Communication Apprehension” and watch the video “Fight or Flight Response”
Read the article titled “Communication Apprehension” and watch the video “Fight or Flight Response”. Reflect on and react to the piece in this discussion posting regarding the fallacies suggested by psychologist Albert Ellis, sharing your thoughts, opinions, and experiences.
Communication Apprehension:
If you are like most people, the thought of giving a speech can cause you to tense up and or begin to think irrationally; both of which can interfere with your ability to be successful. Communication Apprehension or FEAR is real for all of us – some more than others and it is a reaction to a message your brain is receiving. In order to understand this reaction, let’s re frame it , rather than referring it to fear, let’s call it what it really is – “adrenaline.” When we’re faced with having to speak in front of a crowd – or the prospect of one – the adrenaline starts flowing. It’s the well-known flight-or-fight syndrome that helps you get ready to do battle with ancient enemies. Not that you should think of your audience as your enemy (we’ll address that later) but rather think of your fear as the enemy. Watch this video, and think about the last time you gave a speech, maybe you’ll understand the fear you experienced quite differently.
Fight or Flight Response https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2GywoS77qc
So it’s all about epinephrine; this is good news! Research studies have concluded that you have the ability to control the flow of epinephrine — thus eliminating its potential negative effect. For a public speaker this “flow” usually attacks their delivery; maybe you’ve had sweaty palms or your knees were shaking knees. Perhaps your heartbeat increased significantly or you experience butterflies in your stomach, or maybe you were unable to look at your audience. When I am giving a speech and I’m not in control of this flow, my breathing becomes very shallow, my mouth dries up and I do not enjoy a single minute of it! However, when I am in control of the flow – I am able to enjoy every single minute (well almost) of the experience.
Research shows that rational thinking and deep or progressive muscle relaxation both aid in controlling the flow of epinephrine, thus minimizing your communication apprehension.
Rational Thinking
The opposite of rational thinking is irrational thinking. Psychologist Albert Ellis lists several irrational thoughts, which he refers to as “fallacies” because of their illogical nature, most public speakers experience.
• Fallacy of Catastrophic Failure: speaker assumes that if something bad can happen, it will.
“As soon as I get up to speak I will forget everything.”
If you are prepared, relaxed, and doing the best you can, you can rest assured that even if you forget something you will be able to recover and there is a good chance that your audience will never know.
• Fallacy of Perfection: speaker expects their speech to be flawless.
Rather than striving for the impossible- re frame this thought so that it motivates you to be the best YOU can possibly be. Remind yourself that since you don’t expect perfection of others; they do not expect it of you.
• Fallacy of Approval: speaker thinks that it is vital – not just desirable- to gain the approval of everyone in the audience.
If you are talking with your audience and not at them, and you are creating a supportive climate (we’ll talk about this some more in a couple of weeks) you can be confident that your audience will be engaged in the message – and that is all you can expect. There is no way that you are going to please 100% of your audience 100% of the time.
• Fallacy of Over generalization: speaker blows one poor experience out of proportion.
“I’m so stupid I completely mispronounce a word”, or “I dropped my note cards. The audience must have thought I was a complete idiot.”
Empathy, empathy, empathy! There is a good chance that your audience felt bad for you when you dropped your note cards (you would –wouldn’t you?), and they probably didn’t even hear the mispronounced word!
If you can answer yes to each one of the questions below, then you can think rationally and reap the rewards of your hard work!
Have you planned, prepared and rehearsed appropriately? Do you care about your audience? Do you know what you are talking about?
Finally, try not to worry about other people’s reactions: If you have put in good preparation, and you do the best you can, then that is all that you need to know. If you perform as well as you reasonably can, then fair people are likely to respond well. If people are not fair, then this is something outside your control.
Deep or Progressive Muscle Relaxation
What you’ll be doing is alternately tensing and relaxing specific groups of muscles. After tension, a muscle will be more relaxed than prior to the tensing. Concentrate on the feel of the muscles, specifically the contrast between tension and relaxation. In time, you will recognize tension in any specific muscle and be able to reduce that tension. Don’t tense muscles other than the specific group at each step. Don’t hold your breath, grit your teeth, or squint! Breathe slowly and evenly and think only about the tension-relaxation contrast. Each tensing is for 10 seconds; each relaxing is for 10 or 15 seconds. Count “1,000 2,000…” until you have a feel for the time span. Note that each step is really two steps–one cycle of tension-relaxation for each set of opposing muscles.
Pick a starting point – maybe your hands or your neck, and gradually work your way through as many specific groups of muscles as you can. The amount of time you spend doing this before you give a speech will depend on your level of communication apprehension . The more apprehension, the more time you will need.