2.2 Classifying PSA

Forms of PSA

The causes of PSA, public speaking anxiety, vary from person to person and are rooted in unique life experiences. Following are several contributing factors to public speaking anxiety.

Trait-anxiety

PSA can be aligned with an individual’s personality (McCroskey et al., 1976). For example, people who would describe themselves as “shy” often seek to avoid interaction with others because they are uncertain of how they will be perceived. Because avoiding such judgment is generally not difficult, this avoidance becomes a pattern of behavior. As a result, those with trait-anxiety are likely to view any chance to express themselves publicly with skepticism and hesitation.

State-anxiety

PSA can also be derived from the external situation in which individuals find themselves (Beatty, 1988), or state-anxiety. While people with trait-anxiety are predisposed to fear how others might perceive them, state anxiety is the result of a previous adverse situation. Those with state-anxiety might have had a negative experience in public at an early age such as forgetting a line in a play, losing a spelling bee, or doing poorly when called on in class, resulting in public embarrassment. These experiences often lead to the formation of state-anxiety.

Scrutiny Fear

Other researchers describe PSA as deriving from a fear of scrutiny (Mattick et al., 1989). This anxiety is simply the fear of being in a situation where one is being watched or observed.

Those who struggle with PSA will recognize varying intensities associated with different situations or triggers. Therefore, overcoming PSA requires first that you recognize, and then minimize, your own personal cause of this fear.

Both state-anxiety and scrutiny fear can be effectively addressed through cognitive restructuring (CR) and thoughtful, deliberate experience.

Cognitive Restructuring

The major difference between “presenting” to a public audience versus “presenting” to a small group of close friends involves one’s attitude about the situation. Overcoming PSA is as much a matter of changing one’s attitude as it is developing one’s skills as a speaker. A change in attitude can be fostered through a self-reflective regimen called cognitive restructuring (CR), which is an internal process through which individuals deliberately adjust their perceptions of an action or experience (Mattick et al., 1989).

Cognitive Restructuring is a three-step internal process:

1. Identify objectively what you think
2. Identify any inconsistencies between perception and reality
3. Replace destructive thinking with supportive thinking

These steps are easy to understand, but perhaps difficult to execute!

The first step is to objectively identify what you are thinking about as you approach a public speaking opportunity. Recall your habitual frame of reference: shine a bright light directly on it. The results will be different for each student, as this is an internal process based on unique individual experiences.

Sources of Apprehension

Two common concerns described by those with PSA are the fear of being under scrutiny, as if you are under some collective microscope with everybody’s eyes on you, and the fear that the audience is just waiting for you to slip up so they can immediately render an embarrassing judgment.

How might CR be applied to each of these widely held perceptions?

Center of Attention

When people describe this specific scrutiny fear, they use phrases like “everyone just stares at me” or “I don’t like having all eyes on me.” Consider for a moment what your experiences have been like when you have been a member of the audience listening to someone else speak. Where did you look while the person spoke? Did you look at the speaker?

Direct eye contact means different things in different cultures, but in the United States, eye contact is the primary means for an audience to demonstrate to the speaker that they are listening. Nobody likes to be ignored, and most members of an audience would not want to be perceived as ignoring the speaker—that would be rude!—so the audience looks at the speaker as a sign of respect.

Compare: before CR, the frame of reference reflects the idea that “everyone is staring at me”; after CR, the perception is altered to “the audience is looking at me to be supportive and polite—after all, I’m the one doing the talking.”

Fear of Judgement

Another common concern is the fear of being judged harshly or making an embarrassing mistake. Go back to that memory of you as an audience member, but this time reflect on what sort of expectations you had at the time. Did you expect the speaker to be flawless and riveting? Did you have in mind some super-high level of performance—below which the speaker would have disappointed you? You probably did not (unless you had the chance to watch some prominent speaker).

Think back to any experiences you may have had watching another speaker struggle—perhaps a classmate during one of their presentations. Witnessing something like that can be uncomfortable. Did you feel empathy for the person struggling? Isn’t it a much more pleasant experience when the speaker does well? Again, the vast majority of people empathize with the speaker when it comes to the quality of the presentation. They are willing to give the speaker a chance to say what they want to say.

Too, if the speaker stumbles over her words or misspeaks, she notices the flaw much more than the audience does because they do not expect a flawless performance. They know the difference between a live presentation and a carefully edited performance. Think about when you have watched professionals speak live in front of a camera to deliver the news or provide commentary about a sporting or political event. When these professionals occasionally stumble over their words or mispronounce something, how upset does the audience become? Can you even remember the specific misstep made by one of these professionals? More than likely you can’t because when that person flubbed his lines, your brain just processed it as normal human speech. So even if you misspeak a word or even forget a line, your experience will be more frustrating and memorable for you than it will be for your audience.

Thus, before CR, the frame of reference reflects the idea that “everyone is judging me harshly,” and after CR, the perception is altered to “the audience is willing to listen to what I have to say because it’s a more pleasant experience for them if the speaker is successful.”

Consider what comes into your mind if you are to deliver a public presentation. Are your thoughts consumed with many uncertainties? What if I make a mistake? What if they don’t like what I’m talking about? What if? Try your own version of CR. Put yourself in the role of audience member and ask yourself whether your fears as a speaker are consistent with your expectations as an audience member. Remember that, just like you, the audience wants the speaker to succeed.

Of course CR is always easier said than done. It is a process that takes time, patience, and practice. The most important thing to remember is that you are trying CR as a means of breaking a habit, and habits are formed over periods of time, never instantaneously. Breaking a habit can only be accomplished gradually and with deliberate effort.

Changing your attitude is only one element in overcoming PSA. The other involves improving your skills as a speaker, including diligently preparing for your presentation.