Superficial research is widespread. One consequence is zombie fear statistics that come back again and again, especially before Halloween. On March 22, 2019 I blogged about An apparently authoritative statistic about fear of public speaking that really lacks any support. In that post I had quoted nonsense from Statistic Brain. It showed up again on October 14, 2022 in an article by Elisha Gul at Weshare titled 41+ Public speaking statistics you should know (as #28), and on October 29, 2022 in another article by Peter Weltman at Fast Company titled How I manage my fear of public speaking with comedy that opened by claiming:
“Public speaking is frightening. The National Social Anxiety Center places public speaking as the most common phobia behind death, spiders, and heights. Public speaking anxiety, or glossophobia, affects an astonishing 73% of the population.”
On October 12, 2020 I blogged about Do 77% of Americans fear public speaking? No! That percentage described stage fright in Swedes who also had social anxiety disorder. And then, on January 29, 2022 I blogged about A zombie statistic that 77% of the general population fears public speaking. That nonsense turned up again both on September 17, 2022 in an article by Lawrence Haywood at AhaSlides titled The fear of public speaking: 15 tips to beat glossophobia in 2023, and on October 11, 2022 in a post by Michael Lee at the Prezi Blog titled Best practices to speak publicly without freaking out.
The zombie silhouette was adapted from Openclipart.
Update November 10, 2022
The second sentence in an article by Andrea Heuston at Forbes on November 10, 2022 titled
Three techniques you can implement immediately to help you enjoy public speaking claimed:
“Studies have found that around 77% of the world’s population fears public speaking—it’s so common that it has its own name, ‘glossophobia.’ “
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