The Effects of Audience Interest, Responsiveness, :rnd Evaluation on Public Speaking Anxiety and Related Variables PeterD. Maclntyre University College of Cape Breton Kimly A. Thivierge University of Ottawa J. Ren6e MacDonald University College of Cape Breton Thisstudy examines potential sources of public speaking anxietystemming ftom the audience. Based on u.tork by Buss (1980) and Motley (L99L), three sources ofanxiety raereidentified: thedegree offormaleaaluation,Ieael ofauilience interest in thetopic, anil the audience's responsioeness to thespeaker. ln addition to public speakinganxiety, measures were taken of u:illingness to speakand erpected speech quality . Interest , responsioeness , and forrruI naluation showed efects on all of the anxiety-related oariables. Perhaps surpisingly, eaaluation showed some of the weakest efects. Results are discussed in terms of Motley's distinction between performance andcommunication orientations toward public speaking. Many sfudies have examined the effect of anxiety on communication processes, particularly public speaking. Whereas much is known about the effects of public speaking anxiety on both the audience'sperception of the speaker and the quality of a speech (for example, Daly & McCroskey, 1.984), much less is known about the properties of the audience that affect public speaking aniety. Borrowing from McCroskey's (1977) Peter D. Maclntyre (Ph.D., University of Westem Ontario, 1992) is an assistant professor of psy- chology, University College of Cape Bretory Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Kimly A. Thivierge (8.A., University of Ottawa, 1995)is currently doing counseling in Comwall, Ontario, Canada. f. Ren€e MacDonald is currently a student at University Collegeof Cape Breton,Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. This research was supported by a Post Doctoral Fellowship from the SocialScience and Humanities Research Council of Canada granted to the first author. COMMUNICATION RESEARCH REPORTS, Volume 14, Number 2, pagesl1T-168