Persuasive Speaking

Persuasive Speaking From Ch.16 of Fundamentals of Public Speaking (Rice, Ed): Sarah Watt & Joshua Barnett

Definitions: Persuasion Definition of Persuasion: • “The art of convincing others to give favorable attention to our point of view.” • So persuasion involves skill or artfulness. • It is planned and executed in a thoughtful manner.

Definitions: The Persuasive Speech Definition of Persuasive Speech • Intent to influence the beliefs, attitudes, values, and acts of others. • So attempts to influence (often change) people to think or behave in a particular way. • Is propelled by reasoned argument: use of facts, statistics, personal testimonies, or narratives • May sometimes be made to reinforce existing beliefs, attitudes, values or behaviors • Must often motivate their audiences to think or behave differently (or remain the same).

Typesof Persuasive Speech • Speeches to convince • Speeches to actuate (motivate particular behaviors)

Typesof Persuasive Proposition • Persuasive propositions respond to one of three types of questions: • questions of fact • questions of value • questions of policy

Types: Questions of Fact • Questions of fact ask whether something “can potentially be verified as either true or false” • may focus on whether or not something exists • or focus on causality • require evidence that is relevant to the question

Types: Questions of Value • Questions of Value: • call for a proposition judging the (relative) worth of something • make an evaluative claim regarding morality, aesthetics, wisdom, or desirability • may compare multiple options to determine which is best • offer standards for evaluating the proposition • establish evaluation criteria by which the audience can judge and choose to align with their position • offer evidence for speaker’s evaluation, and applies evidence to demonstrate that speaker has satisfied the evaluation criteria.

Types: Questions of Policy • Questions of policy ask the speaker to advocate for an appropriate course of action • may call for people to stop a particular behavior, or to start one • If arguing that a change must be made, speaker must first identify the problem inherent in the current behavior, and then demonstrate that the problem is significant enough to warrant immediate consideration • speaker can then offer proposal for a preferable course of action • Then speaker demonstrates that proposed policy will have more benefits than costs

Considering the Audience • Speakers must consider what and how the audience thinks, feels, and does • Who is hosting the speech and why? • Demographics: age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or cultural background, socioeconomic status, religion, and political affiliation • Are audiences receptive, neutral or opposed? • If receptive, offer a clear statement of purpose and tell the audience what you would like them to do in response to your message. • If neutral: foster interest: gain attention; relate the topic directly to the audience; relate the topic to someone they care about; offer resources • If oppositional: primary goal is to persuade the audience to listen; highlight issues on which speaker and audience agree; offer proposition as a way of addressing shared goals; acknowledge audience reservations; cite credible evidence that supports your proposition in light of those reservations; show understand and respect for opposing position

Strategies: Ethos • Need to be credible and interesting • Establish credibility with the audience by appearing to have good moral character, common sense, and concern for the audience’s well-being • Mirror the characteristics idealized by the culture or group and demonstrating that good moral choices are made within the group • Clothing and behavior can go far in shaping ethos • Confidence (not arrogance) and enthusiasm about the topic • Opening sentences set the tone for what audience should expect of speaker’s personality

Strategies: Logos • Sound argument focuses on the reasons for supporting speaker’s specific purpose statement • Make an assertion that requires a logical leap based on the available evidence • Basic arguments tend to share three common elements: claim, data, and warrant • The claim is an assertion that you want the audience to accept • Data refers to the preliminary evidence on which the claim is based • The warrant is a connector that, if stated, would likely begin with “since” or “because.” It establishes why the evidence actually does support the claim • Back claims by offering examples, statistics, testimony, or other information which further substantiates the argument.

Logos(2): Arranging the Argument • Inductive reasoning moves from specific examples to a more general claim • consider whether there are “enough specific instances to support the conclusion,” whether the specific instances are typical, and whether the instances are recent. • Deductive reasoningmoves from a general principle to a claim regarding a specific instance, often through syllogisms: • A syllogism begins with a major (or general) premise, then moves to a minor premise, then concludes with a specific claim. • Causal reasoning examines related events to determine which one caused the other

Strategies: Pathos • Pathos draws on the emotions, sympathies, and prejudices of the audience to appeal to their non-rational side. • use clear examples that illustrate the point. • Illustrations can be crafted verbally, nonverbally, or visually • fear appeals tend to be more effective when they • (a) appeal to a high-level fear, such as death • (b) when offered by speakers with a high level of perceived credibility • (c) when the speaker can convince the audience they have the ability to avert the threat

Ethics of Persuasion • To avoid coercing an audience, speakers should use logical and emotional appeals responsibly. • Persuasive speakers must be careful to avoid using fallacies in their reasoning • “fallacies of faulty assumption,” which occur when the speaker reasons based on a problematic assumption; • “fallacies directed to the person,” which occur when the speaker focuses on the attributes of an individual opponent rather than the relevant arguments; • “fallacies of case presentation,” which occur when the speaker mischaracterizes the issue; • “fallacies of suggestion,” which occur when the speaker implies or suggests an argument without fully developing it.

Organizing the Speech: Monroe Motivated Sequence • 1. The attention step should get the audience’s attention as well as describe goals and preview the speech. • 2. The need step should provide a description of the problem as well as the consequences that may result if the problem goes unresolved. In this step, the speaker should also alert audience members to their role in mitigating the issue. • 3. The satisfaction step is used to outline solutions to the problemsthe speaker previously outlined as well as deal with any objections that may arise. • 4. In the visualization step, audience members are asked to visualize what will happen if the solutions are implemented and what will happen if they do not come to fruition. • 5. The action appeal step should be used to make a direct appeal for action. In this step, the speakershould describe precisely how the audience should react to the speech and how they should carry out these actions. • As the final step, there is a concluding comment.

Direct Method Pattern • This pattern consists of a claim and a list of reasons to support it. • Every piece of support in the speech directly supports the central.

Causal Pattern • A causal speech can be particularly effective when the speaker wants to convince their audience of the relationship between two things. • With sound causal reasoning, a speech of this sort can be used to convince the audience of something they were previously opposed to believing

Refutation Pattern • When your audience is already opposed to the speaker’sargument: • a refutation pattern can be engaged to persuade audience members that the speaker’sside of the argument is better or more accurate. • speaker must anticipate the audience’s opposition, then bring attention to the tensions between the two sides, and finally refute them using evidential support. • Refutation generally happens through a set of four steps: • (1) signaling the argument to which the speaker is responding • (2) stating speaker’sown argument • (3) providing justification or evidence for speaker’s side of the argumentS • (4) summarizing speaker’sresponse.

Problem-Solution Layout • Sometimes it is necessary to share a problem and a solution with an audience. • In cases like these, the problem-solution speech is an appropriate way to arrange the main points of a speech.

Claim-to-Proof Approach • Basically provides the audience with a statement of reasons for the acceptance of a speech proposition. • The policy is presented at the beginning of the speech • In the preview the audience is told how many reasons they will be provided for the claim, but not what those reasons are. • Why not? The speaker will be using fact claims and value claims to support his or her overall policy, and some of the value claims can often be the source of a hotbed issue which could be distracting or counter-productive if introduced too soon.

Persuasive Speaking