Ethos, Logos, Pathos
PERSUASION IN THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE
How are people
persuaded?
THERE ARE THREE BASIC TECHNIQUES (OR TOOLS)
Pathos
Ethos
Logos
Emotional
Credible
Logical
Ethos (Credible or
Ethical Appeal)
Convincing by the character of the
author
We tend to believe people we
respect
Logos (logical or
fact-based appeal)
Persuading by the use of reasoning
Use of statistics is popular
Focus on facts, recorded evidence, historical data
Can mention studies, surveys
Pathos
(emotional
appeal)
Persuading by appealing to the
audience’s emotions
Language choice affects the
audience’s emotional response
(which can be positive or
negative)
What’s the problem?
1. Need a balance of all three for
persuasion to work most effectively
2. Each of the three means of persuasion
can be used to manipulate people
How can ethos
be misused?
Character is a matter of opinion
Sometimes people rely too heavily
on ethos and use it to ignore facts
How can logos
be misused?
People like to use buzz words that
sound factual but aren’t
• ”pure”
• “natural”
• “freedom”
• “better”
• “cleaner”
How can
pathos be
misused?
PAT H O S C A N P L AY O N F EA R ,
WO R RY, S A D N E S S , A N D
SADNESS
Two immigration persuasion scenarios
BEST-CASE
MANIPULATING
Someone large numbers of people trust
(ethos)…
Someone large numbers of people trust
(ethos)…
uses facts and statistics (logos)…
uses buzz words (logos)…
to inspire hope in people that immigrants are
contributing positively to society (pathos)
to incite fear in people that immigrants are
ruining the country (pathos)
Ethos, Logos, Pathos
P E RS UA S I O N I N T H E
I M M I G R AT I O N D E B AT E