Classic Persuasive Appeals: Rhetoric
Persuasion Pretend that you were preparing to ask your parents permission to go out Friday night. You want to come back late. What types of things would you mention in order to convince them? Write out word for word what you would say to them.
Aristotle Written in the 4th century B.C.E., the Greek philosopher Aristotle compiled his thoughts on the art of rhetoric into On Rhetoric, including his theory on the three persuasive appeals. Indeed, the editors of The Rhetoric of Western Thought: From the Mediterranean World to the Global Setting call it “the most important single work on persuasion ever written.” It is hard to argue this claim; most advice from modern books can be traced back to Aristotle’s foundations.
Ethos ETHOS (ethics) – when the speaker presents himself or herself as an authority on the subject. Ethos is when the writer shows himself or herself to be honest, trustworthy, fair, and moral. Before you can convince an audience to accept anything you say, they have to accept you as credible. There are many aspects to building your credibility: Does the audience respect you? Does the audience believe you are of good character? Does the audience believe you are generally trustworthy? Does the audience believe you are an authority on this speech topic?
Ethos Example Mom, I have straight A’s in ALL of my classes. My room is clean, and you know that I would never do anything wrong! I am very responsible and I have never broken curfew before.
Pathos PATHOS (emotion) – a writer influences others by appealing to their emotions. The writer uses words that have emotional connotations and images that move an audience. Do your words evoke feelings of love? sympathy? fear? Do your visuals evoke feelings of compassion? envy? Does your characterization evoke feelings of hate? contempt? Emotional connection can be created in many ways by a speaker, perhaps most notably by stories. The goal of a story, anecdote, analogy, simile, and metaphor is often to link an aspect of our primary message with a triggered emotional response from the audience.
Pathos Example MOM!! My life will be over if you don’t let me go! Don’t you understand no one will be my friend if they know that I’m not allowed to go out on the weekends because I’m still your “baby”!?
Logos LOGOS (logic) - a position supported by facts and data. The argument is based on reason and intellect. Logos is synonymous with a logical argument. Does your message make sense? Is your message based on facts, statistics, and evidence? Will your call-to-action lead to the desired outcome that you promise?
Logos Example Mom, you and dad never get to spend time alone. If you let me go out Friday night, you and dad wont’ have to pick me up or drop me off. My friend has a car. Instead, you can go to dinner and then maybe dancing! We can all have fun that night!
Which is most important? Suppose two speakers give speeches about a new corporate restructuring strategy. The first speaker — a grade nine student — gives a flawless speech pitching strategy A which is both logically sound and stirs emotions. The second speaker — a Fortune 500 CEO — gives a boring speech pitching strategy B. Which speech is more persuasive? Is the CEO’s speech more persuasive, simply because she has much more credibility (ethos)?
What Aristotle Thinks Aristotle believed that logos should be the most important of the three persuasive appeals. As a philosopher and a master of logical reasoning, he believed that logos should be the only required persuasive appeal. That is, if you demonstrated logos, you should not need either ethos or pathos. However, Aristotle stated that logos alone is not sufficient. Not only is it not sufficient on its own, but it is no more important than either of the two other pillars. He argued that all three persuasive appeals are necessary. Is he right? What do you think?
How Rhetorical appeals can be achieved: · Visual Information Structure: this includes how the text looks on the screen. This is achieved through the appearance of such things as the titles and the headings. · Color: this includes the color of the text, the background, and the graphics. The contrast of the colors of each of these items is also important. · Graphic Images: this includes the other information in the document aside from the text. This is achieved through such things as icons, buttons, and photos.
Advertisement Analysis In pairs, analyze an advertisement (teacher given or student chosen). Can you identify what the advertisement is arguing? Which appeals are being used in order to persuade you? In your opinion, are they effective? Why or why not? Explain.