Abstract
Effects of speakers' interpersonal needs (i.e. praise seeking and rejection avoidance needs) and the presence of an audience on negative feelings experienced in speech situations were investigated. First, participants responded to scales assessing praise seeking and rejection avoidance needs. Then, they made a speech for 3–4 minutes in a room with an audience, or without. Negative feelings before and after the speech were assessed. The results indicated that negative feelings of all the speakers were strongest when anticipating making a speech. Moreover, negative feelings were stronger when making a speech in front of an audience, than when making a speech without an audience. Furthermore, speakers with high rejection avoidance needs and low praise seeking needs had stronger negative feelings than those with low rejection avoidance needs. On the other hand, there was no correlation between speakers' interpersonal needs and the presence of an audience, which affected the negative feelings of speakers.
