Behavioral inhibition and the communication of public speaking state anxiety

Abstract

Researchers studying the communication of public speaking anxiety have reported that audiences consistently underestimate the state anxiety of public speakers and that speaker behavior, rather than audience decoding skills, are primarily responsible for the discrepancy. In the present study, behavioral inhibition is advanced as explanation of this phenomenon. Analyses of variance for trends revealed an inverse linear relationship between state anxiety level and audience decoding efficiency. Behavioral assessments of speaker inhibition and rigidity, however, were positively related to state anxiety levels. These findings are consistent with the operation of behavioral inhibition within Buck's readout theory of emotion. Implications are advanced for future research and pedagogy.