PERSUASION
Get ready to take notes. These
will be helpful for your persuasive
speech.
What is
persuasion?
Persuasion is
like a VERB.
Persuasion is
1. Bring your audience to
believe as you do and/or;
2. influence your audience to
take action.
Answer the following question
on your worksheet.
Where or when
do you use
persuasion in
your life?
Where does persuasion take
place?
 You wish to convince your parents that you
should be able to attend a local concert.
 You want to convince your teacher that more
time is needed to complete a class project.
 You wish to show your friends that drinking
and driving do not add up to an intelligent
way to have a good time.
Each of these situations calls for you
to persuade your audience. In order
to persuade you would have to:
1. Awaken a belief on the part of your listeners that
what you are proposing is a good idea.
2. Show the audience that you have a well-thought-out
plan of action available.
3. Be able to convince your audience that your plan of
action is realistic and the right thing to do.
4. Be able to “push the right buttons,” or know your
audience.
Persuasion
What you’ll need




Claim
Reasoning
Evidence
Warrants
What you’ll need to do
 Logic: the science of
reasoning which uses a
system of rules to help
one think correctly
 Logical appeal: the use of
sequence, analysis,
organization, and
evidence to prove a point
and persuade
Persuasion Questions
 Claim: what you are trying to persuade
 What do I believe?
 Reasons: support for claim, not factual
 Why do I believe this?
 Evidence: factual support for reasons, proof
 Who says?
 Warrants: glue that holds it together, logic
 Does this work?
Evidence
 Support your reasons with evidence or proof.
 Facts - can be proven.
 Expert opinions or quotations
 Definitions - statement of meaning of word or
phrase
 Statistics - offer scientific support
 Examples - powerful illustrations
 Anecdote - incident, often based on writer's
personal experiences
 Present opposition - and give reasons and evidence
to prove the opposition wrong
Let's look at a graphic to explain how you build an argument—just
like you build a house. You start from the ground up.
Let’s buy a car
 Warrants are probably best illustrated
with a different example. Let's say
you're in the market for a new car.
You go shopping and see a particular
car that might meet your needs.
Yep, this is the one! You decide you
should buy this car.
So, let's construct an
argument for buying this car:
CLAIM: We should buy this car.
Imaginary conversation with the people
you want to convince.
 Them: Why should we buy this car?
 You: For the following reasons:
Why might you buy a car?
 Mileage
 Safety
 Looks
 Cost
 Size
 Type
 Brand
 New/used
 Sale
 Speed
 Color
REASON #1: It is fuel efficient.
Imaginary conversation with the people you want to convince.
Them: Prove it. Says who?
EVIDENCE: According to Consumer Reports,
January 5, 2007, this model gets nearly 50 miles
per gallon.
WARRANT: Efficiency is good, and MPG is a good
indicator of fuel efficiency.
Now, in all probability you wouldn’t need to actually
say the warrant, because it’s logical and it’s pretty
common knowledge. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not
important.
REASON #2:
It is safe.
EVIDENCE: It received a 5-star crash rating from
the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.
WARRANT: Safety is good, and crash tests are a
good way of measuring safety.
REASON #3: It is affordable.
EVIDENCE: Compared to other models of similar
quality, this one is the cheapest.
WARRANT: Affordability is important, and
comparitive cost is a good way of measuring
affordability.
REASON #4:
It is red.
EVIDENCE: Look at it.
WARRANT: Red is good.
Imaginary conversation with the people you want to convince.
Them: WHOA! Hold on! That doesn’t seem as logical or as sound
as all the other stuff you said. I’m not sure that’s a good reason.
You: Okay, okay. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I can back up
my warrant with some evidence.
BACKING: According to the Automobile Wholesalers Union, red
cars have a higher average resale value than cars of any other
color.
Imaginary conversation with the people you want to convince.
Them: Oh, so it’ll be worth more when I trade it in. I guess that’s
not a bad reason then.
You: (Sticking out your tongue) Nyahh-Nyahh-Na-Nyahh-Nyahh.
Let’s make a claim house
together for getting into
college.
 Claim: I should get accepted into college.
 Reason 1: I have a good GPA.
 Evidence: my transcript says I have a 3.8 GPA
 Warrants: Having a high GPA is good. It shows I
am smart, study hard, and am motivated.
 Reason 2: I have been involved in a lot of
activities in high school.
 Evidence: A letter of recommendation from a club
sponsor
 Warrants: It is desirable to be a well rounded
student.
Getting a raise
 Make an argument for deserving a
raise.
 What is the claim, the reasons, the
evidence, and the warrant?
Analyze Your Audience
 Read pages 359-362 and take notes.
Analyze your audience
A. Supportive audience: you start with their support
EX: president, no school
B. Uncommitted audience: neutral
EX: jury, extending life expectancy
C. Indifferent audience: have to get them to pay
attention
EX: a student who wants to drop out & you
have to convince them its important, Sarah
getting a new cell phone
A. Opposed audience: against you before you start
EX: giving a speech about cell ph.s to the
principal, more homework
Once you determine what kind
of audience you have on your
issue you need to figure out
how to persuade them.
Through the use of
Aristotle's Appeals,
you will persuade your
audience.
Aristotle,
384 B.C.-322 B.C.
 Greek philosopher &
scientists
 Logic was designed for
science “for the
purpose of attaining
the truth”
 Philosophized about
existence &
challenged Plato’s
thinking
“Aristotle.” Greek and Latin Authors 800 B.C.-A.D. 1000. 1980. Wilson Web. Lincoln High. 31 Mar. 2008
<http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/getResults.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_comon.jhtml.>
Appeal to your audience
Logos (logic)
Ethos (personal credibility)
Pathos (emotions)
Remember…
Logic: the science of reasoning
which uses a system of rules to
help one think correctly
Logical appeal: the use of
sequence, analysis, organization,
and evidence to prove a point and
persuade
Logos (logic)
 Inductive reasoning
Reason which begins with specifics and moves
toward a generalization is inductive.
Example: Several clubs have reported difficulty
completing their business during lunch period. This
proves that lunch periods should be longer.
Example: You have never had problems with your
Honda and it’s 15 years old. Your neighbor has a
Honda and has not had a problem for the first
50,000 miles. Thus, you reason that Hondas are
reliable and good cars.
Inductive examples
 If he did his homework (specific), then the
whole class has done their homework
(general); therefore, we shouldn’t have to do
another assignment.
 My cat is easy to take care of (specific),
therefore all cats must be easy to take care
of (general).
Logos (logic)
 Deductive reasoning
Reason which starts with a general
observation and moves to specifics is deductive.
Example: When people hurry, inefficiency and poor
communication are the results. Under current conditions
clubs must hurry during meetings times. Therefore, the
periods should be lengthened to allow for better club
meetings.
Example: All students (A) go to school (B). You (C) are a
student (A). Therefore, you (C) go to school (B).
Deductive examples
 If the class is going on a fieldtrip
(general), and Tom is in the class; then
Tom must be going too (specific).
 The law says you must wear a helmet
when riding a bike (general).
Therefore, Jimmy must be wearing a
helmet when he rides a bike (specific).
Deductive: Syllogism
 A=B, B=C, THEN C=A (or A=B=C)
 Example: (A) To graduate, you need
to pass OC . (B) You need to do your
informative and persuasive speech
to pass OC . Therefore, to graduate
(C) you must do your persuasive and
informative speech.
Deductive: Syllogism
 Another example:
 How would you use syllogism to
persuade about global warming?
 A= global warming is affecting our world
 B= we live on the world
 C= we will be affected by global
warming
Words to help identify the use of logic
Notice a connection
between thoughts:
Synonymous with
therefore
 If… then…
 If… therefore…
 If… so…








accordingly
consequently
ergo
hence
so
thereupon
thus
wherefore
Give your own examples of
Inductive and Deductive
reasoning on your worksheet.
The example can be about
anything.
Pathos (emotions)
 A carefully reasoned argument will be
strengthened by an emotional appeal,
especially love, anger, disgust, fear,
compassion, and patriotism.
*“feeling” the speech
Pathos (emotions) Examples
 If you loved me you would do this.
 Gas prices are so high. Doesn’t this anger or
frustrate you nothing is being done about it.
 Ads that try to get you to sponsor a child.
 S.T.O.P. class using your love for your family
to get you to drive safe.
 News shows showing voting lines to put fear
in you to vote early (news uses fear a lot).
Ethos (personal credibility)
 Convince your audience that you are honest,
unbiased, and well informed. They will then
trust your values and intentions because you
have integrity.
 Honesty: Your audience is looking for you to have a strong
sense of right and wrong. If you have a good reputation
with this people are more likely to listen to you. Don’t lie to
get your point across.
 Competency: Meaning capable of getting the job done.
Also, you have a POV that looks at all angles to the issue.
 Energy: Through nonverbals like eye contact and
gestures,and a strong voice and inflections, a speaker
will come across as charismatic.
Ethos
 How does reputation play into ethos?




Believable
Trustworthy
Knowledgeable
Makes you the one to listen to over others
Ethos (personal credibility)
 How can you gain credibility?
1. Dress up to show you’re serious
2. Be prepared and organized ***
3. Do your research and use it in
your speech ***
4. Eye contact ***
5. Relate to your audience (in your
speech)
On your worksheet, give an
example of your own of
persuasion through pathos.
Logic isn’t always right.
Sometimes persuasion is used
that is faulty with the hope that
the listener will not catch the
illogic.
Faulty Logic
As a consumer you must watch
for faulty logic.
Logical Fallacies
 The following is not a complete list of
logical fallacies.
 You don’t need to be able to identify
the fallacy’s name in order to know the
logic does not work.
 Be ready to look for logical fallacies in
your own life and arguments.
Faulty Logic
1. Causal : making a connection b/c one event
follows another.
EX: Pers. sp. is less important b/c it’s after info.
Sp
2. Non Sequitur: an idea or logic that doesn’t follow
the previous idea or conclusion.
EX: arguing that students should give blood b/c it
is final exam week
3. Bandwagon: suggesting that b/c everyone
believes something or does something, it must be
valid, accurate, or effective.
EX: Everybody knows that taxes are too high.
4. Either-or: oversimplifying an issue as offering only
2 choices.
EX: solution is either getting portables or raising
Faulty Logic
5. Personal Attack: name-calling
EX: “She’s just a republican.”
6. Red Herring: irrelevant facts or information used
to distract from the issue.
EX: in a sp. to address ID problems, the speaker
talks about the danger of guns
7. Appeal to Misplaced Authority: using someone
w/o the appropriate credentials or expertise to
endorse an idea or product.
EX: Mrs. Aten endorsing a kind of football
8. Hasty Generalization: reaching a conclusion w/o
adequate supporting evidence.
EX: One person fails the math test & that means
the test was too hard.
Faulty Logic Examples
On your worksheet, come up with
one example not listed in the
PowerPoint for each of the 8
faulty logics. They may be about
whatever you would like as long
as they represent the type of
faulty logic.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Look at the triangle side.
Motivation
 Whether your purpose is to affect
attitude or behavior, you must provide
motivation, an incentive for your
audience to believe or act in a certain
way. Think about why you do things.
What motivates you to:




Why do you come to school?
Why do you say no to drugs?
Why do you exercise everyday?
Why do you refuse to take notes in
class?
 Why do you listen to what your parents
tell you to do?
Fear as motivation
 Sometimes the motivation is fear. Sometimes
it’s the possibility of a reward.
 In many instances, you do something
because the behavior satisfies a need or
desire.
 Whatever the case may be, you wouldn’t
have changed without it. Thus, when trying to
persuade people you need to appeal to what
motivates them.
1. Physiological Need
 Are those things that keep a person
alive.
 Examples: food, water, shelter, sleep
2. Safety Need
 Involve one’s well-being or sense of
security. Safety might need to be felt in
physical, family, health, money, etc.
 Examples: It’s hard to fall asleep until
you know the front door is locked.
3. Belongingness Need
 involve wanting to have friends or to
be loved by others
 Example: Everyone needs human
contact. Everyone needs to feel
accepted by others.
4. Self-esteem Need
 Refers to the feelings people have
about themselves. People need to like
themselves. Humans have a need to be
respected, to self-respect and to
respect others.
5. Self-Actualization Need
 the final level of need, means realizing
your full potential. It is the instinctual
need of humans to make the most of
their unique abilities.
Actual product slogans.
What’s the motivation?
 1. “You can help the victims of the spring
tornadoes and thousands of disasters across
the country each year by making a financial
gift to the Disaster Relief Fund, which enables
the Red Cross to provide shelter, food,
counseling and other assistance to those in
need.”
 Self-esteem
“Hungry? Grab a
snickers!”
physiological
 “Get a great night's sleep on
a Dormia foam mattress,
designed for orthopedic
support.”
 physiological
“Be all that you can
be in the Army.”
Self-actualization
“You’re in good
hands. Allstate.”
safety
Article Practice
 Now, you will be given a product and
audience that you need to sell to. Use the
above four elements to sell your product.
Create a 30 second commercial to get your
target audience to buy your product. Write
down your commercial as you will be
presenting them to the class. The following is
an example.
 Self-esteem
Example:
PRODUCT: hurricane insurance
AUDIENCE: someone living in Nebraska
 First think about what are you trying to persuade?
 “You might think that hurricanes can’t strike the Midwest, but
why not? The chances of a hurricane aren’t as small as you think.
What if they did strike? Would you be prepared? The solution is
in Hurricane Insurance from Hurricane Progressive. This is the
only way to make sure that if a hurricane did hit the Midwest you
would be prepared. Don’t be left out in the storm; get the
insurance that counts incase of a hurricane, Hurricane Insurance
from Hurricane Progressive!