If you ’re nervous about public speaking , do n’t fancy everyone in their underwear . In fact , possibly do n’t await at the audience at all . A Modern study finds that anxious loudspeaker system are more probable to zero in on the worst hearing fellow member — people frowning or yawn in response to the speech .
The Peking University – led study , write inCognition and Emotion , asked military volunteer to come up with a three - minute speech on the tent-fly and then pose it extemporaneously over Skype to a “ hot ” audience , asBPS Research Digestdetails . The video was prerecord with worker who were instructed to react positively by smiling and nodding or negatively by frowning or gape . While the presenters make their speech , the researchers tracked their eye movements to fancy out who they were look at .
participant who admitted have high social anxiety were more probable to pore in on the negative chemical reaction of audience fellow member , largely ignoring the smile and nods and spending more fourth dimension staring at the frowners . citizenry who were n’t that anxious , by demarcation , fancy the negative reactions but shifted their gaze to more open - looking audience members . The extremely anxious participants tended to find more nervous the more clip they spent looking at the lower audience appendage .
This suggest that being nervous results in a bias toward ante up attention to the negative and ignoring prescribed feedback . star at masses who take care world-weary or unsympathetic , in turn , get spooky speakers even more unquiet . the great unwashed who were n’t as anxious about speaking did n’t give the hater more than a clear coup d’oeil , understandably preferring to look at people who were nodding along . So to be less of a nervous wreck at a lectern , try looking for an agreeable typeface in the crowd . Or just front over everyone ’s heads .
[ h / tBPS Research Digest ]
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