fine speakers earlier in their lives and then becoming increasingly unable to speak in front of groups
without fear. Most of the evidence suggests that this fear is learned.
Those whose primary fear is speaking in front of groups
- make more critical and fewer supportive self-statements than most people
- attribute failure at public speaking to personal weakness
- believe audiences will accept nothing short of flawless performance.
How Do You Overcome a Fear of Public Speaking?
People who fear public speaking are often very competitive. Because of this they are vigilant for
signs of disapproval (such as a scowl) or approval. This need for approval often propels them into
high achievement. Their success reinforces the belief that they must be competent to be okay.
They are more likely than others to buy into the belief that competition is always necessary and
right. In truly competitive situations, such as many work settings, this belief is also reinforced by
other highly competitive people. However, when they are in settings where competitiveness and
drive will not carry the day, such as when making an informative speech, this belief becomes a
hinderance. Being forceful will not keep them from being nervous.
A person's general orientation to life, their values and beliefs, are often very difficult to change.
Because this drive to compete effectively, they have much difficulty seeing any other effective way
to be acceptable. They do not even realize they are in a defensive/competitive mode, and so
cannot move easily to a cooperative mode. They see the world composed of status levels and are
constantly watching their position ("Am I measuring up?"). They constantly, often unconsciously,
compare themselves with others. When they are faced with situations where their competitive
attitude doesn't work and they become nervous, they tend to want to "work hard" to "conquer" this
"problem." (Even their language is riddled with competitive thinking.)
Comparing oneself to others is not much of a problem if you always come out ahead. However,
public speaking phobics have several peculiar ways of thinking that make their anxiety more
intense. They tend to
- focus much more on their weaknesses than their strengths (they are
self-critical), usually in an effort to achieve better performance
- believe that others are judging them negatively in performance situations
- believe that approval from others is crucial to a person's well-being
- believe it is shameful to appear anxious in front of others
- believe that the ability to perform competently determines one's worth.
Because of their general life philosophy they have difficulty recognizing that these beliefs may not be
rational, so one way of overcoming this fear is to examine and change thinking. This is one of the
main focuses of therapy. In therapy you will be working toward analyzing beliefs and helping you
to develop a new way of looking at the world that will be more self-supporting and less focused on
impressing others. Additionally, you will learn techniques for lowering your anxiety in a public
speaking situation and speaking with more confidence.
