Communication apprehension is fear associated with communication with another person

Interpersonal communication

Interpersonal communication is usually defined by communication scholars in numerous ways, usually describing participants who are dependent upon one another. It...

. According to research, 31 percent of elementary school students experience some level of communication apprehension.

Definition

Communication apprehension is defined as an individual level of fear or anxiety

Anxiety

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...

 associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons.

Influencing factors

Other factors influence whether or not communication anxiety is present, and to what degree. The degree of evaluation, that is, what the subject perceives to be at stake, whether or not the subject feels subordinate to their audience, how conspicuous the subject feels, the degree of unpredictability in the situation, the degree of dissimilarity between the speaker and the audience; memories of prior failures or successes, and the presence or lack of communication skills are all factors impacting the degree of communication anxiety suffered in a given situation.
Also known as "stage fright."

Prevention and treatment

• Cognitive restructuring
  Cognitive restructuring
  Cognitive restructuring, sometimes used synonymously with Debating, is the process of learning to identify irrational or maladaptive thoughts and challenge their veracity using strategies such as logical disputation....
  
  
• Systematic desensitization
  Systematic desensitization
  Systematic desensitization is a type of behavioral therapy used in the field of psychology to help effectively overcome phobias and other anxiety disorders. More specifically, it is a type of Pavlovian therapy / classical conditioning therapy developed by a South African psychiatrist, Joseph Wolpe...
  
  
• Skills training for teachers and for sufferers
• Visualization
  Mental image
  A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of perceiving some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses...