Having Stress Problems? Find Someone Suffering from Similar Fears

The fear of public speaking is the most common stressor among people in the United States. According to a study conducted at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, it shouldn't be difficult for the American population to overcome this phobia.

Sarah Townsend, an assistant professor of management and organization at the USC Marshall School of Business, discovered that one way to cope with stress is to share your feelings with someone whose emotional reactions are similar to the challenge. Therefore, the fear of public speaking shouldn't be such a cause for concern since there are many people who share similar fears.

Townsend believes this coping mechanism would be beneficial in the workplace. She further elaborates in this EurekAlert! article: "For instance, when you're putting together an important presentation or working on a high-stakes project, these are situations that can be threatening and you may experience heightened stress. But talking with a colleague who shares your emotional state can help decrease this stress."

In her study, co-authored by colleagues at UC Santa Barbara and Batja Mesquita University of Leuven, Belgium, 52 female undergraduate students were paired together to explore the fear of public speaking. Prior to giving a speech that was going to be videotaped, the participants were encouraged to share their feelings about the presentation with their partner. Their levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) were measured before, during and after the speeches.

The study revealed that when facing a threatening situation, one's stress is relieved when speaking with someone who feels similarly about the stressful situation. Townsend recently founded the Culture, Diversity, and Psychophysiology Lab at USC Marshall and she plans to delve deeper into this study.

"We've found that emotional similarity is important," she said. "So now the question is: How do we get people to be more similar? What can you do to generate this emotional similarity with a coworker? Or, as a manager, how can you encourage emotional similarity among your team?"

To read more about Townsend and this study, visit this EurekAlert! article.