Video Feedback/Cognitive Preparation for Speech Anxiety

University Of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

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Abstract

Models of social phobia suggest that unrealistically negative self- perceptions of performance are a significant factor in the maintenance of chronic social anxiety. Recent evidence has suggested that videotape feedback of speeches can create positive change in the self-perception of anxious public speakers. Furthermore, video feedback has appeared most effective when (1) participants show particularly distorted negative self-perceptions and (2) the intervention is preceded by a cognitive preparation, during which participants are encouraged to form a vivid image of what they expect to see on the videotape. The proposed research is designed to more stringently evaluate the above conclusions, with additional tests of participant personality variables that, given current theories of social anxiety, should interfere with the effects of video feedback. A test of whether the effects of these personality variables are moderated by the use of cognitive preparation will also be included. Finally, the role of self-efficacy, a construct that has been shown to be related to change in phobic behavior, will be evaluated in regard to the video feedback paradigm. In order to address the above questions, approximately 120 speech-anxious undergraduate students will receive two sessions of video feedback either (a) with cognitive preparation or (b) with a placebo preparation. Analyses will include ANOVA, regression analyses, and a form of structural equation modeling.