Persuasive Speaking
The process of influencing
attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviors
Influencing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors
of your audience
◦ Attitudes are evaluations of people, objects, ideas,
and events
◦ Beliefs are how people perceive reality
◦ Behavior is how people act or function
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Your topic…
◦ Should be somewhat controversial
◦ Must allow you to develop a message to bring
about change in the audience
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Your thesis...
◦ Is stated as a proposition
◦ Proposition of Fact
What is or is not
◦ Proposition of Value
Value judgment about what something is
worth
◦ Propositions of Policy
Claims about a course of action to be taken
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Understanding your audience’s disposition
◦ Receptive audience
◦ Hostile audience
◦ Neutral audience
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Freshmen parking example
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Social Judgment Theory
◦ Latitude of Acceptance/Rejection
 (Sherif & Sherif, 1967)
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Understanding your audience’s needs
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Understanding what is relevant to your
audience
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
 Central processing
 Peripheral processing
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Forms of rhetorical proof
◦ Ethos
◦ Logos
◦ Pathos
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Ethos
◦ Moral Character
◦ Credibility
◦ Character
◦ Trustworthiness
◦ Goodwill
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Logos
Reasoning
 Inductive reasoning
 Deductive reasoning
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Pathos
◦ Appeals to listeners’ emotions
◦ Should be combined with logical
appeals for lasting effect
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Avoiding logical fallacies
◦ Bandwagon fallacy
◦ Reduction to the absurd
◦ Red herring fallacy
◦ Personal attacks
◦ Begging the question
◦ Either-or fallacy
◦ Appeal to tradition
◦ The slippery slope fallacy
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Problem-Solution Pattern
Refutational Organizational Pattern
Comparative Advantage Pattern
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence
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Attention
Need
Satisfaction
Visualization
Action