGICAL environment.

Managing Public Speaking Anxiety and Developing Confident Delivery

“Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.” — Dale Carnegie

  • Realize that tension and nervousness are normal.

  • Focus on your ideas and not on the way of presenting them.

  • Look at your listeners. Establish eye contact to communicate your eagerness to talk.