Chapter 17: Persuasive Speaking

Chapter 17: Persuasive Speaking

Overview of Persuasive Speaking

• Definition of Persuasive Speaking:
  • Persuasive speeches:
  • Aimed at reinforcing or changing listeners’ attitudes and beliefs.
  • Sometimes designed to motivate listeners to take action.
  • Difference from Coercion:
  • Coercion is forcing others against their will.
  • Involves threats, manipulation, or violence.

What Is Persuasive Speaking?

Types of Persuasive Propositions

1. Proposition of Fact:
   • Establishes whether something is or is not true.
2. Proposition of Value:
   • Urges a judgment on whether a topic is good or bad.
3. Proposition of Policy:
   • Argues whether action should or should not be taken.

Audience Analysis for Persuasive Speeches

• Understanding the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM):
  • Describes how listeners process persuasive messages.
  • Central Route:
  • Engaged, highly motivated audiences will pay attention and evaluate the arguments carefully.
  • Peripheral Route:
  • Less motivated audiences may only listen selectively and not fully engage with the audience.

Strategies for Engaging the Audience

• Encouraging Central Route Processing:
  • Make the topic relevant to the audience.
  • Focus on positive outcomes and benefits of accepting the speech's thesis.
  • Cite credible experts to support claims.
  • Use conversational language and familiar terminology.

Specific Purposes for Persuasive Speeches

• Goals of Persuasive Speeches:
  • Reinforce existing attitudes and beliefs.
  • Change attitudes and beliefs.
  • Motivate actions from the audience.

Credibility in Persuasive Speeches

• Definition of Credibility (Ethos):
  • The perception of a speaker’s trustworthiness and validity.
• Rhetorical Proofs:
  • Appeal to credibility (ethos), logical evidence (logos), and emotional appeal (pathos).
• Character as a Component of Credibility:
  • Understanding and addressing audience needs.
  • Showing genuine belief in the topic.

Components of Credibility

• Competence:
  • The audience's perception of the speaker's expertise.
• Charisma:
  • Warmth, personality, and dynamism that enhance persuasive efforts.
  • Effective use of nonverbal communication tools to support persuasion.

Organizing and Supporting Persuasive Speeches

• Patterns of Organization:
  • Topical Pattern:
  • Suitable for organizing propositions of fact or value.
  • Problem-Solution Pattern:
  • Organizes around a proposition of policy.
  • Motivated Sequence:
  • Organizes a speech to encourage action.

The Motivated Sequence (Figure 17.1)

1. Attention:
   • Introduce the topic and attract listeners’ interest.
2. Need:
   • Define the problem that needs attention.
3. Satisfaction:
   • Present a reasonable solution to the problem.
4. Visualization:
   • Encourage the audience to imagine the outcomes of acting or not acting.
5. Action:
   • Summarize key points and challenge the audience to commit to action.

Reasoning for Persuasive Speeches

• Defining Reasoning:
  • Identifying patterns in supporting materials and summarizing them into arguments that serve as main points.

Types of Reasoning:

1. Deductive Reasoning:
   • Begins with a generally held principle and shows how a specific instance relates to that principle.
   • Components of Deductive Reasoning:
     • Major Premise: General statement.
     • Minor Premise: Specific instance of the general claim.
     • Conclusion: Relationship between the two often categorized using qualifiers indicating the level of certainty.
2. Inductive Reasoning:
   • Connects specific, related facts to reach a general conclusion.
3. Analogical Reasoning:
   • Draws comparisons to show how truths correlate.
4. Cause-Effect Reasoning:
   • Draws connections between two events, asserting one caused the other, requiring strong evidential support.

Avoiding Fallacies

• Fallacies Defined:
  • Faulty reasoning and claims that do not connect arguments to valid evidence.
• Common Fallacies to Avoid:
  • Post hoc ergo propter hoc: Connection based solely on sequential occurrence.
  • Ad hominem: Attacking the person instead of the argument.
  • Hasty Generalizations: Making broad claims from insufficient evidence.
  • Bandwagon Appeals: Suggesting that something is true because it is popular.
  • Straw Person Claims: Misrepresenting an opponent's argument to make it easier to attack.

Appealing to Needs and Emotions

• Motivational Appeals (Pathos):
  • Statements that resonate with audience needs and emotions.
• Hierarchy of Needs:
  • Recognizes that human behavior is motivated by basic needs, as articulated in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
• Providing Testimony and Stories:
  • Relevant anecdotes enhance engagement and relatability.
• Descriptive Language Usage:
  • Use relevant, honest, clear, and powerful language that paints a vivid picture.

Guidelines for Persuasive Speaking

1. Establishing Goodwill:
   • Show genuine concern for the audience's welfare.
   • Relate the topic to the audience.
   • Use inclusive language (e.g., “we”).
   • Maintain objectivity on controversial issues.
2. Keeping Specific Purposes Realistic:
   • Implement the foot-in-the-door technique; start with small requests to facilitate larger future compliance.
3. Presenting Opposing Viewpoints:
   • Decide how to address differing perspectives considering the available presentation time and audience familiarity.
4. Maintaining High Ethical Standards:
   • Provide valid, reliable information grounded in sound research.