Why Are We Scared of Public Speaking? | Psychology Today
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| Why Are We Scared of Public Speaking? | Psychology Today |
Why are we afraid to speak in public?
Speaking is a highly necessary skill in communication. This is especially true for those who want to commit their ideas or promote a project.
Whether in the business world, politics or the community, we must dare to speak in public by leading a meeting, debating or negotiating, intervening on a TV set, responding to journalists, to name only a few.
These situations are always considered as trials, where even the most experienced people often have to deal with their fright.
The manifestations of stage fright are many and varied; yet, trying to control them is useless as long as their real cause subsists on a deeper level. One effective way to overcome stage fright is merely to understand the cause. It’s a triple-side problem:
> Fear related to the issue of the situation;
> The fear of not being competent enough;
> The fear of being judged as a person;
Let's see in more detail what these fears are, and how to step back from each of them to be more comfortable in public:
- First, the fear of the situation is typical of exams, competitions, oral exams before a jury, job interviews and other selection tests. The more important the objective is, new work, entry into a prestigious school, etc., the greater the stress.
- Second, the fear of incompetence is mainly related to those who do not feel up to it in terms of recognition, importance or status. This may be caused by the lack of a university degree or the titles necessary to be officially recognized as a specialist in whatever field
and conferring a certain legitimacy to intervene on certain subjects.
- Finally, the fear of being judged, which is actually the fear of displeasing, being criticized, booed or even insulting, and that we make fun of you and that we speak in your back.
These fears are not only about speaking in public, but also about all the everyday situations in which you have to express yourself in front of certain people, to respond to strangers, to approach people you do not know very well, to name a few.
Being aware of these different facets of fears, one can already take a step back from one or the other.