Evaluating Public Speaking Performance: A Quest to Discover an Empirically-Supported Public Speaking Task
Location
CSU Ballroom
Start Date
10-4-2018 2:00 PM
End Date
10-4-2018 3:30 PM
Student's Major
Psychology
Student's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mentor's Name
Jeffrey Buchanan
Mentor's Department
Psychology
Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Second Mentor's Name
Samuel Spencer
Second Mentor's Department
Psychology
Second Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Description
This study investigated various influences on the level of anxiety in public speaking tasks such as the presence of audience members, audience evaluation, and public speaking topics. Based on previous research indicating that audience presence, audience evaluations, and public speaking topics influence public speaking performance, we hypothesized that evaluative audiences would create a higher level of anxiety in participants, as opposed to a non-evaluative audience. Further, it was anticipated that an autobiographical speech topic would induce a moderate amount of anxiety. 204 college students completed an online survey and were asked to evaluate 12 separate hypothetical public speaking task situations. Participants were asked to imagine that they will be giving a speech in front of an audience, with five minutes to prepare the videotaped speech. The structure of each vignette remained the same for all vignettes (e.g., time given to prepare for speech, speech will be videotaped, etc.), except for manipulations of the presence of audience, (i.e., an audience present or not), and public speaking topics. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no effect of audience present on participant ratings of perceived distress. The polemic and scientific article review public speaking task topics were rated as most distressing, and the autobiographical task rated as the most relatable to real life. Therefore, future experimental research should utilize autobiographical public speaking task topics. This research can lead to development of future interventions to alleviate the stress and anxiety experienced by people faced with an intense fear of engaging in public speaking.
Evaluating Public Speaking Performance: A Quest to Discover an Empirically-Supported Public Speaking Task
CSU Ballroom
This study investigated various influences on the level of anxiety in public speaking tasks such as the presence of audience members, audience evaluation, and public speaking topics. Based on previous research indicating that audience presence, audience evaluations, and public speaking topics influence public speaking performance, we hypothesized that evaluative audiences would create a higher level of anxiety in participants, as opposed to a non-evaluative audience. Further, it was anticipated that an autobiographical speech topic would induce a moderate amount of anxiety. 204 college students completed an online survey and were asked to evaluate 12 separate hypothetical public speaking task situations. Participants were asked to imagine that they will be giving a speech in front of an audience, with five minutes to prepare the videotaped speech. The structure of each vignette remained the same for all vignettes (e.g., time given to prepare for speech, speech will be videotaped, etc.), except for manipulations of the presence of audience, (i.e., an audience present or not), and public speaking topics. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no effect of audience present on participant ratings of perceived distress. The polemic and scientific article review public speaking task topics were rated as most distressing, and the autobiographical task rated as the most relatable to real life. Therefore, future experimental research should utilize autobiographical public speaking task topics. This research can lead to development of future interventions to alleviate the stress and anxiety experienced by people faced with an intense fear of engaging in public speaking.
Recommended Citation
Krein, Quincey. "Evaluating Public Speaking Performance: A Quest to Discover an Empirically-Supported Public Speaking Task." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 10, 2018.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2018/poster-session-B/6
