Persuasive Speaking

Persuade: to motivate someone to do something or believe something.  Logos: reasoning, logic (facts, statistics, comparisons, cause/effect relationships)  Ethos: character/credibility of speaker  Pathos: emotion, desires

10 Emotional Motivations  Self-preservation: the desire to survive and be safe.  Pride: desire for self-esteem or a feeling of personal worth and accomplishment.  Personal enjoyment: need for beauty, comfort, and relaxation.

Emotional Motivations  Love and affection: to have friends, to share life with others.  Acquisition and savings: desire for ownership or money  Adventure and curiosity: need for exploration or thrill

Emotional Motivations  Loyalty and faithfulness: patriotism, school spirit, civic pride, family, and friends  Imitation: need to conform or fit in  Reverence: desire to “look up” to someone or believe in something.  Creating: urge to invent

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow continued

Three Types of Persuasive Speeches  Question of fact: argument involves a real event or issue that can be viewed as true or false.  Question of value: problem, issue, or matter involving a strong opinion or attitude.  Question of policy: problem, issue, or matter proposing a change in policy or plan of action.

 Definition: One that shares and supports your opinion.  Strategies: Begin by stating your speeches purpose. Create a warmth and a sense of community

Audience Positive Use strong emotional appeals. Stir listeners to specific actions. Show that you appreciate their support. Stress your common beliefs, ideas, and experiences.

 Definition: ignorant or undecided about your topic or no interest  Strategies: Wake up listeners with a powerful opening. Identify history, values, and goals you share.

Audience Neutral and Apathetic Relate their arguments to their needs. Use strong and authoritative evidence Establish your credentials. Hold their attention with high interest material

 Definition: audience not in agreement with you  Strategies: Show that you know and respect the listeners’ position. Avoid confrontations. Establish common ground before introducing your argument.

Opposed Audience Gain their respect by sharing your qualifications, experience, background, and values. Build your argument carefully, taking into account possible objections. Use evidence they can’t contradict. Use humor.

 Inductive reasoning: specific facts=conclusion  Deductive reasoning main argument= evidence to support it  Cause/Effect reasoning

 Begging the question  Card-stacking  False premises  Glittering generalities  False generalizations  Non-sequitar  Unrelated testimonials

 Transfer  Bandwagon  Name-calling  Loaded words and emotional appeals  Either/or

Steps to Writing the Persuasive Speech  Choose a topic.  Write a thesis.  Make points that support your thesis.  Develop, research, and refine your points  Write your introduction and conclusion  Prepare to deliver your speech.

Creating Your Thesis  Make a point in a concise, complete sentence.  Make a specific point.  Make an original point that few others have made.  Example: I will argue that affirmative action is not warranted.

 Problem Solution Format  Sequential Format  Comparison/Contrast  Cause/Effect

Problem-Solution Pattern  Harms/Causes/Solutions  1. Establish harms of whatever is the opposite of what you are advocating. (ex. Harms of not having a dress code when you are advocating a dress code)  2. Establish causes--who’s to blame for X to be occurring? (why don’t we have a dress code?

Problem-Solution Con’t  3. Find solutions to your problem. (How do we get school uniforms?)

Toulmin’s Practical Arguments  Stephen Toulmin--British philosopher from mid-20th Century--came up with unique ways to form arguments--ways that we use in persuasive speaking today.  Claim/Data/Warrant/Backing  These will be used as your structure for your points and subpoints.

Toulmin Con’t  Claim--Main point supported by the data and warrant. (ex. “I am a British citizen.”)  Four types of claims--definition, value, cause or policy.  Claim of definition--explain what something means.  Claim of value--judges some quality--will think something is pretty or “good”, or “new and improved.”

Claims Con’t  Claim of cause--links an effect with the reasons for it (a teacher who tells you that if you ace the final you will pass the course).  Claim of policy--try to change action on some level.  Remember, there are overlap between the types of claims.

Data--evidence presented in support of a claim or set of claims.  Types of data or evidence can range from statistical evidence to anecdotal evidence.  (ex. “I was born in Bermuda.”  Remember, your speech must contain at least five (5) different pieces of data/evidence no older than 2002.

Warrant--assumption or idea that connects the data with the claim in an argument.  (ex. “A man born in Bermuda will be a British citizen.”)  Evidence is worthless without warrants!!  Warrants link the claim to the evidence-- prove why the evidence matters.

Backing--must be introduced when the warrant itself is not convincing enough to the readers or the listeners  For example, if the listener does not deem the Bermuda example warrant as credible, the speaker will supply the legal provisions as backing statement to show that it is true that “A man born in Bermuda will legally be a British Citizen.”