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In this section, different studies about self awareness when presenting, speaking Anxiety, the audience affects on the speaker, are discussed and analyzed in addition to previous research results.
Anxiety And Public Speaking Anxiety
The term Anxiety as defined by Oxford dictionary is ‘A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome ’.
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, generalized anxiety disorder can be defined as an individual with unusual high levels of worry about aspects of daily life such as health and well-being, finances, family or work. Social anxiety is one aspect of the many anxieties an individual can experience, and one form of social anxiety is public speaking anxiety. McCroskey (1977) argued that public speaking anxiety is a fear and uneasiness caused by the anticipation of speaking before a group of people. This might be considered as one of the many causes an anxious speaker experience. Also, Ayres (1986) argues that the fear of performing in public may occur from the thought of one’s performance may not meet the audiences expectations. ‘’ Anxious speakers can show cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions. These might include increased distraction, decreased information processing abilities, feelings of fear and uneasiness, increases in sympathetic nervous system arousal, and attempts to escape the situation’’ (Schwarzer, 1986 ). The lack of grasping information, processing information, feelings of fear and uneasiness are what an anxious speaker might go through during a presentation, or simply having to talk in public.
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Audience and Their Affects on Anxious Speakers
As discussed above, anxious speakers deal with many mental thoughts before, during, and after having to present or talk in public. The most important factor an anxious speaker might worry about is audience and how to please them. ‘During a public speech, a speaker’s attention can vary. He or she may attend primarily to the audience and speaking environment, to self, or to some combination of the two.’( Daly, Vangelisti, Lawrence 1988). Whether the individual deals with anxiety or not, their attention will rest in a position they are most likely comfortable with. However, those who are highly anxious are usually more self aware of themselves and people around them. (Beatty, 1988) stated that public anxious speakers have strong sense of being apparent and conspicuous during speeches and presentations.
The connection between audience and speaker are positively interrelated. The speaker might be the center of attention to the audience but the audience are surely the center of attention to the speaker. The level of pleasantness the audience have, determine the speakers anxiety level. In addition, the more familiar the speaker is with the audience the more comfortable he/she will be. McCroskey (1984) argued that speakers believe that the performing experience might be more tolerable or comfortable with a familiar audience. An anxious speaker is more comfortable performing or talking publicly to a group of friends, for they know that individuals character and would be more understanding to their speaking problems. ‘An audience of friends that is tolerant, understanding, and predisposed toward favorable evaluation of the speaker would be as pleasant a speaking context as one could envision’( MacIntyre, Thivierge p.457).
Aspects and results of audiences affect
( MacIntyre, Thivierge p.458) have created a study illustrating how audience can affect the speakers level of anxiety by looking closely at two aspects: Are anxious speakers more comfortable with familiar audience or strangers?, and does the pleasantness of the audience differ based of their familiarity or not. The investigation also focused on three speaking contexts: academic, professional, and social contexts.
The data illuminated that the most anticipated audience to perform to were the pleasant, familiar audience and the most difficult audience to deal with or perform to, were unpleasant strangers. However, it appears that anxious speakers would prefer performing to pleasant strangers over unpleasant friends. ‘in both the academic and social contexts, pleasant strangers aroused significantly less anxiety than unpleasant’ (MacIntyre, Thivierge).
The research then continued to examine the amount of times a speaker is willing to talk in front of the audience. The results found a significant amount of time a speaker is willing to speak to a pleasant audience and it was greater for pleasant friends than it was to strangers. However, in both academic and social contexts, speakers were also more willing to spend time talking to pleasant strangers rather than unpleasant friends. ( Maclntyre, 1994;McCroskey & Richmond, 1991) stated that the more the speaker is willing to perform the less anticipated anxiety will be.
(MacIntyre, Thivierge) concluded this investigation by arguing that the pleasantness of audience has a strong role to affect an anxious speaker. Speakers anticipated less anxiety when speaking to pleasant strangers than to unpleasant friends and also they were willing to speak more with pleasant strangers than to unpleasant friends. it is argued that speakers would rather to perform to strangers rather than friends when it comes to embarrassing activity. (Brown, Garland,1977; Froming, Corley, & Rinker, 1990). It is suggested that friends might tease or mock the speaker after the performance resulting to a greater anxiety for the speaker during and after their performance (MacIntyre, Thivierge).
All things considered, speakers might face some factors that help either increase or decrease their anxiety based on the audience. However, the general theory and results demonstrate that speakers in general are more comfortable with familiar pleasant audience more than pleasant strangers.
Self-awareness in Speaking Anxiety
Speakers who deal with anxiety are most likely to be more self aware of themselves or of the environment around them. Anxious speakers will over think about their appearance, pronunciation, figure, during the whole presentation or performance.
(Daly, Vangelisti , Lawrence, 1988) presented a research about speakers self awareness during a performance. They suggest that the speakers attention may vary to either themselves, to the audience or the combination of both. Just like Duval and Wicklund (1972) suspected, public speaking anxiety gave a sense of awareness during speeches thus, making anxious speakers focus more on themselves. Similarly, highly focusing on one’s self, anxious speakers tend to have more negative thoughts about their performance and results. (Sarason, 1975).
The study that they have conducted illustrated on why anxiety results in poor performance by highly anxious speakers. The main reason in which they believe resulted in poor performances is self awareness. The investigation gave an evident proof that highly anxious speakers focused more on themselves and less on what they are actually performing. (Daly, Vangelisti , Lawrence, 1988) noticed that highly anxious speakers were seen more nervous, having less eye contact, and pausing during their speech. Thus, resulting in poorer performance than those who were not anxious.
