Assessment of Public and Virtual Speaking Anxieties and Apprehension Management Techniques

Task

This assignment is worth 40 points.

Due Date: The end of week 10

For this assignment, you will reflect upon general anxieties regarding public and virtual speaking. You will apply and assess the value of the apprehension management techniques you have learned for helping decrease communication apprehension. You must complete the

 

Assignment 4: Tracking Your Firing Order exercise (attached) in order to complete this assignment.

 

In this 3 page paper you should do the following things (not necessarily in this order):

• Discuss your public speaking and/or virtual speaking history – have you taken a public speaking course and dropped it? Have you avoided speaking opportunities, either face to face or virtually? Have you missed out on personal and/or professional growth
opportunities because of your fear? And so on. Discuss your public speaking and/or virtual speaking history – have you taken a public speaking course and dropped it? Have you avoided speaking opportunities, either face to face or virtually?
• Discuss the causes and outcomes of your speech anxiety
• Discuss the results of your Tracking Your Firing Order exercise and talk about what you think about those results. (You may also find the results of exercise “Assess the basics personality dimensions” useful here.)
• Now that you know what your firing order is, what do you think you can do to help with your anxiety?

 

Please be honest in your assessment. Use specific course terminology from the text and class discussion. Failure to use this terminology will result in a loss of points.

The paper will be assessed across three general criteria:

• Content – 30 points. Content assessment will consider the degree to which the paper addresses the content areas listed above in a reflective and insightful manner and within the appropriate length requirements.
• Organization – 5 points. Organization assessment will consider the degree to which the paper is presented in a cohesive and orderly fashion.
• Grammar & formatting – 5 points. Grammar assessment will consider the degree to which the paper adheres to the rules of formal English grammar and has been carefully proofread. Properly formatted papers will be typed and double-spaced in 12 point type (Times New Roman or similar font), and cite any sources (if used).

Each of us has seven dimensions that make up our personalities (Lazarus, 1989). Because we are “biological beings who move, feel, sense, imagine, think, and relate to one another, each of these dimensions requires our attention when problems emerge” (Lazarus, 1978, p. 8). Consequently, treatment for speech anxiety, like any other problem that affects our emotions, can best be addressed from a multidimensional perspective.

Due Date

 

The seven interactive personality dimensions that should be considered in any multidimensional evaluation process include behavior, affect, sensation, imagery, cognition, interpersonal relationships, and drugs/biological functions (Lazarus, 1989). The acronym basics is a helpful tool for remembering these dimensions. In this acronym, two of the dimensions, interpersonal relationships and drugs/biological functions, relate to ways to deal with stress in your life and are combined into one new dimension called stress. Here is a description for each of the basics
personality dimensions:

 

B = BEHAVIOR (overt behaviors, acts, habits, and reactions that can be observed and measured)
A = AFFECT (emotions, moods, and strong feelings)
S = SENSATION (bodily sensations, such as pain, tension, discomfort, or nausea; and the
touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, and hearing of our five senses)
I = IMAGERY (vivid scenes, pictures, or images that come to mind, including the way you see
yourself in particular situations)
C = COGNITION (thoughts, attitudes, ideas, beliefs, or opinions)
S = STRESS (amount of stress in your life and ways you deal with it; general physical wellbeing, use of drugs or alcohol, participation in exercise programs, interactions with others, and interpersonal support) (Lazarus, 1989)

 

The basics dimensions can function as an educational guide to help you analyze your anxiety O’Keefe, 1985). When the BASICS multidimensional assessment is applied to your anxiety about public speaking, you can determine which technique you should begin using as well as which combination of techniques will be most helpful to you. Consequently, a multidimensional assessment of your BASICS is the first step in creating a personalized plan to conquer your speech anxiety. To assess the personality dimensions involved in your speech anxiety, please complete this exercise:

In order to track your firing order, you will need to determine where your speech anxiety begins (i.e., which dimension of your personality initiates your fear, anxiety, or nervousness).

 

1. Imagine your instructor, employer, or boss has just told you that you must give a speech to twenty-five people within the next hour. With one of those scenarios in mind, try to analyze where your anxiety begins. Try to rank order the dimensions that fire in your speech anxiety. Give special attention to ranking the top three dimensions.

a. Do you immediately think: “Having to give a speech will be awful. I can’t do it! Everyone will laugh at me or think less of me. I will make a fool of myself.” If irrational, negative, or unproductive thoughts are the first to fire, the top of your firing order is cognition.

 

b. Do you immediately feel (physically) any of the following sensations (even before a thought enters your mind): nausea or stomach tightness, heart racing, heart palpitations, blushing, sweating, lightheadedness, or other physiological reactions? If bodily sensations are the first to fire, the top of your firing order is sensation. 

 

c. Do you immediately and vividly visualize yourself in a scene where you faint in front of the audience, are the focus of audience laughter or jeers, run out of the room, or are engaged in any other negative activity? If negative mental pictures are the first to fire, the top of your firing order is imagery.

 

d. Do you immediately feel (emotionally) upset, anxious, or nervous? If emotional feelings of nervousness or anxiety are the first to fire, the top of your firing order is affect.

 

e. Do you immediately react with avoidant behaviors, such as procrastination or running from the situation? Do you avoid public speaking because you have no skills? If avoidant behaviors related to lack of public speaking
skills are the first to fire, then the top of your firing order is behaviour.

 

f. Do you feel overstressed in general so that giving a speech just adds one more stressful situation to your already stressful lifestyle in which you get very little exercise, are overworked, take drugs or alcohol to cope, eat poorly, or experience little social support? If stress in general, use of drugs, poor physical health, and lack of mutually supportive friendships fires first, the top of your firing order is stress.

 

2. Which dimension is at the top of your firing order (ranked #1)?

 

3. List the firing order of the top three dimensions involved in your speech anxiety (ranked#1, #2, #3).