A Racing Heart, Rattling Knees, and Ruminative Thoughts: Defining, Explaining, and Treating Public Speaking Anxiety

Considered by many to be the foundation upon which our discipline was built, the study of public speaking has evolved from its humble beginnings into a vast literature of experimental and expositional studies. The focus of research on public speaking has primarily been to discover the antecedents, causes, and consequences of anxiety associated with anticipating or presenting a public speech in order to prescribe treatment. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the literature on public speaking anxiety (PSA) to serve as a foundation for future theory building and practice. Toward this end, PSA is defined and a typology of PSA constructs is developed. Then, using these constructs, research exploring the etiology of PSA is reviewed. A third section reviews techniques used to reduce PSA.