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This study examined the relationship between public speaking anxiety and physiological stress indicators at four different milestones or stages in the delivery of a public speech. Specifically, public speakers' gastrointestinal body sensations were compared at different times and across different levels of psychological trait anxiety. Results indicated significant differences in both the magnitude and the patterns of somatic responses between high- and low-trait-anxiety groupings. First, as the groups of speakers moved from anticipation to confrontation, their somatic responses changed in opposite directions. Subsequently, high-anxiety speakers reported a significant increase in stress symptoms immediately after the speech had ended, indicating anxious remorse or fear of negative evaluation. These findings provided important new information about speech anxiety patterns, particularly as they differ in high- and low-anxiety speakers.
Early communication researchers described physiological sensations of anxiety experienced while giving a public speech as "profound discomfort" (Lomas, 1944, p. 479) and began to conceptualize "stage fright" as an anxiety disorder. Since that time, descriptions of shaking knees, quivering voices, nausea, and the inability to speak also have been found to be symptoms of stage fright.
Subsequent researchers quantitatively described physiological reactions related to public speaking anxiety as including elevated heart rate (Behnke & Carlile, 1971), trembling (Behnke, Beatty, & Kitchens, 1978), and palmar sweating (Clements & Turpin, 1996). These researchers underscored the need to probe further into various physiological indicators of public speaking anxiety, and the current study was initiated in response to that call. In particular, because gastrointestinal discomfort is associated with general anxiety (Chambless, Caputo, Bright, & Gallagher, 1984; Clouse, 1988; Norton, Norton, Asmundson, Thompson, & Larsen, 1999), it stands to reason that gastrointestinal symptoms also may accompany public speaking anxiety. Therefore, the current study examined specific gastrointestinal sensations experienced by speakers before, during, and after giving a public speech. The study was designed to permit investigation of differences in the magnitude and the patterns of somatic responses between high- and low-trait-anxiety groupings.
Theoretical Perspective
Speech anxiety researchers have investigated both psychological trait anxiety and state anxiety. Trait anxiety measures how people generally feel across situations and time periods, and state anxiety is defined as the anxiety people feel in a particular situation and at a particular time (Speilberger, 1966). In 1970, Spielberger, Gorsuch, and...