The Strategy of Persuasion

George 50. Grace et al.

Audio by Paper2Audio.

The Importance of Persuasion

A Definition of Persuasion

Types of Influence

Change

Instill

Intensify

Types of Persuasive Speeches

Speeches to Convince

Speeches to Actuate

Speeches to Inspire

Persuasive Speaking Strategies

Establish Your Credibility

Focus Your Goals

Connect with Your Listeners

Organize Your Arguments

Support Your Ideas

Enhance Your Emotional Appeals

Theory Into Practice: Developing Emotional Appeals Media specialist Tony Schwartz, producer of political commercials for presidential and other political candidates, combined manipulation and participation to create a new word: participation. He argues that voters are not simply manipulated by campaign and advertising strategists. Voters do, after all, have the option of rejecting the messages politicians present to them. So, Schwartz contends, "You have to participate in your own manipulation."

Persuasion is similar to Schwartz's concept of participation. As a speaker, your goal should be to establish a common perspective and tap values your listeners share, not to manipulate or trick them. As a critical listener, you have a right and an ethical responsibility to choose whether you are persuaded. Charles Larson echoes this speaker-listener orientation:

[T] he focus of persuasion is not on the source, the message, or the receiver, but on all of them equally. They all cooperate to make a persuasive process. The idea of co-creation means that what is inside the receiver is just as important as the source's intent or the content of messages. In one sense, all persuasion is self-persuasion—we are rarely persuaded unless we participate in the process.

In this chapter, we examine how source, message, and receiver interact to co-create persuasion, and we introduce you to the strategy of persuasion. Why is persuasive speaking important? How does the persuasive process work? What are some principles and strategies you can use as you prepare your message?

The answers to these questions provide a blueprint for your speech. In the next chapter, we introduce you to the structure of persuasion. You will use your blueprint as you build your persuasive speech. You will study how to organize and test the arguments of your speech.

You will then discover how to integrate those arguments into a clear and convincing message.

The Importance of Persuasion

It is impossible to isolate yourself from persuasive messages, either as a receiver or as a sender. Each day, we are bombarded by appeals from political, business, education, and religious leaders, among others, who try to enlist our support, sell us products or services, and change our behaviors. Persuasive speaking is both inescapable and consequential. While we can all cite examples of messages that are intentionally misleading and patently unethical, we can also list persuasive messages that benefit us as senders and receivers.

In this public speaking course, you will probably be asked to deliver a persuasive message to your classmates, and that will challenge and benefit you in several ways. First, it will require you to select an issue you think is important and to communicate your concern to your audience. Voicing your beliefs will demand that you confront their logic and support; in other words, you must test your ideas for their validity.

That process, in turn, will require that you gather supporting materials and draw valid inferences from them as you develop your arguments. Approached seriously and researched energetically, a persuasive speech assignment can develop both your critical think ing and speech-making skills. Finally, you may also use it as an opportunity to improve your school or community. Change can occur when people speak and audiences act. You can be an instrument of constructive social and political change.

As a listener, you also benefit by participating in the persuasive process. Speaker can make you aware of problems and can show you how to help solve problems. them. You hear other points of view and, consequently, may better understand why others have beliefs different from yours. A speech that challenges your beliefs often forces you to reevaluate your position. Your "participulation" can correct erroneous beliefs or confirm valid beliefs you hold.

Regardless, participating as a listener also heightens your critical thinking and improves your ability to explain and defend your beliefs. Finally, as a listener, you have an opportunity to judge how others use persuasive speaking techniques, thus enabling you to improve your own persuasive speaking.

A persuasive speech provides you the opportunity to champion important causes, change audience beliefs and attitudes, and motivate their behaviors.

A Definition of Persuasion

Persuasion is the process of influencing another person's values, beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors. Key to understanding persuasion is the concept of influence. Too often, we equate persuasion with power, but, as you will learn, persuasion does not necessarily require power. Power implies authority or control over another. For example, employers who want you to be on time will state that policy and then issue reprimands, withhold promotions, and even threaten to terminate your employment to ensure that you obey.

They do not need to persuade you. Likewise, in this class, you probably speak on the days assigned because failing to do so would hurt your grade. In each instance, the power residing in some other person's position shapes your behavior, at least in part.

Persuasion, however, is more accurately equated with influence than with power. As a speaker, you try to influence the audience to adopt your position. You probably have little power over your listeners, and they have the freedom to reject your intended message. Suppose, for example, that your speech instructor wants your class to attend a lecture given on campus by author David Sedaris. You are not required to attend, and there is no penalty or reward. To influence you, however, your instructor emphasizes the importance of this opportunity by telling you about Sedaris's background and listing two of his best-known books: Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Your instructor also mentions Sedaris's reputation as a lively, entertaining speaker and tells you that his sister is actress Amy Sedaris.

In this case, your instructor is using influence rather than power to persuade. The concept of persuasion as influence means that you can bring about change whether or not you are the more powerful party in a relationship. You can also see that, compared to power, influence requires more effort, creativity, and sensitivity, but in the long run is probably more effective. If persuasion is our attempt to influence others, let's look more closely at the types of influence we can achieve.

Types of Influence

Our definition of persuasion suggests three types of influence. You can change, instill, or intensify your listeners' values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Your goal is to move your listeners closer to your position. It may help you to think of this process as a continuum:

: Table summary: A mapping of sentiment levels to numeric values. The Oppose category ranges from strongly at negative 3, moderately at negative 2, to slightly at negative 1. The Neutral category is assigned a value of 0. The Favor category ranges from slightly at positive 1 to moderately at positive 2.

persuasion

The process of influencing another person's values, beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

Remember, when you speak to persuade, you are speaking to listeners who may oppose, be indifferent to, or support your position. What strategy will you adopt to reach them? The information you gather and the assumptions you make about your audience before your speech determine your strategy as you develop your remarks.

Many students preparing persuasive speeches make the mistake of thinking that they must change their audiences' opinions from "oppose" to "favor," or vice versa. Take the example of Chris, who argued in his persuasive speech that the National Collegiate Athletic Association should adopt a play-off system to determine each year's college football champion. After his speech, only one classmate who opposed a play-off system said that Chris had persuaded her to support the proposal.

Chris thought he had failed to persuade. Further class discussion, however, proved him wrong. A few listeners said they had changed their position from strong opposition to mild opposition. In addition, several who already supported the play-off system said that Chris's arguments had strengthened their opinion.

And several listeners who were neutral before the speech found that Chris persuaded them to agree with him. As you can see, even though Chris persuaded only one audience member to move from "oppose" to "favor," his speech was quite successful. Persuasion occurs any time you move a listener's opinion in the direction you advocate, even if that movement is slight.

Change

The most dramatic response you can request of your listeners is that they change a value, belief, attitude, or behavior. The response you seek is dramatic, because you attempt to change opposition to support, or support to opposition. For example, if you discover that the majority of your listeners eat high-cholesterol foods, your persuasive speech could encourage them to alter their diets. You would be trying to change your audience's behaviors.

Instill

Second, you can attempt to instill a value, an attitude, a belief, or a behavior. You instill when you address a particular problem about which your listeners are unaware or undecided. If you persuade your audience that a problem exists, you have instilled a belief. A speaker trying to persuade an audience that intensive care unit psychosis is a serious health problem would first need to define that term for listeners unfamiliar with it. Then, by documenting cases of “psychotic activity occurring specifically in the intensive care unit among patients... which can cause them to fall out of bed, pull out breathing tubes, or... pull out central arterial lines,” the speaker could instill a belief in the audience.

Intensify

Finally, you may try to intensify values, beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors. In this case, you must know before your speech that audience members agree with your position or behave as you will advocate. Your goal is to strengthen your listeners' positions and actions. For example, your audience may already believe that recycling is desirable and may even do it occasionally. If your persuasive speech causes your listeners to recycle more frequently, you have intensified their behavior.

Your persuasive speech may even encourage them to persuade family and friends to adopt similar behavior. When you change believers into advocates and advocates into activists, you have intensified their attitudes and behavior.

Your persuasive speech will target your audience's thoughts and actions. It's true that we sometimes act without fully considering the consequences; we also sometimes think about taking certain actions without ever acting. For this reason, your persuasive speech may aim to change your listeners' thoughts, actions, or both. Your goal determines the type of persuasive speech you will be giving, so let's consider your options in more detail.

Types of Persuasive Speeches

Persuasive speeches are generally classified according to their objectives. An effective persuasive speech may change what people believe, what people do, or how people feel. Persuasive speeches, then, may be divided into speeches to convince, to actuate, or to inspire. Understanding these divisions can help you determine your primary objective as you work on your speech, but keep in mind that persuasive speeches often include two or more objectives. For example, if your purpose is to get your audience to boycott fur products, you must first convince them that your cause is right. We usually act or become inspired after we are convinced.

In a speech to convince, your objective is to affect your listeners' beliefs or attitudes. Each of the following specific purpose statements expresses a belief the speaker wants the audience to accept:

- To convince the audience that “hate speech” is constitutionally protected To convince the audience that hydrogen fuel-celled cars are commercially feasible

- To convince the audience that there is a constitutional right to privacy

- To convince the audience that sealed adoption is preferable to open adoption

The speaker's purpose in each of these speeches is to establish belief. While a speech to convince does not require listeners to act, action may be a natural outgrowth of their belief. So be aware that you may need an action step in your speech.

For example, if you convince your audience that exit polling harms democracy, but you suggest no remedy for the problem, you may leave your audience frustrated. In this case, you can suggest a simple action step, such as urging your listeners to express their views to their elected representatives. When a speech includes this step, it becomes a speech to actuate.

A speech to actuate may establish beliefs, but it always calls for the audience to act. The specific purpose statements listed here illustrate calls for action:

- To move, or actuate, the audience to donate nonperishable food to a local food bank

- To move the audience to boycott companies using sweat-shop labor to produce their products

- To move the audience to begin a low-impact aerobic workout program

- To move the audience to download and complete an advanced directive or “living will”

speech to convince

A persuasive speech designed to influence listeners' beliefs or attitudes.

speech to actuate

A persuasive speech designed to influence listeners' behaviors.

speech to inspire

A persuasive speech designed to influence listeners' feelings.

ee-thoss

Speaker credibility.

logos

Logical appeal.

pathos

Emotional appeal.

credibility

The degree to which listeners believe a speaker:

Speeches to Inspire

A third type of persuasive speech is the speech to inspire, one that attempts to change how listeners feel. Examples include commencement addresses, commemorative speeches, eulogies, and pep talks. Some specific purposes of speeches to inspire are these:

- To inspire the audience to honor the service of fallen firefighters

- To inspire the audience to appreciate those who made their education possible

- To inspire audience members to give their best efforts to all college courses they take

The purposes of inspiration are usually noble and uplifting. These speeches typically have neither the detailed supporting material nor the complex arguments characteristic of speeches to convince or actuate.

Thus far, we have seen the importance of audience involvement in the process of persuasion. We have provided a definition of persuasion and discussed the various goals that persuasive speakers can have. In the following section, we will discuss six important strategies that apply to all persuasive speeches.

Persuasive Speaking Strategies

As far back as ancient Greece, there is evidence of people giving advice on how to be an effective persuasive speaker. Aristotle, for example, devoted much space to the subject in his classic work The Rhetoric. He discussed three modes of persuasion: ee-thoss, logos, and pathos. These three modes remain an important foundation today for our understanding of persuasive speaking. What do these terms mean, and how can they help you as you prepare a persuasive speech?

ee-thoss, or speaker credibility, derives from the character and reputation of the speaker. Logos, or logical appeal, relies on the form and substance of an argument. Pathos, or emotional appeal, taps the values and feelings of the audience. Like Aristotle, we have emphasized throughout this text that any speech is shaped by the speaker, the message, and the audience.

Each of these variables affects the finished product. After all, no two people will give the same speech on the same topic to the same audience. Therefore, no person can give you a simple formula to make your persuasive speech effective.

Your strategy for each speech must be based on your unique situation and on your own creativity. Nevertheless, we can give you some strategies, or guidelines, to follow as you prepare your persuasive speech.

Establish Your Credibility

As a speaker, your first available source of persuasion is your own credibility, or ee-thoss. Credibility is simply your reputation, and it helps determine how your listeners evaluate what you say. Research confirms what you already probably believe: the higher your perceived credibility, the more likely the audience is to believe you.

Speaker credibility is fluid, varying according to your listeners. You possess only the credibility your listeners grant you. If you pepper your speaking with humor, for example, some listeners may see you as lively and interesting, while others may think you frivolous. You probably have as many different images as you have audience members.

Gene Fox

San Antonio College

My persuasive speech argued for banning or regulating realistic toy guns, in particular realistic-looking pellet guns. Being a police officer, I knew I had the credibility to speak on the topic. But how was I going to establish it for my audience, who knew nothing about me? I remembered that one way was to acknowledge my personal involvement and experience with the topic.

I had experienced a heart-stopping incident one night about a year ago. It was the deciding factor for choosing my topic, and I decided to relate it in my introduction. To develop emotional appeals, I focused part of my research on statistical information about injuries to children. Nothing angers any of us more than a child needlessly dying or being seriously injured. After my speech, one of my classmates, a mother herself, stated she had no idea these "toys" were so dangerous. She was so moved that she was actually thinking about getting more involved in this issue. I know that if I hadn't obtained a better understanding of ee-thoss, logos, and pathos, I would never have had such strong speech content nor would I have felt so confident in giving my speech.

Stages of Credibility. Credibility also varies according to time. Your credibility before, during, and after your speech may change. These chronological divisions are sometimes referred to as initial, derived, and terminal credibility. Your image or reputation prior to speaking comprises your initial credibility.

The more the audience knows about you, the firmer your image.

But what if your listeners do not know you personally? Even in this case, you still bring varying images to the speaking occasion. For example, if you are a spokesperson for an organization, your audience may make certain assumptions about you based on what they already know about the organization.

Can you describe, for example, the kind of person who belongs to the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Sierra Club, or the National Rifle Association? An image may come to your mind for each group. If a representative from one of those associations were to speak to you, you would probably make certain assumptions about the individual based on what you know about that organization. Just as you do with strangers, you form impressions of your classmates based on what they say in class, how they dress, whether they arrive at class on time, their age, and any organization to which they belong.

They have also formed impressions of you, of course. Such images constitute your initial credibility.

Derived credibility is the image the audience develops of you as you speak. The moment you enter your listeners' presence, you provide stimuli from which they can evaluate you. As you begin your speech, the number of stimuli multiplies quickly. If you begin your speech with an offensive joke, listeners' images of you will become more negative.

When you appeal to your listeners' values and present reasoned arguments to advance your position, you enhance your image. Your information helps your audience judge your credibility. They will also judge your nonverbal behaviors, such as gestures, posture, eye contact, and appearance.

If you convey confidence, authority, and a genuine concern for your listeners, you will enhance your credibility.

Terminal credibility is the image the audience has of you after your speech. Even this credibility is subject to change. The listener may be caught up in the excitement and emotion of your speech and end up with an elevated opinion of you. As time passes, that evaluation may moderate. As you can see, the process of generating and maintaining credibility is ongoing. In this class, for example,

initial credibility

A speaker's image or reputation before speaking to a particular audience.

Leaders in business, government, religion, education, and other areas need to know when and how to convince, actuate, and inspire their audiences.

derived credibility

The image listeners develop of a speaker as he or she speaks.

terminal credibility

The image listeners develop of a speaker by the end of a speech and for a period of time after it.

One can stand as the greatest orator the world has known, possess the quickest mind, employ the cleverest psychology, and have mastered all the technical devices of argument, but if one is not credible, one might just as well preach to the pelicans.

Exploring Online

Readings on Rhetoric www. rpi. edu/dept/llc/webclass/ web/project1/group4

Visit this student-generated website for easily understood explanations of the concepts of ee-thoss, logos, and pathos. The site includes links to examples and dictionary definitions of each rhetorical form.

competence

Listener' views of a speaker's qualifications to speak on a particular topic.

Key Points

Guidelines for Enhancing Your Image of Competence

1. Know your subject.

2. Document your ideas.

3. Cite your sources.

4. Acknowledge personal involvement. your credibility at the conclusion of one speech will shape your initial credibility for your next speech.

Components of Credibility. Studies demonstrate that a speaker having high credibility can more successfully persuade than a speaker having low credibility. Clearly, you need to pay careful attention to your credibility at each stage in order to deliver a successful persuasive speech. How do you enhance your image? Communication theorists agree that speakers who appear competent, trustworthy, and dynamic are viewed as credible. If your audience believes that you possess these qualities, you can be effective in persuading them.

Convey Competence. In this class, you are among peers, and so your audience probably considers you a fellow student, rather than an expert on your chosen topic. How can you get them to see you as knowledgeable and worthy of their trust? Your task is to establish an image of competence on your subject. Four strategies will help you do that.

1. Know your subject. From which of these people would you be more likely to buy a new P.D.A: a salesperson who can answer all your questions about the product or someone who doesn't know the answers and doesn't care to find out? The answer is obvious, isn't it? In a persuasive speaking situation, you as speaker are a salesperson, and your audience members are consumers. To speak ethically, you must be well informed about your subject. The more you read and listen, the easier it is to construct a message that is both credible and compelling.

You should not only know your specific topic but also understand how it interacts with related topics. Just as the salesperson must know the P.D.A and how easy it is to operate, you should comprehend both the content and the context of your persuasive message. Persuading your classmates to begin recycling low-density plastics (L.D.P's) does you little good if your area has no processing plant for L.D.P's and thus recyclers will not accept them.

This is where your research helps you by enhancing your expertise on your subject. A well-researched speech increases persuasion by contributing to your image as a well-informed individual. In a public speaking course such as this, the image-building you do is cumulative. Thorough, quality research enhances your credibility on the immediate topic and generates positive initial credibility for your next appearance before the same group.

2. Document your ideas. You document ideas by using clear, vivid, and credible supporting materials to illustrate them, as we discussed in Chapter 8. Unsupported ideas are mere assertions. Though your listeners may not expect you to be an expert on your topic, they need assurance that what you say is corroborated by facts or experts. Providing documentation supports your statements and increases your believability.

3. Cite your sources. You need to tell your listeners the sources of your information. Remember, your audience is not going to have the opportunity to read your bibliography. Citing sources enhances the credibility of your ideas by demonstrating that experts support your position. It also requires that your sources be unbiased and of good quality.

4. Acknowledge any personal involvement or experience with your subject. Listeners will probably assume that you have an edge in understanding color blindness if you let them know you are color-blind. They will probably make the same positive assumption if you have diabetes and are speaking on diabetes. If you have worked with a terminally ill patient and are speaking on hospice care, mentioning your experience will similarly add authority to your ideas.

Convey Trustworthiness. A second criterion of speaker credibility is trustworthiness, and it should tell us two things about you. First, we should trust you as an individual: You are honest in what you say. Second, we should trust you with your topic: You are unbiased in what you say. A speaker can demonstrate trustworthiness in two ways:

1. Establish common ground with your audience. If listeners know that you understand their values, experiences, and aspirations, they will be more receptive to your arguments. You increase your persuasiveness when you identify with your listeners.

2. Demonstrate your objectivity in approaching the topic. The information and sources you include in your speech should demonstrate thorough, unbiased research. One student gave his speech on cigarette smoking, arguing that its harmful effects were greatly exaggerated. He relied on studies sponsored by the tobacco industry. Few in the audience were persuaded by his evidence. He undermined his image of trustworthiness because he limited his research to sources the audience considered biased. The same fate befell a student who tried to enlist contributions of time and money to the American Red Cross using only Red Cross promotional literature as her sources.

Convey Dynamism. A third element of credibility is dynamism, a quality closely associated with delivery. We enjoy listening to speakers who are energetic, vigorous, exciting, inspiring, spirited, and stimulating. But should speakers whose delivery is static, timid, and unexciting be considered less credible than their more exuberant counterparts?

Perhaps not, and the ethical listener will focus more on the content than on the form of the message. Yet you should know that studies continue to document dynamism as an element of speaker credibility, and it would be wise for you to develop this attribute.

Dynamism contributes to persuasion because it conveys both confidence and concern. If you appear tentative or unsure of yourself, the audience may doubt your conviction. To the extent that you can strengthen your verbal, vocal, and physical delivery, you can enhance your image of confidence and hence your credibility.

Dynamism also demonstrates civility and concern for the audience and a desire to communicate with them. If your delivery seems flippant, distracted, or detached from the audience, your listeners may assume that you are not concerned about the topic or about them. On the other hand, conveying enthusiasm for your topic and your listeners communicates a strong positive message.

As a speaker, present a well-researched and documented message and communicate it in an honest and unbiased manner. Your verbal, vocal, and physical delivery should show you to be a fluent, forceful, and friendly individual serious about the issue you address. If listeners perceive you to be competent, trustworthy, and dynamic, you will have high source credibility and, hence, be an effective persuader.

Focus Your Goals

Limit Your Goals. A common mistake many beginning speakers make is to seek dramatic change in the values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of their listeners. The speaker who can accomplish this is rare, particularly if he or she seeks change on highly emotional and controversial issues such as abortion, gun control, capital punishment, religion, or politics. Keep in mind that the more firmly your audience is anchored to a position, the less likely you are to change their attitudes.

Combining personal credibility with logic and emotion, Michael J. Fox advocates funding cutting-edge research to find a cure for Parkinson's disease.

trustworthiness

Listener' views of a speaker's honesty and objectivity.

dynamism

Listener' views of a speaker's confidence, energy, and enthusiasm for communicating.

Exploring Online Primer of Practical Persuasion www. healthyinfluence. com/ Primer/primer. htm

For an excellent discussion of persuasion theories, visit this website authored by Dr. Steven Booth-Butterfield. Claiming to be the most popular persuasion textbook on the Web, the site explains how organization, evidence, repetition, examples, and other strategies affect message effectiveness.

Ethical Decisions

Dynamism: Masking or Making Credibility

In this chapter, we note that a speaker's ability to influence an audience depends, in part, on his or her credibility. Credibility, in turn, is a function of an audience's perception of the speaker's competence, trustworthiness, and dynamism. Dynamic speakers convey confidence; they also communicate a sense of concern for their audiences, a desire to make a connection with their listeners.

Unfortunately, dynamism sometimes masks a speaker's questionable motives. Both Hitler and Mussolini, for example, were dynamic speakers. So were many other leaders throughout the ages who led their followers into battle for unjust causes. How can listeners separate a speaker's dynamism from his or her trustworthiness and competence? If a dynamic speaker seems to care about the audience, how do listeners determine whether the speaker's feelings are sincere? Moreover, what ethical responsibility do listeners have to evaluate the credibility of speakers whose delivery is timid and unexciting? Is it legitimate to tune out a speaker's message if he or she is not effective at making an emotional connection with the audience? In general, what guidelines should listeners follow when they evaluate a speaker's dynamism and credibility? Write your answers to the questions above, and be prepared to discuss them in class.

It is unrealistic for you to expect dramatic change in a person's beliefs and values in a one-shot, 5-to 10-minute speech. Instant conversions occur, but they are rare. Rather than try to convince your audience to support (or oppose) the death penalty, try to convince them of a limited goal, a smaller aspect of the topic; for example, argue that capital punishment deters crime (or does not). Once a listener accepts that belief, you or another speaker can build on it and focus on a successive objective: support for (or opposition to) the death penalty.

Which specific purpose statement in the following pairs is the more limited and reasonable goal?

- To persuade the audience that exposure to violent video games promotes aggression, or

- To persuade the audience that habitual exposure to violent video games promotes aggression in children

- To persuade the audience that actively involving students in classroom learning is desirable, or

- To persuade the audience that team learning is a cost-effective way to promote student learning

In both cases, the second statement is the more limited and potentially more persuasive. Remember the persuasive principle: persuasion is more likely if your goals as a speaker are limited, rather than global.

Argue Incrementally. A second principle builds on the first one: persuasion is more permanent if you achieve it incrementally. To be effective and long-lasting, persuasion should occur incrementally, or one step at a time. This principle becomes more important if your audience is likely to hear counterarguments to your argument. In any speech, you speak for a fixed amount of time. The greater the number of points you must prove, the less time you have to support. and explain each. Because you must move through several steps, your limited time may force you to abbreviate your support of some of these steps. When your listeners hear another speaker attack one of those steps later, they may lack sufficient evidence to counter those attacks; as a result, what you accomplished may be only temporary.

Your goal should be to "inoculate" your listeners to possible counterarguments. The stronger your arguments, the greater the likelihood that you will bring about enduring change in your audience's opinions. If you know your audience has been exposed to counterarguments, you may need to address those arguments before introducing your own.

Connect with Your Listeners

You are probably more easily persuaded by people similar to you than by those who are different. We all reason that individuals having backgrounds like ours will view situations and problems as we would. Furthermore, we believe that people who share our beliefs will investigate an issue and arrive at a judgment in the same manner we would if we had the time and the opportunity. Thus, persuasion is more likely if a speaker establishes common ground with the audience.

One way to increase your persuasion, then, is to identify with your listeners. Sonja, a weekend news anchor for a local television station, was asked to speak to a college television production class on employment opportunities in television. Notice how Sonja used the strategy of identification in her introduction as she focused on experiences she shared with her listeners.

Seven years ago a timid freshman girl sat in a college classroom much like this. Just like you, she was taking a T.V production class. And like some of you, I suspect she dreamed of being in front of a camera someday, sitting at an anchor desk, reporting the news to thousands of families who would let her come into their homes through the magic of television.

There was little reason to predict that this girl would achieve her dreams. In many ways she was rather ordinary. She didn't come from a wealthy family.

She didn't have any connections that would get her a job in broadcasting. She was a B student who worked part-time in the university food service to help pay for her education. But she had a goal and was determined to attain it. And then one day, it happened. An instructor announced that a local T.V station had an opening for a student intern. The instructor said the internship would involve long hours, menial work, and no pay. Hardly the opportunity of a lifetime! Nevertheless, after class, she approached the instructor, uncertain of what she was getting into.

With her instructor's help, she applied for and received the internship. It is because of that decision that I am now the weekend anchor of the city's largest television station.

The rest of Sonja's speech focused on the importance of student internships in learning about the reality of the broadcast media and making contacts for future references and employment. Her opening comments made Sonja a more believable speaker by bridging the gap between her and her listeners. Sonja's suggestions had more impact on her audience because she had established common ground with them.

Four principles of persuasion should guide how you establish common ground with your audience. Each of these principles requires you to analyze your audience carefully in order to understand your listeners.

Assess Listeners' Knowledge of Your Topic. Persuasion is more likely if the audience lacks information on the topic. In the absence of information, a single fact can be compelling. The more information your listeners possess about an issue, the less likely you are to alter their perceptions.

Arturo applied this principle in a speech to persuade his audience that auto insurance companies should not be allowed to set rates based on drivers' credit ratings. Few of his listeners knew that the practice occurred. Yet, by citing just a handful of credible sources, Arturo proved that the practice increased beginning in the mid-1990s, had been adopted by 92 percent of insurers by 2001, and was “nearly universal” by March 2002. As a result, drivers with the worst credit ratings paid rates that were, in some cases, 40 percent higher than those with the best ratings.

New and surprising information such as this can have great persuasive impact. Of course, this principle also has significant ethical implications. Ethical speakers will not exploit their listeners' lack of knowledge to advance positions they know are not logically supported.

Assess How Important Your Audience Considers Your Topic

Ken, Andrea, and Brad gave their persuasive speeches on the same day. Ken's purpose was to persuade the audience to support the school's newly formed lacrosse team by attending the next home game. Andrea's topic concerned the increasing number of homeless adults and children in the city. She told the class about Project Hope, sponsored by the Student Government Association, and asked everyone to donate either a can of food or a dollar at designated collection centers in campus dining halls or in the Student Center. Finally, Brad advocated legalization of marijuana, citing the drug's medical and economic potential.

Which speaker do you think had the most difficult challenge? In answering this question, you must consider the audience. Persuasion is related to how important the audience considers the topic.

The importance of a topic can increase the likelihood of persuasion. Audience members in the above example probably agreed with both Ken and Andrea, and both may have been successful persuaders. Listeners who viewed combating hunger as a more important goal than supporting the lacrosse team were probably more persuaded by Andrea and may have contributed to Project Hope.

Just as the importance of a topic can work for you as a persuasive speaker, it can also work against you and decrease the likelihood of persuasion. It is surely easier, for example, for someone to persuade you to change brands of toothpaste than to change your religion. The reason is simple: your religion is more important to you. Brad probably had a tougher time persuading his listeners than did either Ken or Andrea. Legalizing marijuana probably ran counter to some deeply held audience opinions, and the intensity of those beliefs and values may have made them more resistant to Brad's persuasive appeals. The importance of an issue will vary according to each audience member, and you need to take this into account as you prepare your persuasive appeal.

Motivate Your Listeners. A third principle of persuasion is that persuasion is more likely if the audience is self-motivated in the direction of the message. People change their values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors because they are motivated to do so. To be an effective persuader, you must discover what motivates your listeners. This requires an understanding of their needs and desires.

How can you do this? You can enhance your persuasive appeal by following three steps. First, identify as many of the needs and desires of your listeners as possible. Second, review your list, and select those that your speech satisfies. Third, as you prepare your speech, explain how the action you advocate fulfills audience needs.

If you discover that your speech does not fulfill the needs or desires of your listeners, then you have probably failed to connect with these listeners. They may receive your speech with interest, but such an audience will probably not act on your message. What you intended as a persuasive speech may in fact be received as informative.

Relate Your Message to Listeners' Values. Finally, persuasion is more likely if the speaker's message is consistent with listeners' values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. People want to establish consistency in their lives. We expect our actions to match our beliefs. In fact, we will call people hypocrites if they profess one set of values but act according to another. Your ability to persuade is thus enhanced if you request an action that is consistent with your audience's values.

Use this principle of consistency in constructing your persuasive appeal. For example, we have had students who persuaded their classroom audience to oppose the use of animals in nonmedical product testing. They first identified the beliefs that would cause a person to challenge such tests—for example, product testing harms animals and is unnecessary. Next they showed their audience that they share these beliefs. Once they accomplished that, the speakers then asked their listeners to act in accordance with their beliefs and boycott companies that continue to test products such as cosmetics on animals.

Organize Your Arguments

In Chapter 4 you learned that most of us are inefficient listeners. A speech that is poorly organized has little chance of surviving in the minds of audience members. Using the organizational strategies presented in Chapters 9 and 10 can increase your listeners' retention of your message. This is especially important if you seek long-term changes in your audience's attitudes and behaviors or if you want your listeners to deliver your message to a larger audience.

In addition to what you've already learned about structuring your speech, we offer one more organizing principle: persuasion is more likely if arguments are placed appropriately. Once you have determined the key arguments in your speech, you must decide their order. To do that, you must know which of your arguments is the strongest. Assume for a moment that your persuasive speech argues that the public defender system must be reformed. Assume, too, that you are using a problem-solution organization (discussed in Chapter 9). Your first main point and the arguments supporting it could be the following:

1. The public defender system is stacked against the defendant.

A. Public defenders' caseloads are too heavy.

B. Public defenders have too little experience.

C. Public defenders have inadequate investigative staffs.

One of these three arguments will probably be stronger than the other two. You may have more evidence on one, you may have more recent evidence on it, or you may feel that one argument will be more compelling for your particular audience. Assume that you decide point B is the strongest. Where should you place it? Two theories of argument placement are the primacy and recency theories.

Primacy Theory. Primacy theory recommends putting the strongest argument first in the body of your speech to establish a strong initial impression. Because you are most likely to win over your listeners with your strongest argument, this theory suggests that you should win your listeners to your side as early as possible. Primacy theorists tell you to move your strongest argument to the position of point A.

primacy theory

The assumption that a speaker should place the strongest argument at the beginning of the body of a speech.

recency theory

The assumption that a speaker should place the strongest argument at the end of the body of a speech.

Key Points

Persuasive Speaking Strategies

1. Establish your credibility.

2. Focus your goals.

3. Connect with your listeners.

4. Organize your arguments.

5. Support your ideas.

6. Enhance your emotional appeals.

Recency Theory. Recency theory, on the other hand, maintains that you should present your strongest argument last, thus leaving your listeners with your best argument. Recency theorists would have you build up to your strongest argument by making it point C.

If your listeners oppose what you advocate, you may want to present your strongest argument first. Moving them toward your position early in the speech may make them more receptive to your other ideas. If your audience already shares your beliefs and attitudes and your goal is to motivate them to action, you may want to end with your most compelling argument.

Both the primacy and recency theorists generally agree that the middle position is the weakest. If you have three or more arguments, therefore, do not place your strongest argument in a middle position. When you sandwich a strong argument between weaker ones, you reduce its impact.

Support Your Ideas

Well-supported ideas benefit your speech in two ways. First, they provide an ethical underpinning for your position. Ethical speakers test their ideas for validity and support and share that support with their listeners.

Second, well-supported ideas enhance your ee-thoss. Research demonstrates that using quality evidence, citing your sources, and employing valid reasoning increase your credibility as a speaker.

Two sections of this book will help you construct a convincing case for your position. In Chapter 8, we discussed the types of supporting material and tests of evidence that you can use to prove your arguments. You can use examples, definitions, narration, comparison and contrast, statistics, and testimony to give your ideas credibility. In Chapter 17, we will introduce you to the elements of an argument, describe five types of arguments you can use in your persuasive speaking, and define several categories of faulty reasoning you should avoid.

Enhance Your Emotional Appeals

As we indicated near the beginning of this chapter, pathos is the appeal to emotions. Among the emotions speakers can arouse are anger, envy, fear, hate, jealousy, joy, love, or pride. When speakers use these feelings to try to get you to believe something or to act in a particular way, they are using emotional appeals.

Because some of the feelings listed above seem negative, you may consider emotional appeals as unacceptable or inferior types of proof. Perhaps you have even heard someone say, “Don't be so emotional; use your head!” It is certainly possible to be emotional and illogical, but it is also possible to be both emotional and logical. Is it wrong, for example, to be angered by child abuse, to hate racism, or to fear chemical warfare? We don't think so. The strongest arguments combine reason with passion. Logos and pathos should not conflict but should complement each other.

Jessica began her persuasive speech by relating a personal narrative she remembered from her childhood:

I was four years old; my sister was only two. It was not long after we reached my grandma's house that the phone rang. I could hear ambulance and police sirens head toward the highway as tears were forming in my mom's eyes. There had been a car accident. My dad was rushed to the hospital; his little Fiesta car was totaled. He had been hit on the passenger side by a man driving a station wagon, and, fortunately, both my dad and the other driver survived. Because the other driver fell asleep at the wheel, my dad went to the hospital instead of coming home that night to his family.

Developing Emotional Appeals

Thoughtful emotional appeals can engage listeners in both the content and delivery of your message. Use the following four guidelines to connect with your audience and enhance the pathos of your speech.

Tap Audience Values

This guideline requires, first, that you carefully analyze your audience to identify their beliefs, values, and needs. Then, as you construct and deliver your speech, show that what you advocate is consistent with your listeners' values.

Duncan's specific purpose was to persuade his classmates to become members of Amnesty International. He had joined this organization because he felt that, as an individual, he could do little to help end torture and executions of prisoners of conscience throughout the world. As part of a concerted worldwide effort, however, he saw the opportunity to further social and political justice. Duncan surveyed his classmates and discovered that although many of them knew little about Amnesty International, most strongly supported freedom of expression and opposed governments' actions to suppress this right. Duncan used these shared values to establish common ground with his listeners and to frame what he would propose.

Use Vivid Examples

Vivid, emotionally toned examples illustrate and enliven your message. Duncan's speech included ample testimony of persecution coupled with statistical estimates of the extent of the problem. He then announced, "I want you not only to hear of the plight of these victims but also to see it."

Duncan then proceeded to show five slides of people brutalized by their own governments. He did not speak but simply showed each slide for 10 seconds. After the last slide, he spoke again:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, these pictures speak volumes about man's inhumanity to man. But these pictures should also speak to our consciences. Can we stand back, detached, and do nothing, knowing what fate befalls these individuals?

Duncan used dramatic visual examples to enhance the pathos of his speech.

Use Emotive Language

In Chapter 12, we discussed the power of words. Nowhere can words be more powerful than when they work to generate emotional appeals. Near the end of his speech, Duncan told his listeners, "In the last 4 minutes you've heard about the anguish, the pain, the suffering, and the persecution experienced by thousands of people, simply because they want to be free and follow their consciences." Anguish, pain, suffering, and persecution are all words Duncan carefully chose to evoke strong feelings among the audience.

Use Effective Delivery

As we discussed in Chapter 13, when a speaker's verbal and nonverbal messages conflict, we tend to trust the nonverbal message. For that reason, speakers who show little physical and vocal involvement with their speeches usually come across as uninterested or even insincere. When you display emotion, you can sometimes generate audience emotion.

Throughout his speech, Duncan made effective use of eye contact, gestures, pauses, and vocal emphasis to connect with his classmates. His speech had a powerful effect, because his delivery demonstrated his concern for and commitment to his topic.

Jessica quoted several sources with examples and statistics related to driver fatigue, including these powerful statistics:

Drowsy driving is estimated to cause about 20 percent of all vehicle accidents, 1.2 million a year, more than drugs and alcohol combined. It accounts for an astonishing 5 percent of all fatal crashes, and 30 percent of fatal crashes in rural areas.

Did the speaker construct a logical argument? Yes. She presented examples and statistics to support her position. Did Jessica construct an emotional argument?

Again, yes. She tapped her listeners' need for safety and their compassion for those who have suffered because of drowsy drivers. Logos and pathos coalesced to form a compelling argument. You can use the guidelines in this chapter's “Theory into Practice” feature to develop and enhance the pathos of your persuasive speech.

It is important to remember that these three modes of persuasion—ee-thoss, logos, and pathos—all work to enhance your persuasive appeal. The best persuasive speeches combine all three. Effective persuaders are credible, present logically constructed and supported arguments, and tap their listeners' values.

Summary

Persuasion is the process of influencing (changing, instilling, or intensifying) another person's values, beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

A persuasive speech aimed at changing beliefs and attitudes, but not requesting any overt behavior of listeners, is a speech to convince. A speech to actuate seeks to change behaviors. A speech to inspire encourages positive changes in the way listeners feel about their beliefs or actions.

Three modes of persuasion, discussed at least as early as the time of Aristotle, are ee-thoss (ethical appeal), logos (logical appeal), and pathos (emotional appeal).

The higher your perceived credibility, the more likely the audience is to believe you. A starting point for persuasion, then, is to establish your credibility. Some speakers have initial credibility with a particular audience, based on the listeners' prior knowledge of the speaker. All speakers have derived credibility, developed from the ideas they present in their speech and their speech delivery, and terminal credibility based on the audience's evaluation of the speaker and the message after the speech.

Competence, trustworthiness, and dynamism are three components of a speaker's credibility.

You are more likely to persuade if your goals are limited, rather than global. In addition, your persuasiveness with an audience will be more permanent if you achieve it incrementally, or step by step.

Persuasion is more likely if you establish common ground with the audience. You are more likely to persuade listeners who lack information on your subject, who are self-motivated in the direction of your message, and whose values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are consistent with your message.

Persuasion is more likely if the speaker's arguments are appropriately placed within the speech. Primacy theory asserts that you should place your strongest argument first in the body of your speech. Recency theory maintains that you should build up to your strongest argument, placing it last in the body of your speech. The lesson for public speakers is to avoid placing a strong argument between weaker ones.

Provide solid support for your ideas. Well-supported ideas provide an ethical underpinning for your speech and enhance your ee-thoss for the audience. Use a variety of quality supporting materials, cite your sources, and reason logically to increase your persuasiveness.

Increase your persuasiveness by enhancing your message's emotional appeals. Tap audience values; use vivid, emotionally toned examples; use emotive language; and display emotion in the physical and vocal delivery of the speech.

Exercises

1. Practice Critique. Martin Luther King, Junior.'s "I Have a Dream" speech helped elevate a national debate on equal access to employment opportunities, public accommodations, home ownership, and voting rights. Some historians claim that Dr. King's powerfully persuasive speech spurred creation of a coalition to support this legislation. As you read the transcript of Dr. King's speech in the Appendix or watch the video, note how he directed his arguments to several diverse audiences: black and white, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, nonviolent and militant. Identify appeals that are designed to convince, actuate, and inspire listeners. What values and beliefs did Dr. King tap to influence his listeners' attitudes and behaviors? How did he seek to establish common ground with such diverse audiences?

2. Select three print, broadcast, or Internet advertisements for the same kind of product (soft drinks, insurance, automobiles, and so on). Discuss the persuasive appeals of each ad. Which one do you think is the most effective? Why? Could any of these strategies of persuasion be incorporated in a speech? Provide some examples.

3. Select an editorial from your campus newspaper, a local or national paper, or Editorials on File. Identify the beliefs, attitudes, and values implicit in the editorial, as well as any behaviors the writer advocates.

4. Select a topic, and write a specific purpose statement that seeks dramatic change in the behavior or attitude of your audience. Divide the change you seek into several incremental steps. Discuss what you would need to prove to achieve each step. Could any of these steps be the basis for a speech by itself?

5. Listen to a speaker on C-S.P.A.N, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, a news interview show, or some other broadcast. Keep a chronology of the speaker's initial, derived, and terminal credibility. What changes occurred in your impression of the speaker? What accounted for those changes? What might the speaker have done to improve his or her credibility?

6. Brainstorm a list of values you think the majority of your class holds. You might use the Persia (political, economic, religious, social, intellectual, and artistic) framework to get you thinking about a broad range of values. Refer to this list as you discuss how you could develop an audience-centered persuasive speech for an upcoming assignment.

7. Locate a speech that you feel includes examples of unethical emotional appeals. Many political campaign speeches are a good source of these examples. Explain why the emotional appeals are questionable.