This study examined the encoding accuracy and decoding accuracy of individual speakers and audience members as predictors of the accuracy with which public speaking anxiety is communicated during speech performance. Previous research revealed that audiences tend to underestimate the state anxiety of public speakers and that a low-to-moderate, positive correlation exists between speaker self-report and audience-observed state public speaking anxiety. Two divergent theoretical perspectives, differential information processing and emotional communication processes, were proposed as explanations for this phenomenon. Predictors for each perspective were estimated by Kenny's 1988 Social Relations Model (SRM). The study was conducted at a large metropolitan community college in the southwest region of the United States. Eighty subjects (40 males and 40 females) delivered two brief speeches before audiences of 20 fellow classmates. Immediately following each speech, speakers reported their state public speaking anxiety on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory A-State (STAI A-State). Audience members recorded their observations of speaker state anxiety on an audience version of the STAI A-State. Correlations between speaker self-report and audience-perceived state public speaking anxiety served as the estimate of judgment accuracy. The full SRM explained 65.7% of the variance in communication accuracy. Actor effects, the most powerful predictor of communication accuracy, accounted for 49.5% of the variance. The interaction of actor and partner effects accounted for approximately 10% of the variance. A surprisingly low (5% of the variance) degree of accuracy was attributable to audience decoding skills. Interpretation of the findings and suggestions for future research are presented.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc278614 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Sawyer, Chris R. (Chris Roberts) |
| Contributors | Lumsden, D. Barry, Hurt, H. Thomas, Smith, Howard Wellington, Gossett, John |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | vi, 58 leaves, Text |
| Rights | Public, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved., Sawyer, Chris R. (Chris Roberts) |
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