Communication apprehension

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Communication apprehension is the level of anxiety triggered by the real or anticipated communication act, as defined by McCroskey.[1] It is connected to the idea of judgment from the audience, and self-image.[2] Communication apprehension, CA, can cause a variety of involuntary responses such as "stomach butterflies", shaking, nausea, sweating, forgetting the information, among many others. The term communication apprehension is usually connected with 'stage fright';[3] however, this response is not necessarily connected with a delivery on a stage or in front of a large audience.[4] This anxiety can be caused by any of the five forms of communication: intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, public, and mass communication.[5]

Types

There are different types of communication apprehension, each of these types represent a specific or general situation that presents a stimuli for this anxiety response. McCroskey argues that there are four types of communication apprehension:

Trait anxiety

Trait anxiety is considered a personality type, which represents that the individual has an orientation to feel anxiety during the communication act regardless of the situation, audience or context.[6] This type of people will avoid exposing themselves to a communication situation, since their communication apprehension is part of their daily behavior.[5]

McCroskey and Beatty argue that some people have a higher vulnerability factor for communication apprehension due to genetics, also known as communibiology.[7] Many researchers oppose this idea and argue that it can not be solely inherited but rather a personality trait acquired; therefore, it can be changed. However, they can compromise that around 80% of communication apprehension is obtained within our neurological structures, which are determined genetically. Furthermore, only 20% is influenced by an environmental stimuli.[8][7] Meaning that this type of communication apprehension can be improved with practice and other techniques; however, it will not be completely eliminated since it is inherited.[8]

Context anxiety

Context anxiety triggers communication apprehension due to a specific context. This is considered a psychological response caused by a specific context but not necessarily on others; a person can have no problem talking to her best friend but can get anxiety while talking in front of a class. The most known example for context anxiety is public speaking; almost 70% of students suffer from a certain level of communication apprehension trigger by public speaking.[5] There are other contexts that can create a similar response such as speaking in front of class, small group discussions, or meetings.[4]

Audience anxiety

Audience anxiety is when a specific individual or group of people creates a problem on communication, or a reverse reaction. For some people, anxiety can be caused by familiar peers, while for others it can be caused by unfamiliar faces.[5] At the beginning of a speech class, the students tend to be fearful since they see new faces which increases the levels of communication apprehension. However, once the students get to know each other they feel comfortable; decreasing or eliminating their levels of apprehension.[9]

Situation anxiety

Situational anxiety is a psychological reaction of a person due to a specific situation that may not have any relation with the person or context.[6] This anxiety is triggered by a special combination of audience and context that involves different dimensions and creates a unique scenario.[2] As an example we can see a first date. Although a person may not suffer from communication apprehension; the situation of being with a person that they have feelings for, on a new environment, and being the first time they experience this situation, can increase the stress levels and create communication apprehension.

PRCA

The PRCA 10 is a test created to determine the communication shyness of a speaker. This test shows that communication apprehension is not limited to public speaking since it allows you to identify different situations that can trigger anxiety, these situations belong to an apprehension triggered by context, context anxiety.[9] The four situations that are presented on the test are: group discussion, meetings, interpersonal, and public speaking.[5]

This test provides an easy equation to obtain a score for each category, these scoress are compared to the ranges provided at the end of the test; these ranges were obtained by a study of over 40,000 college students and over 3,000 non-students adults provided on a national sample.[1] By this comparison, the test taker can determine their level of communication apprehension for each scenario, ranking them with a low, moderate or high level of apprehension. The test is able to provide a diagnostic of context anxiety and overall communication apprehension by simply adding the sub scores and comparing the total score.

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 McCroskey, James; Beatty, M. (1986). Shyness: Perspectives on research and treatment (PDF). New York, NY: Plenum Press. pp. 219–293. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 Creative Commons license (2011). Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking.
  3. ↑ Burgoon, Michael (2012). Communication Yearbook 6. Routledge. p. 137. ISBN 9781135148799.
  4. 1 2 Holbrook, Hilary Taylor (1987). "Communication Apprehension: The Quiet Student in Your Classroom". ERIC Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills Urbana IL. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Dwyer, Karen (1995). "Communication apprehension and individual learning style preference: Correlations and dimensions". The University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  6. 1 2 Witt, P. L., Brown, K. C., Roberts, J. B., Weisel, J., Sawyer, C., & Behnke, R. (2006, March). Somatic anxiety patterns before, during and after giving a public speech. Southern Communication Journal, 71, 87–100.
  7. 1 2 McCroskey, J. C.; Beatty, M. J. (2000). "The communibiological perspective: Implications for communication in instruction". Communication Education. 49: 1. doi:10.1080/03634520009379187.
  8. 1 2 Boren, Justin P.; Veksler, Alice E. (2011). "A decade of research exploring biology and communication: The brain, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, and immune systems" (PDF). Communication Research Trends. 30 (4): 1–31. ISSN 0144-4646.
  9. 1 2 Dwyer, Karen Kangas; Carlson, Robert E.; and Dalbey, Jennifer (2003) "Impact of High School Preparation on College Oral Communication Apprehension," Basic Communication Course Annual: Vol. 15 , Article 9. Available at: http://ecommons.udayton.edu/bcca/vol15/iss1/9
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