Intro to Persuasion
What does it take to persuade people?
Persuasion is about…
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Changing someone’s mind
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Involves thoughts, beliefs, values, attitudes, opinions, etc
Speech to convince
•Start thinking about something
•Change how you think about something
•Stop thinking about something
OR
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Changing someone’s actions
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Involves behavior, activities, mannerisms
Speech to actuate
•Reinforce existing behavior
•Change existing behavior
•Stop existing behavior
But changing the mind can lead to changing behavior.
What is the specific purpose (goal) of your speech?
Understanding the
Basics of Persuasion
Three Artistic Proofs
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Ethos – the use of credibility to impact an audience
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Goodwill – wanting the best for your audience
Expertise – knowledge and experience
Trustworthiness – character and integrity
Dynamism – confidence and authenticity
Pathos – the use of emotional appeals to impact an audience
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(Aristotle)
Personalizing your speech through storytelling or pictures
Connecting with your audience and their values, beliefs, and experiences
Logos – the use of logic or reasoning to impact an audience
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Clear, direct argument (i.e., easy to follow along)
Critical thinking
Avoid fallacies
Three Artistic Proofs
(Aristotle)
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These three artistic proofs work together and may
overlap at times.
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Need all three, though you might need to lean more
heavily on one more than the others.
Ethos
Dimensions of Ethos
How to Demonstrate in Your Speech
Goodwill
•Identify common ground between you and listeners
•Show respect for listeners’ attitudes and experiences
•Show that what you’re saying will benefit them
Expertise
•Provide strong support for your claims
•Document sources of support
•Address concerns about or objections to your position
•Demonstrate personal knowledge of the topic
Trustworthiness
•Use supporting materials ethically
•Address other points of view fairly
•Demonstrate that you care about your listeners
Dynamism
•Use appropriate volume and vocal emphasis
•Assume a confident posture
•Use gestures and kinesics to enhance forcefulness
•Be energetic in presentation
Ethos
(con’t)
Stages of Credibility
Definition
Initial
How the audience perceives your credibility before you even
get up to speak
Based on class experiences and interactions so far
•Do they feel like they connect with you?
•Do they perceive you as reliable and trustworthy?
Derived
How the audience perceives your credibility during your
presentation
•Are you confident in your speech and body language?
•Do you sound like you know what you’re talking about?
•Have you shown that you have the audience’s best interest at heart?
Terminal
How the audience perceives your credibility once your
presentation is over
Initial credibility +/- Derived Credibility = Terminal Credibility
Pathos
Ways to Enhance
Pathos
How to Demonstrate in Your Speech
Personalize the
problem, issue, or topic
•Include detailed examples
•Tell stories that give listeners a sense of being in situations,
experiencing problems
•Translate statistics to make them interesting and personal
Appeal to listeners’
needs and values
•Show how your position satisfies listeners’ needs, is consistent with
their values
•Use examples familiar to listeners to tie your ideas to their values
and experiences
•Show listeners how doing or believing what you advocate helps
them live up to their values
•Include quotations from people whom listeners respect
Bring material alive
•Use visual aids to give listeners a vivid, graphic understanding of
your topic
•Use striking quotes from people involved with your topic
•Use active, concrete language to paint verbal pictures
Sample Story
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Kondo Simfukwe
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Grace College chapel message
Logos
Use Rational Appeals
Definition & Information
Inductive Reasoning
•Deriving a general conclusion based on specific evidence,
examples, or instances.
•When using inductive reasoning, a sufficient number of
examples or instances must exist from which to draw a
legitimate conclusion.
“I had a bad experience at Mindy’s Restaurant, my friend Sarah had a bad
experience at Mindy’s, my brother Sam had a bad experience… Mindy’s really
isn’t that great of a place to eat!”
Deductive Reasoning
•Using general conclusions, premises, or principles to reach
a conclusion about a specific example or instance.
•Includes syllogisms and enthymemes.
“All communication professors are cool.
Kari is a communication professor.
Kari is cool.”
Logos
(con’t)
Avoid Fallacies (chp 4)
Definition
Argument against the
source
Attack the source of the message instead of the message itself
Appeal to Authority
A person’s authority or credibility in one area is used to support
another
Appeal to People
Something is good or beneficial because everyone else thinks so
Appeal to Relationships
Relationships are used to justify certain behaviors and to convince
others of their appropriateness
Post hoc ergo propter
hoc
Something is caused by whatever happens before it
Cum hoc ergo propter
hoc
If one thing happens at the same time as another, it was caused by
the thing with which it coincides
Logos
(con’t)
Avoid Fallacies (chp 4)
Definition
Hasty generalizations
A conclusion is based on a single occurrence or insufficient data or
sample size
Red herring
Use of another issue to divert attention away from the real issue
False alternatives
Only two options are provided, when there are usually more options
available
Composition
Argues that parts are the same as the whole
Division
Argues that the whole is the same as its parts
Equivocation
Relies on the ambiguousness of language to make an argument
(“What do they mean?”)
Sample Speech
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Whisper of Aids (video 1; video 2)
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Mary Fisher
1992 Republican Convention
Practice | Lifeboat Activity