Anxiety and Listening 1
Running head: PATTERNS OF ANXIETY
Abstract
While state anxiety in public speaking is now understood to
be a dynamic phenomenon of continually shifting patterns during
execution of a performance, research has not investigated
patterns of anxiety in listening. The theoretical position that
human information processing involves a limited capacity system
has been used to demonstrate that listening performance is
retarded by increasing levels of cognitive load. Similarly, it
is argued that increases in cognitive backlog during listening
will lead to altered levels of anxiety during a listening task.
As predicted, anxiety levels are observed to grow during
listening performance. This pattern contrasts markedly with
patterns observed for public speaking. In addition, decreases in
affect for the listening task are observed, along with an
unusual pattern of correlations between anxiety and listening
performance.