Chapter 23
 Persuasion Defined
▪ The process of changing or reinforcing…
▪ Attitudes - Learned predisposition to respond favorably/unfavorably about
something
 About lawyers, School, Work – Least difficult to change
▪ Beliefs - Something you understand to be true or false (Often based on experience)
 Your Faith, fire is hot, - More difficult to change than attitudes
▪ Values – An enduring concept of Right/Wrong, Good/Bad (Instilled early in life)
 Religious values, Family values, Most difficult to change
▪ Behaviors - Usually determined by one of the above predispositions
▪ Why do you think values are the most difficult to change?

Choosing a persuasive topic
▪ As you choose your topic, here are some things to keep in mind
 First – consider the persuasive goal of your speech
▪ Ask yourself what does my audience (think /feel/do) now
▪ What do I want them to (Think/feel/do) after my speech
▪ Some topics could have multiple goals
▪ Legalizing Marijuana
▪ Belief, behavior, etc.
▪ No medicinal value, Vote against it,
 what other angles does it have?
 Second – Make sure your persuasive goal is feasible
▪ Can the audience make the change you are requesting
 Persuading a person struggling financially to take an expensive trip
 Convincing people with recent tattoos or underweight to donate blood
(they are automatically excluded by the red cross)
▪ You may be able to convince them of the idea but they can’t follow through
 Third – Large controversial topics
▪ Very difficult to change people on these
 Require audience to re-evaluate belief system
 Religion, Politics, Abortion, Death Penalty, etc
 A brief speech won’t change positions so look for a smaller change
 How Persuasion Works
▪ 2 ways of persuasion
▪ Persuaded by logic, reasoning, arguments and evidence presented
 You do research on something and are convinced that you need it
 Have you bought anything recently?
 Have you seen any movies recently?
▪ Indirect persuasion
 Based on the feeling you get from the presentation
 Music, Trustworthy salesperson
 Emotional charge
▪ Which of these would be best for persuading others?
▪ Does It depends on your audience?
 How to motivate listeners
▪ Use Dissonance
▪ Feeling when you hear something against your attitudes, beliefs, values
▪ You’re a smoker, speaker says smoking is harmful
▪ Example
▪
▪
▪
▪
A student decides to cheat on an assignment
A classmate gets caught cheating and fails the course
The student feels uncomfortable about their desire to cheat
Changes their attitude about cheating (Now feels that it isn’t worth the risk)
 How listeners cope with
dissonance
▪ Listeners may discredit source
▪ To deal with the discomfort,
audiences may find a reason to
question your credibility
 (Bias, Personal motives, etc)
▪ Reinterpret the message
(Hear what they want to hear)
▪ Focus on what they agree with &
ignore what they don’t
 How listeners cope with dissonance
▪ Listeners may seek new information
▪ May do additional research
▪ Listeners may stop listening
▪ Selective Exposure – seek information matching views
▪ Audience may tune you out if they feel your content will upset them
▪ Listeners may change attitudes, beliefs, values, or behavior
▪ In order to balance the discomfort, audience may decide to change
 How to motivate listeners
▪ Use listener needs
▪ Physiological needs
 The most basic needs for all people (Food, Water, Air, Shelter, etc)
▪ Safety Needs
 Need to feel safe, secure, protected
 Seatbelts, smoking health, exercising, etc
 If physiological need are met you can persuade audience about safety
 How to motivate listeners
▪ Use listener needs
▪ Social Needs
 Need to feel loved, valued, friends, etc
▪ Self-Esteem Needs
 Need to think well of ourselves (often the base of persuasive messages)
▪ Self-Actualization Needs
 Persuading listener to achieve their highest level of needs
 How to develop your persuasive speech
▪ Consider the audience
▪ Your audience will determine methods you use to develop persuasive content and
presentation
▪ Select & Narrow Your persuasive topic
▪ Don’t just pick a random topic, Find an interested or passion you have
 Consider your audience
▪ Controversial Topics – make excellent persuasive presentations
 Be careful with these
▪ Media/internet resources – Use these to stay on top of important issues
 Laws, Policies, News stories, Etc
 How to develop your persuasive speech
▪ Determine your persuasive purpose
▪ It’s hard to change a person after one short speech
▪ Set goals
 Opening audience mind to the possibility of change
 Getting audience to think more about my topic
▪ Develop central idea and main points
▪ Central Idea
 Once sentence summary of your speech
 A proposition is often used in for this (Fact, Value, Policy)
▪ What would it take to convince you to change an attitude, value, or belief?
▪ Example from “A time to kill” (Know your audience and what it would take)

Review Persuasive Speech Handout
▪ Discuss possible Topics
▪ Questions about persuasive speeches

Choosing Your Persuasive Topic
 Excluded topics
▪ Abortion, Death Penalty, Gun Control, Global Warming
▪ Topic must have a logical opposition or present a problem
▪ “I will persuade my audience not to drink & Drive” (Not Acceptable)
▪ “Drunk driving is becoming a problem in our community” (Acceptable)

Persuasive will be the last Major speech
▪ Focus on developing a strong speech argument
▪ Include your sources in outline and speech
▪ This hurt some on the informative speeches
▪ There will be no opportunity for make-up
▪ If you miss for ANY reason (other than arrangements with me)
you will get a zero
▪ No Outline/No Speech!!!
 Next – Chapter 24
▪ Using Persuasive Strategies