Measuring Public Speaking Anxiety: Self-report, behavioral, and physiological

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Science
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Public speaking anxiety is commonly assessed using self-report measures.
• The relationship between self-report, observer ratings, and objective measures of anxiety during public speaking is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the associations between self-reported anxiety, observer-reported anxiety, behavioral responses, and physiological reactivity during a public speaking task.
• To determine if self-reported public speaking anxiety predicts objective performance metrics.

Main Methods:

• Ninety-five university students participated in a speech challenge task.
• Measures included pre- and post-speech self-reports of anxiety, speech duration, physiological reactivity, and speech performance ratings by participants and observers.
• Social anxiety levels were also assessed.

Main Results:

• Self-reported public speaking anxiety was significantly associated with speech duration and perceived speech quality.
• Physiological measures of anxiety did not correlate with self-reported anxiety levels during the speech task.
• Participants with higher social anxiety tended to underestimate their speech performance compared to observer evaluations.

Conclusions:

• Self-report measures of public speaking anxiety are valuable predictors of behavioral outcomes like speech duration and quality.
• Physiological reactivity may not be a reliable indicator of self-perceived anxiety in this context.
• Social anxiety influences self-perception of performance, highlighting the importance of observer perspectives.