Speaking to Persuade

Scriptural Environment

Acts 17: the Areopagus- “Mars Hill”

Persuasion is…

• Changing and/or reinforcing...

• Beliefs (True or False)

• Attitudes (Like or Dislike)

• Values (Important or Unimportant)

• Behavior (Do or Don’t Do)

Persuasive goals

-stop

-avoid

-adopt

-continue

Types of Persuasive

-Fact

-Value

-Policy

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1954)

Self-actualization

morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts

Esteem

Self-esteem, confidence, acheivement, respect of others, respect by others

Love/belonging

friendship, family, sexual intimacy

Safety

security of: body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health, property

Physiological

breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion

Maslow Revisited

Added: Transcendence Need, Aesthetic Need, and Cognitive Need

Transcendence Need

Something beyond the self, spiritual

Aesthetic Need

beauty, balance, form

Cognitive Need

knowledge and information

Three greek methods of persuasion

Ethos, logos, pathos

Ethos

credibility

Logos

logic/reason

Pathos

emotion

What are the three factors of ethos?

1. Competence (experience, research)

2. Character (trust, goodwill)

3. Charisma (dynamism)

Types of Credibility

Initial- reputation before you speak

Derived- how you build your credibility as you speak

Terminal- reputation after you speak

Types of Evidence (in logos)

• Examples

• Statistics

• Testimony (lay, prestige, expert)

Types of Reasoning (in logos)

• Inductive (specific to general)

• Deductive (general to specific)

• Casual (this leads to that)

• Analogical (similar cases)

Ad Hominem

a fallacy that attacks the person, not the issue

Reduction to Absurd

a fallacy known as “slippery slope” and “glittering generalities”

Either-or

a fallacy that gives two options, no third alternative

False Cause

a fallacy that is causal vs. Casual - chanticleer

Appeal to Authority

a fallacy that brings in someone who is not an authority in the field

Bandwagon

a fallacy that says “everybody’s doing it!”

The emotional appeal of pathos

• Fear, Compassion, Pride, Anger, Guilt, Reverence

• Use sparingly

• Avoid when speaking to “hostile” audience; use more “logos” instead