Public Speaking

22 CHAPTER^2 Giving Your First Speech: Developing Confidence

Next, practice some progressive relaxation techniques. First, breathe deeply... hold

the breath... release it... repeat several times. Next, tense and relax muscle groups,

starting with the legs. Tighten your muscles... hold... hold... relax. Breathe, hold,

and release your breath again. Continue the tighten-hold-relax process as you move

up your body, from foot to head. Breathe-hold-release between each group of muscles.

After you have tensed and relaxed all your muscle groups, completely relax, breathing

deeply.

While you’re still relaxed, pull out an anxiety pile; start with the lowest item, and

imagine yourself doing it for a tolerable time. Stop. Assess your anxiety level (1–10 scale).

Relax again. Return to the item and repeat the process, assessing your anxiety level

each time you end. When you no longer feel anxious about one item, move to the next.

Do just a few per day. The next day, begin with the last item from the previous session.^18

Diversity

in praCtiCe

Gender and Culture affect psa

Do women experience more PSA

than men? In a variety of stress-

ful situations, such as test taking,

numerous studies indicate that

females in general have stronger

physical and psychological reac-

tions than males. Consequently,

communication researchers

wanted to know if this trend car-

ried over into public speaking

contexts. They found that females

do, in fact, report more communi-

cation anxiety than males. In the

public speaking classroom, both

males and females went through

all four milestones of speech anxi-

ety, but females were likely to react

more strongly than males, possibly

because they tend to be more cau-

tious about communicating when

they know they will be judged on

their performance.^19 One of the

best ways for both males and fe-

males to lessen high levels of anxiety is to reduce uncertainty about the assign-

ment—in other words, to develop process competence.

As you might expect, speakers whose first language is not English often have

strong PSA. They especially fear that listeners will evaluate them negatively be-

cause of their English-speaking skills.^20 Individuals in other-directed societies,

such as Japanese, Chinese, or Thai cultures, have a great deal of concern about

how others perceive them, and they may experience more speaking anxiety. Be-

ing in an accepting classroom, where the other students react positively to their

speeches, is most helpful.^21

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