Chapter 11: Demystification of Public speaking
Speaking in Small groups
This textbook, “Demystification of Public Speaking”, was so entitled because the idea is for you to be able to deactivate your fear of public speaking (if that fear exists) and, once this is accomplished, to begin to master the art of it. The process begins with you recognizing that you already possess the necessary tools to be a successful speaker, and all that remains is for you to know how to use your tools masterfully.
Chapman University has been doing top 5 and top 10 surveys on what Americans fear the most, what Americans worry about, and other phobias. In the first survey, which was done in 2014 with 1500 participants, the top 5 things Americans feared the most were:
- Walking alone at night
- Becoming the victim of identity theft
- Safety on the internet
- Being the victim of a mass/random shooting
- Public speaking
Death ranked below public speaking
A recent Forbes Magazine survey (2018) ranked public speaking as the number 1 fear among Americans, while death was ranked number 2. Study after study state how feared public speaking is.
According to research cited in Journal of Voice in January 2017 on the prevalence of fear of public speaking among college students, at least 63.9% of college students reported fear of public speaking, and the fear was more prevalent among women who perceived their voices as being too soft or too high pitched.
Because of the recognition of fear of public speaking as such a prevalent factor, research has been conducted by scholars, scientists, psychologists, and sociologists to determine the cause, effect, and possible treatment of the fear of public speaking.
The scientific community refers to the fear of public speaking as Glossophobia, and the National Institute of Mental Health recognizes glossophobia as a mental health issue and anxiety disorder affecting about 75% of the world’s population.
Glossophobia is a Greek-derived term; the Latin translation of glossa means tongue, and phobia is the irrational fear of something, hence glossophobia is defined as the fear of public speaking.
While the term glossophobia may be a Greek language derivative, the beginnings of public speaking or story telling is not; it began long before Rome was actually established and before books were invented, when the maintaining and keeping of history was practiced and passed on orally in West Africa and in other parts of the African continent.
The fear of public speaking is found to be more prevalent in younger patients and those with social anxiety disorder (Strawn) (psycom.net), although not all those who fear public speaking have a social anxiety disorder or, for that matter, any psychiatric disorder.
The Health Education platform, Osmosis.org, which features research and writings of clinicians worldwide, suggests that a combination of genetic, environmental, and demographic factors may be the contributing factors of glossophobia, the real fear being, perhaps the fear of being embarrassed or rejected.
There are symptoms of this phobia, both psychological and physiological. Some of the signs include, sweating profusely, dry mouth, increased blood pressure, nausea, panic attacks, a shaking or trembling voice, not projecting when speaking, stammering, and the avoidance of any type of activity that would include speaking in front of people. The symptoms are, therefore, mental, physical, and social.
Treatment for glossophobia ranges from mental reframing, psychotherapy, and medication. Medication should be the last resort, especially with using over the counter stimulants and sedatives. Doctor-supervised medication prior to a speech is suggested by some; however, this might not be a recommended practice for everyone, since the medication could obstruct some of the speech delivery natural tendencies; you want to remain in control of the speech.
The Journal of Anxiety Disorder (1999) reported that EMDR –Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (ZJRMS, 2013) has been used with some success in the treatment of the physiological symptoms of speech anxiety, and also found that the therapy increased confidence.
EMDR treatment is an eight-phrase treatment using bilateral stimulation, such as side-to-side eye movements. The science incorporates the memories of the patient’s underlying current problems, the patient’s present situations and triggers to be addressed, and the integration of positive memory templates.
EMDR treatment has proven to have been effective enough to be used in the treatment of but not limited to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), general anxiety disorder, panic disorder, sexual dysfunction, performance anxiety, chronic-pain, and migraine headaches.
Another published study in 2017 by Mary Ann Liebert Inc. reported on the use of VRET-Video Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy to help reduce public speaking anxiety. The study showed a measurable significant decrease in speaking anxiety among participants with initially high speaking anxiety baseline levels. This new strategy used a Public Speech Trainer (PST) that incorporates 360 degree live video recorded VR (virtual reality) environments that can actually be used at home via a smartphone application for a VR head-mounted device.
There are hundreds of other research and experimental studies conducted on the fear of public speaking and possible treatments to alleviate that fear.
For some people, the roots of the fear of public speaking might be buried deep in their past, perhaps from an experience where they were once embarrassed or ridiculed, or it might have been a “performance” situation.
The clinical studies of the symptoms, causes and treatments mentioned are to provide you with a perspective on how serious the fear of public speaking is regarded, and the ongoing efforts to alleviate the problem.
Another approach to this discussion of fear in public speaking that I will briefly explore is the spiritual, socio-philosophical/ psychological aspect, which is a slightly different pathway from the previous discussion; however, you will observe that there are connections to the previous discussion.
What is most common in all discussions of the fear of public speaking is that fear can permeate almost every aspect of your life: cognitively, physically, socially, and psychologically.
In my book ”Five Inseparable Gifts”, I focused on the ways fear circumvents success in general and, more specifically, how it affects your relationships and hinders effective public speaking. Ways to overcome this obstacle are explored.
Some argue that fear is natural, a protector and preserver of persons; belief is, it helps to keep us safe, observant, and gives us the opportunity to live to fight another day, while others do believe that fear is an enemy of courage.
While most cultures have an instinctive fight or flight reaction when accosted, fear seems to be an instinctive reaction or reflex to defend or protect ourselves from danger or harm. Unless we are the aggressor, what we are actually doing is asserting power out of love even though it does not appear that way. In these situations, our reaction to danger is not out of fear, but out of the need to preserve self, out of love. Fear is different.
Fear, in my view, is an illusion; a paralyzing emotion that brings with it many other emotions, most of them negative or leading to negative impulses, which we will discuss later on.
F.E.A.R. has been coined by some to mean False Evidence Appearing Real, or as I often say, Forget Everything And Retreat.
Spiritually, we have within us the power of love and a sound mind, not a spirit of fear, suggesting that when we possess a spirit of fear, we lack power or behave powerlessly, love/faith is missing or lacking and we are not behaving as rational human beings, with sound minds.
Dictionaries define fear as an unpleasant or distressing emotion brought on by pain, evil, or impending danger, real or imagined. It is the anticipation of something unpleasant that causes the dread or anxiety.
Psychological concern or anxiety gets fed and becomes a physiological impulse to do something so as to alleviate the emotion or the threat, real or illusionary. Fear, therefore, travels two routes: the quick route; react first, then ask questions after, or attack first and apologize later (self-preservation), or the slow route, which I refer to as the scenic route, where reasoning is explored and logic is used to determine whether there is imminent danger or a reasonable explanation. Both routes are travelled simultaneously, and each pathway leads to the same destination which is the hypothalamus, the area of the brain that controls flight or fight or survival.
The route undertaken by the stimulus causing fear will be determined by whether that thing, object, or situation was experienced before (the hippocampus does the analysis by asking questions). If no danger is posed, then the slow route or high road will be traveled.
In teaching the importance of visualization in the process of improving public speaking, the idea is to have experience and imagination on the same plain or level, because with positive experience, fear is no longer a threat; it becomes an illusion, and if imagination and experience are on the same plain, then we can accomplish and experience just about anything we can imagine, including that which we fear but yet to experience.
Fear never travels solo; it is often accompanied by racism, hatred, jealousy, anger, contempt, and other negative or not-so-pleasant emotions or feelings. Let’s explore some of these emotions.
A quick examination of the fruit of the spirit in spiritual law would help to illuminate the condition of the human spirit in the absence of fear; that is, what feeds the human spirit. It is love, joy, and peace; these represent our state of mind or current dispositions; they are what every human being strives for, unless a mental disease is prevalent in that individual. Patience, kindness, and goodness; these three represent how we treat or ought to treat others. Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control represent our attitudes to God, which is that higher spiritual presence within us. Fear conflicts with each and every one of these principles.
Love, joy, and peace are interrelated and interconnected; each must be present for the other to exist. There is no love without joy, no joy without peace, and no peace without love; fear prevents and curtails the existence of each when present.
Patience, kindness, and goodness are what we show others. Place fear in the mix, and immediately, they conflict with each other; fear conflicts with patience, creating impatience, which can lead to unkindness, and being unkind is the opposite of exhibiting goodness. Fear and goodness do not live in the same space and cannot be achieved simultaneously.
If you are doing what is good because you fear reprisal or punishment, then you’re not acting in love or out of the goodness of your heart; fear, as opposed to faith, is being exhibited.
Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are unattainable with fear standing in the way. If the action is out of fearfulness, then faithfulness is absent. Gentleness rests on a calmness in spirit, which comes out of a sound mind or rational thoughts; fear, in most cases, leads to irrational thoughts and behavior, and self-control is retaining your power to exercise good judgment and act in accordance with that sound judgment; fear, therefore, cannot be present for this to be accomplished.
What, then, are the companions of fear since fear seldom travels alone?
Anxiety is not fear but has a tendency to accompany fear, travelling before or alongside fear. Anxiety is anticipating future events with dread or apprehension; I refer to this as negative anxiety brought on by concern that the event may not go as expected and that things can or may go wrong, thus creating other problems and / or issues. When this feeling becomes overwhelming, fear may set in.
For instance, a public speaking engagement in which you don’t feel confident either because of past experiences in public speaking, shyness, feeling conspicuous, or being unprepared will create anxiety, which can then lead to fear.
Fear is the response to that threat of failure, whether it’s real or illusionary. Anxiety is the expectation of something unpleasant occurring, also referred to as trepidation. The feeling of helplessness or not being in control is fundamental to negative anxiety. In this case, fear is brought on by intense anxiety.
Positive anxiety, on the other hand, while still anxiety, is anticipating an event or thing with excitement, the natural adrenaline rush experienced now charges the body to perform at a higher level. For example, when planning for a trip that you were looking forward to for months, as the time gets closer, the excitement builds to the point where you become overwhelmed, exhibiting similar physical reactions as with negative anxiety.
In both these situations, the body is responding to the surge of adrenaline, and how you control that energy determines the situation’s outcome. Turning the negative energy fear produced into excitement and positive energy is a technique used successfully in public speaking; what appears to be excitement to the audience is the release of nervous energy by the speaker and, if done well, the audience would not know the difference.
Practicing deep breathing or square breathing, counting, muscle relaxation techniques, exercise, eating well, and having an overall positive outlook which means, in some cases, changing your life style and habits, will charge anxiety positively. To counteract anxiety, in most cases, proper and thorough preparation is a wonderful antidote.
Failure to control anxiety could result in anxiety disorders. The three most common are: Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD, Social Anxiety Disorder or SAD, and Panic Disorder.
An individual suffering fromGAD is anxious about several different things and find it difficult to control the anxiousness they feel. Usually, women are the primary sufferers of GAD, and anxiety can be triggered by stress, fatigue, relationship issues, money, health, work, or school related anxiety, like a public speaking assignment. Eating healthy and getting exercise is a good way to reduce this disorder.
Social Anxiety Disorder or SAD is just what it says, brought on by an overwhelming social fear and the feeling of conspicuousness. The individual feels as if they are being scrutinized, criticized, or judged, and not wishing to be embarrassed in the presence of others, that individual may develop this disorder which is symptomized with various types of physical phenomenon such as shaking, profuse sweating, heart palpitations, and other manifestations; does this sound familiar to some of you preparing to do a speech? The individual eventually avoids social situations and interactions, and to some, the behavior is interpreted as anti- social. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), or talk therapy, is one of the ways this anxiety is treated. You are taught how to identify the negative feeling, become more aware of your thoughts and feelings, and to restructure and reshape your thinking.
Panic Disorder seems to be the most common of the three anxiety disorders. Panic attack sufferers endure repeated attacks of anxiety and the feeling that something dreadful is about to happen; the fear is so intense that some individuals declare that they feel as if they are about to die, even though the living may not and cannot really quite fully grasp the concept of death (exhibit A of the irrational aspect of anxiety).
Prior to the actual panic attack, individuals state they feel the anxiety building, and they can tell when the panic attack is about to commence; chest pain intensifies, there is shortness of breath, dizziness, heart rate increases, and some of these symptoms are also present during the actual panic attack, along with choking, numbness, and nausea.
Some students have called in sick just prior to public speaking class engagements, others have broken down emotionally, some have cried, and others have explained experiencing panic attacks which then prevented them from fulfilling their speaking assignments.
According to KNOWZO.com, in the article “Understanding The Most Common Types of Anxiety” by Katy Gilligan, while panic attacks cannot be triggered, thinking of a past attack may trigger another attack since those thoughts could create anxiety.
Panic attacks are treated with CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), exercise, and a controlled diet.
Socially, fear can create emotional upheavals such as jealousy, which is one of the most volatile of emotions. Jealousy is the unhappy feeling someone would have if they suspect rivalry over something or someone they believe to be exclusively theirs. One major reason for the volatility of jealousy is because of the emotion of anger which accompanies it.
Anger is the emotional charge of expressing displeasure, and it has various levels, and the level of the emotional charge would determine the level of anger expressed. Anger is mostly a negative charge of energy, usually resulting in behavior that might be expressed in negative ways.
The levels of anger are rage and fury capped off with wrath or revenge. Rage suggests great anger to the point of loss of control, leading to verbal outbursts, such as screaming. Fury takes it to another level of violent anger directed at an individual or an object, and this escalates into an attack of some form (usually physical), so as to exact revenge.
In women, feelings of jealousy are triggered by them being ignored; the unhappy feelings of not being paid attention to morph into expressed jealousy. In men, that unhappy feeling they may have because someone else is paying attention to that person or thing they believe to be their possession is how they express jealousy, and the end result is generally the same emotional display of anger.
Jealousy produces fear, which in turn triggers emotional feelings of loss or potential loss, such as, loss of power and/or control over a situation, person, object, or even a privilege. The false rationality is that the level of anger and hostility displayed should equate with the level of time, interest, and love invested in the relationship. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.
The correct way to deal with the emotion of jealousy is to improve self; both your self-concept and self-esteem must undergo positive change. Engage in activities that uplift you.
Changes in your self-concept, that is, the mental image or idea you have about self or who you are, and your self-esteem, the degree to which you feel positive or negative about self, are accomplished by aligning yourself with positive individuals who encourage, nurture, and support you, avoiding toxic people, and achieving more successes than failures in your undertakings, and reminding yourself of your successes when discouraged, culminates into more positive experiences, and improved self-concept and esteem. A change in your environment will begin to bring about a change in your behavior and, eventually, a more positive outlook on your life.
In public speaking, incorporating positive visualization techniques will enable you to create and recreate the positive outcomes you wish, with fear being pushed aside.
PART 1
The following exercises, tips, and ideas are ways to deal with nervousness in general and glossophobia in particular.
Figure 11.1 :
- Speak more, voluntarily or otherwise – the more experience you acquire speaking, the better able you will be to navigate from fear to faith. The classroom is your lab; register for a public speaking class, join a fraternity, sorority, or club if you are a student.
- Prepare, practice, prepare, practice – you cannot over-prepare for a speech, nail it down. Become intimately familiar with your speech content and language. If a student is allowed to select his/her own topic, it provides a tremendous boost of confidence because, most likely, they are speaking about something they care about.
- Visualize it, from the beginning to its conclusion – see the speech as you wish for it to unfold; from the moment your name is called, to the time you step to the front of the room, introduce yourself, and begin, to the moment you wrap it up and walk back to your Hear the applause, visualize the faces of your audience or students listening intently as you make eye contact, and see them smiling and nodding to show their appreciation. Get to that feeling of appreciation and contentment that you would feel when you know you’ve done a good job. Play that tape in your mind over and over several times.
- Breathe, breathe, breathe – do not forget to breathe; square breathing relieves your tension. Breathe in on a count of 4, hold it for a count of 4, Breathe out on a count of 4, and repeat this 4 times. You will feel your heartbeat and pulse rate actually slow down. If, after the first set, you still feel very tense and nervous, do another set.
- Meditate–prior to your speech, try relaxation techniques. Relaxation begins and ends with controlled breathing; 3-2-1, each number is visualized and repeated 3 At level 1, add visualization; the set.
- opening, the body, the ending of your speech, almost like an edited version of your speech. Do not rehearse your speech at this level, just see yourself in a positive way; relaxed, fluent, and in control, going through the speech.
Figure 11.2:
- Power pose – prior to your speech, go to the bathroom or to a quiet room by yourself and strike power Have your body reconfigure your mind, behavior, and the outcome. Research has shown that your body can reconfigure your thoughts and, in turn, reshape your behavior and, in turn, change the outcome.
Figure 11.3 :
Your body language may shape who you are, Amy Cuddy, TED Talks, YouTube
- They don’t know and can’t see what & how you feel – the audience is oblivious to your nervousness; they cannot hear your heart thumping in your chest, or see your body shaking, although you may think they do. Reshape your thoughts, and tell yourself the audience is empathetic and want you to succeed.
- Think Positively – the moment you begin to think you can, your mind moves your body to that place of overcoming and you will, because you think you The opposite happens when you introduce negative thinking.
- Exercise Faith not Fear – the moment you step up and begin to do the speech, you’ve already exercised faith, and fear has already been pushed aside; it has taken a back Faith and fear cannot be exhibited simultaneously. Recognize that you are actually doing the speech and let your preparation take you through it to the end.
- Speeches are imperfect – there is no such thing as a perfect Many flaws within a speech may not be readily recognized by the audience because they don’t really know what you, the speaker, intends to say; they only hear what was said.
You may have intended to make one statement and, instead, made another statement, but the audience does not know this and is none the wiser. Remember, there’s always room for improvement.
As with increased social anxiety, increased levels of public speaking anxiety can result in poor speech preparation and performance failure. This disorder is associated with lower incomes, higher rates of unemployment, and reduced likelihood of postsecondary education compared to the general population.
From this discussion on fear, you learned that Glossophobia is the fear of public speaking and 75% to 80% of the world’s population suffer from this phobia.
Research indicates that there might be genetic, environmental, and demographic factors contributing to the fear of public speaking, and while younger individuals and those with prior social anxiety disorders are the most likely victims, sufferers of glossophobia involve a wide variety of people, both men and women, from across the globe.
The symptoms of this phobia are physiological, psychological, and sociological and, if not treated properly, can create debilitating physical, mental, and social issues. The phobia is treated clinically using a variety of methodologies, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) and Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET).
While the overarching cause of most phobias is fear, the underlining factor is usually anxiety, which in turn triggers other associated factors.
The socio-psychological examination of fear itself indicates that fear is a natural defensive response of the body to threat. However, irrational fear is what creates the disorder which requires treatment.
The condition of the human spirit helps to determine how fear is processed. Therefore, maintaining an internal balance of love, joy, and peace, while exhibiting patience, kindness, and goodness to others, and practicing faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, which is, in effect, Godliness, enable you to remain rational instead of irrational, faithful instead of fearful, and provides the emotional balance and control required for successful outcomes.
Treatments of public speaking fear range from visualization and breathing techniques, meditation, positive thinking, power-posing, and attacking the fear head-on by actually speaking in public and speaking more.
If ignored, the fear of public speaking could lead to increased social anxiety, which in turn could result in lost opportunity and failure.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Discuss a situation in which you experienced stage fright. Describe what happened. What did you learn from that experience?
- What is your greatest public speaking fear and how do you plan to overcome it, or if you have already gotten past that fear, how did you do it?
- Try to recall a social situation that caused you great anxiety. Discuss the circumstances leading up to the situation and the build-up of anxiety, the event itself, and the outcome. What coping mechanism(s) did you use? What would be your advice to others faced with a similar situation?
