How Nervous Does Speaking Up Make You?
In groups, in meetings, face to face and in front of an audience
Plenty of people who dread giving a presentation chat happily over coffee, and some confident speakers freeze in a small meeting. Communication researchers have measured this nervousness since the 1970s and found it depends heavily on the setting. This test looks at the four settings the standard questionnaire covers, so you can see where your nerves actually live rather than calling yourself shy across the board.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Answer about how you usually feel in each situation, in your own language and with people you do not know very well.
What it measures
Communication apprehension - the nervousness you feel about talking with or in front of others - in the four contexts of the PRCA-24: group discussions, meetings, one-to-one conversations and public speaking. It is about fear, not preference, which is what separates it from introversion, measured in our introvert-extrovert test.
Based on: Personal Report of Communication Apprehension, PRCA-24 (McCroskey, 1982)
Possible results
Group discussions
Nerves about joining in when a small group is talking something over.
Meetings
Nerves about speaking up in formal meetings where you may be evaluated.
One-to-one conversation
Nerves about ordinary conversation with one person, especially someone new.
Public speaking
Nerves about giving a talk or presentation to an audience.
Common questions
Is speaking anxiety the same as shyness or introversion?
No, though they overlap. Introversion is a preference for quieter, less stimulating settings - plenty of introverts speak calmly when they need to. Shyness usually describes the behaviour of talking little. Communication apprehension is the fear itself, which is why some outgoing people still dread presentations and some reserved people give excellent ones.
Is it normal to be afraid of public speaking?
Very. Across decades of data with this questionnaire, public speaking produces the highest nervousness of the four contexts for most people. Racing heart, dry mouth and shaky hands before a talk are the body preparing for effort, not a sign that something is wrong with you, and audiences notice them far less than speakers imagine.
Can speaking anxiety be reduced?
Yes, and it is one of the more trainable fears. Repeated exposure in small doses, practising out loud, and learning concrete skills - structuring a point, pausing, handling questions - all tend to lower it. Courses built on these ideas have existed for decades, and since the four contexts share a common core, progress in one can help the others.
Sources
- McCroskey, J. C. (1982). An introduction to rhetorical communication (4th ed.). Prentice-Hall.
- McCroskey, J. C., Beatty, M. J., Kearney, P., & Plax, T. G. (1985). The content validity of the PRCA-24 as a measure of communication apprehension across communication contexts. Communication Quarterly. doi:10.1080/01463378509369595
An honest note The items are Quinthea's own wording, adapted from McCroskey's Personal Report of Communication Apprehension, so scores are not comparable to its published norms. The measure was developed mainly with American college students, and speaking nerves vary with culture and language - talking in a second language raises them for almost everyone. This is a common, normal-range reaction, not a clinical condition; if fear of social situations is limiting your life, a psychologist can help.