1. The Ethics of Public Speaking and Persuasion Brian Rogers Chemical Engineering 4903

2. Overview Ethics in Speaking Persuasion Arguing Effectively Organization

3. Have ethical goals Employ ethical means The Ends and The Means

4. Ethical dilemmas Professional obligations can create Circumstances can create The Ends and The Means

5. A conflict of responsibilities A choice between “the lesser of two evils” Professional Obligation

6. Situations dictate a change Does the end justify the means? Circumstances

7. Are your purposes consistent w/ prevailing norms? Would you violate your own ethics by speaking out? Are you willing to stick to your ethical principles? What are the ethical standards? Your Ethical Guidelines

8. Your basic ethical obligation Tell the truth Take responsibility Honesty & Accountability

9. To avoid plagiarism Give credit where it is due Cite sources in the speech Credit when you paraphrase Honesty & Accountability

10. Tough penalties for “academic dishonesty” In your career, you could lose your job and professional respect The Costs of Plagiarism

11. Is not expected to be perfectly objective Provides good arguments, sound reasoning and solid evidence Remains open to new information Is well informed and fully prepared Contributes useful presentations The Ethical Speaker

12. Deliberating in Good Faith Tell the truth, as you see it Back up your opinions Accept your burden of proof

13. Questions of Fact, Value, and Policy

14. Involve existence, scope or causality Questions about past / present Predictions of the future Require empirical proof: real examples, statistics, and expert testimony Is That The Truth? Issues of Fact

15. Involve what we consider good or bad, right or wrong Focus on what we believe to be appropriate, legal, ethical or moral Determine how we should evaluate facts, ideas or actions Is This Good or Bad? Issues of Value

16. Determine our future actions Deal with how to solve problems Evaluate options by costs, feasibility, advantages and disadvantages What Are We Going To Do? Issues of Policy

17. Ethical Proof in Persuasive Speaking

18. Ethos The audience’s perception of the speaker’s credibility

19. Qualities of Positive Ethos TrustworthinessCompetenceOpen-MindednessDynamism

20. Contextual Factors Characteristics we admire may vary by situation Some factors may be beyond our control Context affects ethos positively or negatively

21. Ethos Each time you speak, people form impressions of you

22. Strengthen Your Ethos Share audience concerns Cite reputable experts Use personal experience Be clear and interesting Consider different points of view Deliver with dynamism

23. Appealing to Audience Emotions

24. Appealing to Emotions Fundamental to motivating an audience Never a substitute for logical arguments and available evidence

25. Affective Language Strong language that plays on emotions Words must be chosen carefully

26. Identifying Shared Values Show your audience that you share values Show how your ideas relate to those values

27. Use Vivid Detail Listeners respond to concrete examples better than abstractions Speakers can reinforce ideas with vivid details

28. Use Visualization Helps the audience to “see” Stirs emotions Gets audience to think more deeply Help your audience visualize with a picture Paint ‘word pictures’

29. Compare Unfamiliar to Familiar Complicated and even controversial ideas can seem more familiar, and more acceptable

30. Ethical Considerations Avoid deception and manipulation Recognize and respect power of emotions Avoid distraction and disorientation Don’t overwhelm audience Use emotional appeals to supplement and complement well-reasoned arguments

31. Constructing a Reasonable Argument

32. Debatable assertions by the speaker Takes a side on a controversial matter and invites debate Claims

33. FactValuePolicy

34. Words that indicate our level of confidence Examples: “possibly”, “probably”, or “beyond any doubt” Qualifiers

35. Qualified at a level appropriate to the strength of the reasoning and evidence behind it A Reasonable Argument

36. Exceptions to our claim, or conditions under which we no longer hold the claim “Unless ” Reservations

37. Use statistics, specific examples or expert testimony or other support Consider the criteria or standards that support your evaluation Reflect on the rules, principles or standard we employ in making judgments Evidence

38. QualityRelevancyAmount Tests of Evidence

39. General assumptions that connect evidence to the claim Some warrants may be accepted by audience, and may be unstated If a warrant is controversial, it may require backing Warrants

40. Advocates of new policies are expected to establish Need for change A specific plan Proof the plan is workable Burden of Proof

41. Construction of the Argument

43. The Forms of Reasoning

44. Inductive Reasoning Moves from a set of specific examples to a general conclusion A number of representative examples makes the case Claims must carefully qualified Reservations may be needed Can be strengthened with evidence

45. Deductive Reasoning Draws a conclusion about a specific case based on generally accepted premise Syllogism is a classic example Usually we reason from qualified premises to probable conclusions

46. Deductive Reasoning Premises often already accepted by audience Speaker may assume the audience will fill in the missing premise This is “rhetorical syllogism” or enthymeme

47. Causal Reasoning From effect to cause, or cause to effect At the heart of scientific investigation Rarely simple Reputable sources are important Qualified due to complexity

48. Analogical Reasoning What is true in one case will be true in another Literal analogy compares similar examples Figurative analogy is similar to metaphor; rarely proves anything Should be qualified

49. How Patterns of Organization Connect Ideas

50. Chronological or Sequential Good for step-by-step process or historical events Begin with a specific point in time, move ahead or back from there

51. Spatial Organizes according to space or physical relationship

52. Categorical Arrange by distinct topics Addressestypesformsqualitiesaspects

53. Climactic Simple to difficult, least to most, neutral to intense Effective for gaining audience agreement or action Can also reverse the pattern, from most to least

54. Cause & Effect Moves from cause to effect, or effect to cause Good to explain how an event unfolded Chronology does not equal cause Guard against over-simplification

55. Problem - Solution Typically used in persuasive speaking Speaker usually proposes a best solution

56. Problem - Solution Reflective Thinking Sequence Causes & extent of problem? Effects of problem? Criteria by which solutions should be judged? Possible solutions (strengths & weaknesses) Best solution? Put into effect how? Definition & limits of problems

57. Motivated Sequence Five step pattern ArouseDissatisfyGratifyVisualizeMove Combines emotional and logical Convince the audience they can effect change

58. Narrative Patterns Use stories to illustrate or reinforce Use spiraling narrative for drama / climax