Using images to enhance the impact of visualization.

Research indicates that visualization has been an effective way to reduce communication apprehension (e.g., Ayres, Hopf, & Ayres, 1997). In general, this line of investigation has relied on text-based material to help people create appropriate images. However, related work suggested that

visualization may be more effectively induced using a combination of words and images (Sheikh, 1986). Thus, this investigation examined whether exposing people to (1) images, (2) text, or (3) a combination of images and text is the most effective way to help people reduce public speaking apprehension (PSA). To that end, a series of drawings were developed that paralleled the visualization script developed by Ayres and Hopf (1985). Once the drawings had been validated, high PSA individuals were randomly assigned to control, placebo, text only, drawings only, or text and drawings conditions. The results of this test indicated that those exposed to text accompanied by drawings reported lower PSA and envisioned themselves as public speakers who were more in control, more positive, and more vivid than those in the other conditions. The text and drawing conditions did not differ from one another. These findings and their implications were discussed.

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* Communication apprehension (CA) has consistently been found to adversely affect people's lives. Given the adverse effects of CA, considerable attention has been devoted to developing ways to help people cope with CA.

In general, scholars have argued that CA can be reduced by upgrading one's skills (Phillips, 1968), altering cognitions (Ellis, 1962), altering one's affective response pattern (Wolpe, 1958), and/or changing one's image of oneself (Assagioli, 1973, 1976). Of these approaches, imagery processes associated with CA have captured our attention. A considerable amount of work has been generated on the effectiveness of visualization in reducing CA over the last two decades. This research suggested that visualization reduced public speaking apprehension (Ayres & Hopf, 1985; Beyers & Weber, 1993, Halvorson, 1994), enhanced performance (Ayres & Hopf, 1992), was effective over time (Ayres & Hopf, 1990), and was effective in reducing communication apprehension in interpersonal communication (Hopf, Ayres, & Colby, 1994), writing (Ayres & Hopf, 1991), and employment interviews (Ayres et al., 2001). The focus of the current paper was on work designed to help people cope with public speaking apprehension (PSA).

Even though work has shown visualization to be effective, research on visualization was limited by the fact that only text-based material has been used to initiate visualization processes and to examine the resultant effects (Ayres et al., 1997). Yet, a variety of interventions designed to use visualization as a therapeutic tool have employed both images and text to generate appropriate images (Scheikh, 1986). However, some recent work on visualization did examine text and imagery based outcomes following the use of visualization (Ayres & Heuett, 1999, 2000). Participant generated drawings were used to provide evidence that people exposed to visualization saw themselves in a more positive, more vivid, `in control' fashion than those who were not exposed to visualization (Ayres & Heuett, 1999, 2000).

The work conducted by Ayres and Heuett (1999, 2000) is certainly an improvement over the exclusive reliance on text-based material to examine imagery processes. However, even though Ayres and Heuett examined imagery outcomes using drawings generated by study participants, they relied exclusively on text-based materials to induce visualization. To be more precise, visualization (Ayres & Hopf, 1985) employed a written script that was read to study participants. Participants were expected to create a mental image as they heard the words. To the extent a person has difficulty creating images from words (Lang, Kozak, Miller, Levin, & Mclean, 1980), the effectiveness of visualization was likely to be reduced. Future visualization should be induced more efficiently and effectively to induce visualization with appropriate images and words (Samuels & Samuels, 1975). Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to determine whether visualization was more effective when presented in scripted form, in images, or as a combination of images and script.

METHODOLOGY

Participants

Participants were 90 student volunteers (44 men & 46 women) enrolled at a western university. Participants were primarily freshmen and sophomores (84%) with an average age of 19.3 years. More precisely, students enrolled in a general education course (i.e., public speaking) who scored one standard deviation above the mean on the public speaking subscale of the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA, Levine & McCroskey, 1990) qualified for inclusion in this study. The 90 students who participated in this study were drawn at random from this larger group. Data collection continued until 90 students had participated in the study (18 per cell). These students were contacted by phone and offered extra credit to participate in this study. After all data were collected, students were debriefed and thanked for their participation. Students in the control and placebo conditions were given the opportunity to participate in a speech anxiety reduction workshop.

Data Gathering

Study participants delivered a pretest speech to the experimental assistant and the other participants (three or four people). The topic of the speech was "What I expect to get out of college" or "What I expect to do in the future." Half of the participants spoke on one topic for the pretest and the other topic for the posttest. Following these speeches, participants completed Spielberger, Gorsuch, and Lushene's (1970) state communication apprehension measure and drew a picture of how they viewed themselves as speakers in this situation. Immediately following the collection of the pretest data, study participants, who were randomly assigned to treatment conditions, were exposed to (1) a visualization script (Ayres & Hopf, 1985), (2) drawings that paralleled the Ayres and Hopf script, (3) a script and drawings, (4) a placebo, or (5) a control condition (the nature of these conditions is described in the subsequent section of this report). Following treatment, participants delivered a posttest speech, completed the state CA, and the public speaking subscale of the PRCA (Levine & McCroskey, 1990), and drew a picture of how they envisioned themselves as speakers. The presentation of these pretest and posttest measures was systematically varied to minimize order effects.

Treatments

The visualization treatment condition followed procedures outlined by Ayres and Hopf (1985). Visualization involved having people relax and listen to a script that takes them through the day they are to deliver a speech. The script started with the person getting relaxed, then began with the person waking up, picking out clothes, going to class, greeting others in class, walking up to the front of the room to begin the speech, starting the speech, delivering the body of the speech, ending the speech, fielding questions, receiving congratulations from audience members, and ends with a relaxation scene. The entire script was written in a positive upbeat fashion. This form of visualization required fifteen minutes to administer.

Participants in the drawing condition looked at a set of sketches that depicted a person going through the events in the Ayres and Hopf (1985) visualization script (e.g., a drawing of a person relaxing). The development and validation of these drawings was described in a subsequent section of this report. Participants were given fifteen minutes to look through the drawings in the booklet (the drawings were presented in the same order as the scenes appear in the script). They were told to imagine that they were the person depicted in the drawings.

People in the script and drawing condition listened to the script and looked at drawings that paralleled the script. That is, as the Ayres and Hopf (1985) visualization script was read, participants looked at drawings that paralleled the script. The drawings were in a booklet given to each participant. At appropriate points, participants were asked to open the booklet and look at the drawing that paralleled the script. The cue to look was given when that section of the script began. As in the other conditions, these participants were told to imagine that they were the person in the script/ drawings. It took about fifteen minutes to process this material.

Participants in the placebo condition read material on general communication processes for a period of fifteen minutes. Reading such material does not appear to affect public speaking apprehension (Ayres, Heuett & Sonandre, 1998). Participants in the control condition were left to their own devices for fifteen minutes while the experimenter excused him or herself "to get additional forms."

Drawing Validation

The drawings used in this investigation were developed by examining the Ayres and Hopf (1985) script. It appeared that the script contained twelve different scenes (getting relaxed, waking up, picking out clothes, going to class, greeting others in class, walking up to the front of the room to begin the speech, starting the speech, delivering the body of the speech, ending the speech, fielding questions, receiving congratulations from audience members, relaxing). A group of ten students, uninformed as to the nature of this investigation, were asked to identify scenes in this script. A scene was defined as a change in the focus of the depicted event. Eight of the ten students identified the twelve scenes listed above. One student identified eleven scenes (this person left out the body of the speech) while another identified thirteen scenes (this person added a positive audience scene). However, it appeared that these ten students were in general agreement on the nature of the scenes in this script. Consequently, an artist was hired to render drawings of the 12 scenes listed above. A different group of ten students was asked to rate these scenes in terms their perceived realism and to match the scenes with the twelve scenes identified earlier. The students rated the scenes as quite realistic (a mean of 4.87 on a 5 point scale) and all ten matched the twelve identifiers with the appropriate scenes. Consequently, these twelve drawings were deemed acceptable for use in this study. Copies of these sketches may be obtained by writing to the senior author.

Instruments

The PRCA (Levine & McCroskey, 1990) was used to measure trait CA because it has been demonstrated to be reliable and valid (McCroskey, 1997). The five item Levine and McCroskey version of the public speaking subscale of the PRCA was used because Levine and McCroskey reported that the subscale could be improved by dropping one item from the six item public speaking subscale of the PRCA-24 that was relatively unstable. Alpha reliability of the five item public speaking subscale used in this study was determined to be .88 and .91 in the pre- and post-test applications.

The Spielberger et al. (1970) instrument was used in this study because of its demonstrated value in related work (e.g., Beatty, Dobos, Balfantz, & Kuwabara, 1991). The Spielberger et al. instrument contained five items (e.g., I felt tense.) designed to measure state PSA. The alpha reliability of this scale was found to be .85 and .88 in the pre- and post-tests.

Coding Categories

The pre- and posttest drawings provided by the study participants were coded for valence, vividness, and control. These aspects of the drawings were examined because they have been demonstrated to be of use in related research (Ayres & Heuett, 1997, 1999, 2000; Heuett, Ayres, & Manvi, 1999) and because they represented dimensions commonly encountered in the imagery literature (Drake, 1996).

Following procedures outlined by Ayres and Heuett (1997), valence was defined in terms of the positive, neutral, or negative tone of a drawing. A participant's sketch was coded as "positive" if the speaker in the drawing was depicted as smiling and confident (e.g., not shaking, standing erect). A sketch was considered to display negative affect if the speaker was depicted as frowning and nervous (e.g., sweating, limbs shaking). A drawing was considered to be "neutral" if no affect cues were present (e.g., not smiling or frowning).

Vividness referred to the amount of detail in the drawing. A drawing was placed in the "little detail" category if only one dimension of the speaker, audience, or setting elements was in evidence. If two aspects of the speaking situation were in evidence, the drawing was placed in the "moderate detail" category. A drawing was considered to display "considerable detail," if all three aspects of the speaking situation were present.

The control coding category referred to who was in charge in a drawing. If a speaker was depicted as "controlled" (e.g., large eyes looking at him or her; small in comparison to the audience), the drawing was placed in the "controlled" category. If a speaker was depicted as "in control" (e.g., depicted as large relative to the audience; looking directly at the audience), the drawing was placed in the "in control" category. If no control cues were present, the drawing was placed in the "control not in evidence" category.

Coder Training

Two advanced undergraduate students were employed as coders in this study. Coders, blind as to the nature of this study, were debriefed at the conclusion of the study. Coder training was considered to be acceptable when the .80 level of intercoder reliability was achieved across the vividness, control, and valence categories. Intercoder reliability in this study ranged from .91 to .96 across the pre- and post-test data. Coders' ratings were averaged prior to data analyses.

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

A pretest/posttest control group design was employed in this study. The experimental manipulation concerned whether participants were exposed to (1) the visualization script, (2) drawings, (3) script and drawings, (4) placebo, or (5) control conditions. Scores on the public speaking subscale of the PRCA, state PSA, valence, vividness, and control measures served as the dependent variables in this investigation. Data were analyzed using ANCOVA and post hoc tests. The pre-tests scores served as the covariate in these analyses.

RESULTS

The ANCOVA applied to the state and trait PSA data results proved to be statistically significant, F(4,80) = 17.89, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .42; F(4,80) = 18.64, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .43, respectively. Post hoc tests revealed that people exposed to the combined script and drawings condition reported lower state and trait PSA than people in the other conditions. People in the script only and drawings only conditions also reported lower state and trait PSA than those in the placebo and control groups. The script only and drawings only conditions did not differ from one another. No significant difference emerged between the placebo and control groups (see Table 1 for relevant means and standard deviations).

Main effect differences also emerged for valence, F(4,80) = 28.8, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .22), vividness, F(4,80) = 5.44, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .09, and control, F(4,80) = 23.6, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .23. Participants exposed to the combined script and drawings condition depicted themselves in a more positive, vivid, "in control" fashion than those in the other conditions. People in the script only and drawings only conditions also depicted themselves in a more positive, vivid, "in control" fashion than those in the placebo and control groups. The script only and drawings only conditions did not differ from one another. The placebo and control groups did not differ from one another in these regards (see Table 1 for relevant means and standard deviations).

DISCUSSION

In general the visualization conditions (script only, drawings only, or combined script and drawings) were superior to the placebo and control conditions in reducing public speaking anxiety and enhancing the image participants had of themselves as speakers. In addition, those in the text and drawings condition reported lower state and trait PSA than those in the other conditions. People in this condition also envisioned themselves as more in control, more positive, and saw the situation more vividly than those in the other conditions. These findings provided considerable support for the claim that visualization for helping people cope with PSA should be presented using words as well as images.

The general data pattern that emerged in this investigation is in conformity with the expectation that visualization would be more effective if it was induced using text as well as images rather than using one or the other alone. This procedure followed the pattern used by other visualization-based therapies (Sheikh, 1986). It appeared that some aspects of visualization processes were indeed grounded in verbal elements (Lang et al., 1980) while other aspects of image construction were non-linear (Samuels & Samuels, 1975). The exact nature of these linkages and the conditions under which one takes precedence over the other were unclear from the present work. Work designed to answer these questions was of consequence but was not at issue in this project. However, this project was concerned with the pragmatic question of whether visualization targeting public speaking apprehension could be improved by using images as well as text to induce a positive view of public speaking. The data indicated that text/image based visualization was superior to image only, text only, control, or placebo conditions in reducing self-reported PSA levels as well as enhancing the images participants had of themselves as public speakers.

This study had a number of limitations that should be noted. The study was undertaken using a design that had good internal validity but questionable external validity (Campbell & Stanley, 1963). Consequently, the refinements in visualization examined here should be tested using more sophisticated designs that enhance external validity. Another limitation of this study related to the limited size and variability of the sample. Script/drawing visualization seemed to be more effective than other approaches with college students. Would this same method be effective with older people and people in different settings? Similarly, this form of visualization was effective when public speaking was targeted. Will this same visualization be as effective in other circumstances? These and other limitations have restricted the confidence that can be placed in these findings.

Overall, the results of this investigation offered support for the following conclusion. The effect of scripted visualization for reducing PSA was enhanced when the script was paralleled with appropriate drawings. Thus, it is recommended that those using visualization to reduce public speaking apprehension and enhance the image people have of themselves as public speakers refine the approach by exposing people to images as well as text.

TABLE 1
Pre and Post-tests Means and Standard Deviations
Across Five Experimental Conditions

                Script       Drawing        S/D *

              M      SD     M      SD     M      SD

PRCA *
  Pre        21.5   2.2    21.9   1.8    21.7   1.9
  Post       12.6   4.4    12.2   3.8    10.4   3.1
State CA *
  Pre        21     2.5    21.4   2.4    21.6   3.7
  Post       12.8   4.2    12.6   4.1    10.2   3.1
Valence
  Pre         2.4    .81    2.6    .77    2.5    .72
  Post        1.6    .34    1.7    .39    1.1    .44
Vividness
  Pre         2.3    .68    2.3    .69    2.4    .69
  Post        1.6    .72    1.5    .75    1.2    .60
Control
  Pre         2.3    .48    2.5    .53    2.6    .24
  Post        1.6    .45    1.7    .46    1.2    .47

               Placebo       Control

              M      SD     M      SD

PRCA *
  Pre        21.2   2.29   21.9   1.9
  Post       18.2   3.72   21.4   2.6
State CA *
  Pre        21.6   3.96   21.4   2.7
  Post       18.8   3.69   20.6   4.0
Valence
  Pre         2.4    .72    2.6    .67
  Post        2.6    .80    2.5    .37
Vividness
  Pre         2.4    .71    2.5    .66
  Post        2.3    .69    2.3    .72
Control
  Pre         2.2    .39    2.4    .51
  Post        2.1    .33    2.2    .41

* PRCA = Personal Report of Communication

* CA = Communication Apprehension

* S/D = Script and Drawing condition

N = 18 in all cells.

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Joe Ayres (Ph.D., University of Utah, 1970) is a Professor in the School of Communication at Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2520. Tracy A. Ayres (M.A., University of Puget Sound, 1997) is a teacher at Sunnycrest Elementary, Kent, WA 98032. Appreciation is extended to Frances Ayres, Beth Fisher and Neal Rondeau for their assistance with various aspects of this investigation.