CONTAGION THEORY AND THE COMMUNICATION OF PUBLIC SPEAKING STATE ANXIETY

Previous empirical research has shown that speech state anxiety is com municated from a speaker to audience members, at a nominal level, in p ublic speaking settings. This article reports on research into the com munication of speech state anxiety between adjacent speakers in the sp eaking order. Based on classical response contagion theory, the resear chers predicted a positive relationship. The findings support that exp ectation, suggesting that public speaking state anxiety is contagious. The article discusses possible consequences of these findings and adv ances suggestions for future research.