Table of Contents
 What Is a Persuasive Speech?
 The Process of Persuasion
 Classical Persuasive Appeals
 Contemporary Persuasive Appeals

 Persuasion: the process of influencing attitudes, beliefs, values, and behavior.
 Persuasive speaking : speech intended to influence the beliefs, attitudes, values, and acts of others.


 Attempt to influence audience choices
 Limit alternatives
 Seek a response
 Respect audience choices

What Is a Persuasive Speech?
Persuasive Speeches Attempt to
Influence Audience Choices
 The goal is not to increase understanding and awareness; it is to influence audience choices.
 This influence can vary from slight shifts in opinion to wholesale changes in behavior.

What is a Persuasive Speech?
Persuasive Speeches Limit
Alternatives
 A persuasive speech will have at least two viewpoints.
 Persuasion seeks to weigh the alternatives to demonstrate that one alternative is ultimately preferable.

What is a Persuasive Speech?
Persuasive Speeches Seek a
Response


 Guiding the audience to adopt a particular attitude, belief, or behavior that you favor.

 To influence your listeners you must understand how their attitudes, beliefs, and values might affect the way they view your position.

 Relate your message to the audience.
 Show how the change will benefit them.
 Have a strong attitude.
 Seek minor changes.
 Present yourself as truthful.

 Convince your audience that a change will make them feel satisfied and competent.
 Be moderate in your position.
 Listeners must be assured they will be rewarded if they listen to you.

 Aristotle believed that persuasion could be brought about by through the use of three means of persuasion, or forms of rhetorical proof.

 Forms of rhetorical proof: the nature of the message, the audience’s feelings, and the personality of the speaker.

 Logos: Appeals to Audience Reason
 Pathos: Appeals to Audience Emotion
 Ethos: Appeals to Speaker Character

Classical Persuasive Appeals:
Logos: Appeals to Audience Reason
 Many persuasive speeches focus on serious issues requiring considerable thought.
 Logos: refers to persuasive appeals directed at the audience’s reasoning on a topic.

Classical Persuasive Appeals:
Logos: Appeals to Audience Reason
 Syllogism: a three-part argument consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.
 Enthymeme: a syllogism presented as a probability instead of an absolute; states either a major or minor premise but not both.

Classical Persuasive Appeals:
Pathos: Appeals to Audience Emotion
 Pathos involves an appeal to audience emotion.

Classical Persuasive Appeals:
Pathos: Appeals to Audience Emotion
 You can identify and appeal to the following emotions:
 Anger and meekness
 Love and hatred
 Fear and boldness
 Shame and shamelessness

Classical Persuasive Appeals:
Ethos: Appeals to Speaker Character
 Ethos: the nature of the speaker’s moral character and personality.

Classical Persuasive Appeals:
Ethos: Appeals to Speaker Character
 Elements of an appeal based on ethos :
 Good sense: the speaker’s knowledge of and experience with the topic.
 Moral character: reflected in the manner in which a speaker presents an argument.
 Goodwill: an interest and concern for the welfare of the audience.

 Current theories expand upon Aristotle by considering audience needs, rationales for choice, and ways of processing information.

Contemporary Persuasive Appeals:
Motivating Listeners by Appealing to
Their Needs
 Appealing to audience needs is one of the most commonly used strategies for motivating people.
 Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs : a set of five basic needs ranging from the essential to the less critical

Contemporary Persuasive Appeals:
Motivating Listeners by Appealing to the Rationales for Their Behavior
 Maslow’s Hierarchy:
 Physiological
 Safety
 Social needs
 Self-esteem
 Self-actualization

Contemporary Persuasive Appeals:
Motivating Listeners by Appealing to the Rationales for Their Behavior
 Expectancy-Outcome Values Theory: m aintains that people consciously evaluate the potential costs and benefits (or value) associated with taking a particular action.

Contemporary Persuasive Appeals:
Motivating Listeners by Making the
Message Relevant to Their Concerns
 Elaboration Likelihood Model: a theory that suggests people process persuasive messages by one of two mental routes (central processing or peripheral processing), depending on their degree of involvement in the message.

Contemporary Persuasive Appeals:
Motivating Listeners by Making the
Message Relevant to Their Concerns
Central Processing: listeners who are influenced primarily by the strength and quality of a speaker’s argument.

Contemporary Persuasive Appeals:
Motivating Listeners by Making the
Message Relevant to Their Concerns
Peripheral Processing: listeners who are more likely to be influenced by non-content issues, because they find the message too complex or irrelevant.