Speech Anxiety as a Self-Handicapping Strategy

The present study tested the hypothesis that trait speech-anxious females use reports of speech anxiety symptoms and self-statements reflecting speech anxiety as a self-handicapping strategy to preserve their self-esteem when confronted with an evaluative threat situation. Forty-eight college females, classified into high and low speech anxiety groups on the basis of their responses to the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker (PRCS; Paul, 1966), served as subjects, It was predicted that trait speech-anxious subjects would report more speech anxiety symptoms and self-statements reflecting speech anxiety in an evaluative setting in which speech anxiety could serve as an explanation for poor performance than would trait speech-anxious subjects in either (a) an evaluative setting in which speech anxiety was precluded as an excuse or (b) a nonevaluative setting. Furthermore, it was predicted that this self-protective pattern of symptom reporting would not occur for subjects who were not trait speech-anxious because these persons would not commonly use such symptoms as a self-handicapping strategy. The results did not support these predictions. Several explanations are offered for the lack of expected results in the study. It is possible that the self-handicapping effect does not operate with regard to speech anxiety or that methodological problems in the current study explain these findings.