Widening the lens: An interdisciplinary approach to examining the effect of exposure therapy on public speaking state anxiety. Page: 89
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members. Several students mentioned they experienced anxiety because they didn't
know anyone in their class. Students stated:
On the first presentation, I didn't know anyone in the class yet, so I was really
uncomfortable since I didn't know anyone. I just really talk to people I know better.
I'm more comfortable.
I've been giving speeches - I was in a leadership class my senior year and I was
really comfortable giving a speech because I knew everyone there. I guess
because I didn't know the people in this class, it made me really nervous... If I'm
giving a speech to somebody I haven't really met at all and am worried about
them as human nature is, you're worried about them judging you if you've never
met them for the first time. That's why the first one is definitely the hardest one
for me.
Interestingly, some students indicated they experienced anxiety when there was
someone in the audience they knew really well because they were concerned with what
the audience member would do during the presentation (e.g. make them laugh) or say
after the presentation related to their performance. This is consistent with McCroskey
(1984), who suggested "in general, as the degree of familiarity increases, the degree of
CA decreases... however, some people are most uncomfortable when communicating
to similar peers, because they are more concerned with the evaluations such people
make than they are with people who are very different from themselves" (p. 25-26). It
appears knowing someone in the audience really well or being unfamiliar with one's
audience increases state anxiety.
Audience Behaviors
The second factor related to audience characteristics involves the way the
audience members behave during the presentation. Speakers experience an increase
in anxiety if they are ignored by the audience, if the audience members fail to give89
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Finn, Amber N. Widening the lens: An interdisciplinary approach to examining the effect of exposure therapy on public speaking state anxiety., dissertation, August 2007; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3975/m1/98/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .