Audience and logical fallacies

SOAPS Subject : What is being talked about? Occasion : What’s the time and place? Is there an event? Audience : Who is the audience? Specific or general? Speaker : Who is the speaker? What kind of person?

Types of audiences: Prior knowledge Layman : The audiences is unfamiliar with the field / your subject. Keep it basic, define the terms you use, use visuals/graphics, make it relevant to them. Experts: Has an advanced knowledge with the field / your subject. Don’t “dumb down,” use technical terms, avoid unnecessary explaining, give a lot of data. Mixed: Organize your argument so those who are new can follow along, define terms in an unobtrusive way, use visuals that represent data (that you explain).

Types of audiences: Mood about your topic Sympathetic : Have an emotional attachment to you / your topic. Easiest. Show how you’re similar in some way, make personal appeals, use pathos. Hostile : Generally tend to disagree with you and probably don’t want to be there Develop trust, organize, establish basic principles first, use solid sources, humor, examples Critical : They’ll question everything and think they’re smarter than you. Use a lot of evidence with strong references, do not exaggerate, avoid fallacies, show that you know and understand multiple points of view

Audience beliefs How many in your audience already agree with you / would agree with you? What are some things important to your audience that might help your case? What are some things important to your audience that might work against you? What issues do they care about? Are there related issues that matter to them?

Logical fallacies Bandwagon Definition: Something is good because “everyone is doing it.” Don’t even question it. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF9PsMDjc8g&list=PL2Rf1R6EcGZQt1pYA4_T7MUh2zGhVlqDY&index=3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dQRCOEeHaY Straw man (ad hominem) Definition: Attacking the person rather than their actual ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGZkCPo7tC0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLTQi7vVsI&t=2s Black-or-white fallacy Definition: Reducing a complex situation to two extreme options. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqz53d-fYL8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBWiWHd62ak