Why do we fear public speaking?
How judgement degrades our ability to speak in front of people
By Anne Sun
We’ve all done some sort of public speaking before. Whether it’s raising your hand to answer a question or presenting a school project, public speaking is something we do more often than we think. However, why is it that when we speak in front of people we get this stomach churning anxiety? That stomach churning anxiety is glossophobia, the fear of public speaking. Out of all the reasons to fear public speaking, they relate back to one main problem:
Being judged by others.
Why do we fear public speaking?
“What if they’re judging us?” Judgement is the core reason as to why we are afraid of public speaking. I judge, you judge, we all judge. We are human. It’s inevitable that someone will have an opinion about what you did. As we present, we often worry about what others think of our speech. After all we don’t want to make a fool of ourselves. The most common reasons as to why we are afraid of public speaking are related to fear of judgement:
- Forgetting the words
- Imposter syndrome (the fear of being “found out” that you aren’t the best at public speaking)
- Peer pressure (presenting in front of teachers or professionals)
- Lack of preparation
However judgement may not only come from other people but also from yourself. Our internal critic always has to find faults in what we’ve done, it’s just never satisfied! Oftentimes our internal critic is also the reason why we lack self confidence. We criticize ourselves so much that we end up believing that we suck.
Why do we care?
Public speaking is all about presenting in front of people, so isn’t it normal to care about what they think? Humans have had the survival instinct of wanting to “fit in” since ancient times. Cavemen used to group up to hunt for animals in order to survive. If you couldn’t hunt, you couldn’t stay in the group. Just like how right now, we often worry about whether our speech made sense, whether it was good. That’s our survival instinct of wanting to “fit in” kicking in. Another reason that we care about others’ opinions is because we constantly feel the need for approval. When we don’t have the confidence in ourselves, we try to fit in to receive other people’s approval.
What can we do to help?
First, before anything, you must remember that people judge to make themselves feel superior. When we aren’t content with how we are, we end up judging others. However, we sometimes also judge in the opposite direction. I know it’s ironic but we also judge people positively. An example would be “Wow he/she/they is/are so good at public speaking”. When we judge others positively, it makes us feel inferior and we lose our self confidence.
The core problem is being afraid of judgement while presenting, but sometimes it takes a while to fix that. Here are some temporary fixes while you work on solving the core problem:
1. Be thoroughly prepared: being prepared is better than winging it. It’s tiring to practice your speech but make sure you prepare your delivery, content, and actions thouroughly.
2. Deep breathing: Do some deep breathing, it can help you calm down the raging heartbeat in your chest and help your focus!
3. Visualize your success: As said before, we’re often the ones overthinking. Imagine what your speech will be like when you successfully finish. Thinking positively will decrease your anxiety level.
Here are some ways to stop fearing other people’s judgement:
- People don’t remember the judgements they make: we judge. We also forget. We don’t have infinite memory. In fact, most judgements are just interjections, almost like impulses that are soon to be deleted from our memories. As said before, people judge because they aren’t content with themselves. People who judge are only trying to make themselves feel superior. They actually aren’t that much better.
- Ignore your inner critic: our inner critic is harsh. We often criticize what we’ve done and compare ourselves to others. Don’t overthink, don’t self sabotage.
- Boost your confidence: self-confidence goes a long way when it is truly activated. Like the previous point, we compare ourselves to others (generally to people who are more skilled at public speaking) and begin to doubt our own capabilities. That is not the first step to take…
Believing in yourself is.