Videotaped role plays of personal selling situations are both widely advocated and used to help teach selling skills in personal selling classes. While proponents of this technique acknowledge that it may be stressful for students, no direct research has been conducted to ascertain the level of apprehension students have prior to role plays and any communication-related personality characteristics that may predict anxiety about participating in role plays. An exploratory study and a replication were undertaken to measure students’ apprehension levels about participating in required videotaped role plays, and the degree to which their apprehension levels were related to trait based communication anxiety versus overall anxiety levels. The findings indicate that anticipating videotaped role plays can generate significant levels of anxiety in students, and this anxiety is related to generic communication apprehension. The findings highlight the importance of instructors’ understanding of generic communication...