Posted July 26, 2014 by Tristan Colasito

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your eyes. Try to recall those days when you had to deliver a speech. Did you feel scared, nervous, or anxious? How about those times when you participated in a contest? Did you also feel scared, nervous, or anxious? Did you tell yourself to calm down (Keep Calm, and Carry On)? Lastly, did you do a quick practice or warm up to make sure that you are going to perform well? Nevertheless, you still tried to get the anxiety off of you. But have you ever wondered if there was a better way to address this anxiety? Apparently, there is a better way to address performance anxiety: Reappraising.

In the first part of an experiment, participants were asked to sing Don’t Stop Believin’ using a Nintendo Wii’s Karaoke Revolution. However, before singing, the participants were asked how they were feeling. One group of participants were required to respond “I am anxious” and believe that they were anxious. Another group of participants were required to respond “I am excited” and believe that they were excited. Lastly, the last group of participants were not asked how they felt. Then, the scores that would be given by the video game console were used as the measurement for singing performance. Results show that the group of participants who said that they were excited scored higher compared to the other group of participants.

In the second experiment, participants were asked to prepare and deliver a persuasive speech about “why are you a good work partner?” Then, they were informed that they will be videotaped and judged by a committee. This was done to increase the participants’ anxiety. However, before delivering the speech, one group of participants were asked to say “I am excited”, while the other group were asked to say “I am calm”. Then, three people, who did not have any idea of the hypothesis, rated the speech performances after watching the video tapes. Results show that those who said that they were excited delivered a longer speech and were perceived as more persuasive compared to the other group.

In the third experiment, participants were asked to take a math test. First, the participants sat in front of a computer. Then, their heart rates were measured and shown to them. Afterwards, they were given instructions stating that they were going to take a difficult IQ test. Again, this was done to increase anxiety. However, before the test started, one of the three phrases would flash on the computer screen: “Try to remain calm”, “Try to get excited”, and “Please wait a few moments”. Results show that those who read “Try to get excited” scored higher on the test compared to the other groups.

So before delivering a speech or performing in a contest, try to reappraise the anxiety into excitement instead of battling it by making yourself calm down. Both excitement and anxiety are emotional states characterized by high arousal so reappraising one for the other would be much easier. Get excited, and carry On.

To know more, read: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-a0035325.pdf

Photo taken from: wikipedia.org

Source: Brooks, A.W. (2013). Get Excited: Reappraising Pre-Performance Anxiety as Excitement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(3), pp. 1144-1158.  

doi: 10.1037/a0035325