Essentials Of Persuasion

Thank You For Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion is a title written by the not-so-famous, (but extremely well-versed) Jay Heinrichs. Although the title is indeed a mouthful, it serves its purpose in drawing the reader in. Also; the extremely long title is a little hint of what Heinrichs entails in his book, an endless supply of information on how to correctly and influentially utilize rhetoric, the art of persuasion.

Persuasion is a very strong technique that is used by many throughout history to form some of the greatest works of literature. Ethos, pathos, and logos are the three forms of persuasion. In 2008 a man by the name of Barack Obama created his Victory Speech after a very hard fought campaign. He utilizes the three modes of persuasion to create his very persuasive speech. Persuasion is one of the most crucial strengths to any speaker, especially when applying ethos, pathos, and logos just as Barack Obama did in his 2008 Victory Speech.

The first chapter introduced the reader to the art of rhetoric. He describes how rhetoric works through real life examples. He demonstrates ways that rhetoric persuades us like, argument from strength, and seduction. He tells the reader that the sole purpose of arguing is to persuade the audience. He showed that the chief purpose of arguing is to also achieve consensus, a shared faith in a choice.

Aristotle has an idea that there are three rhetorical appeals people can use to persuade someone else – ethos, pathos and logos. Each of them is very useful and the persuasion will be most effective when three of them are all used. Amy Tan used all in “Mother Tongue.”

There are many ways to convey a message to readers. Often times authors, speech writers, etc., refer to Aristotle’s three main concepts of rhetoric, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is considered to be the, “credibility,” of the author. Pathos is the idea of, “emotional appeal,” to the audience. Finally, Logos is the translated as the, “logic,” involved when making a point. All forms of rhetoric have at least one of these concepts, while good arguments incorporate a well balanced mixture of the three.

In many papers you will notice different types of persuasion that help the writer to give a reader a better of understanding of the paper. These types of persuasion are called rhetorical appeals. Each appeal has its own ability to give to the writer's paper, ethos is the credibility of the work the writer is using, pathos is appealing to the audience’s emotions, and lastly logos is the logical appeal. When writing a paper a person generally uses at least one rhetorical appeal to persuade their audience.

The goal of this style is to be able to convince the readers that your statements are better and more valid than anybody else’s. There are three categories for the means of persuasion which are; Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. Thoreau uses these means pf persuasion very well throughout his essay to convince his audience.

If it has been identified that the central route of persuasion on an audience is necessary due to high relevance to the persuasive message, this gives the persuader a framework to begin crafting a strong argument. Since relevance is what captures the audience’s attention, the persuader must exploit this. For example, if the persuader is attempting to sell a car to an individual the the use of the central route, and the potential buyer has been categorized as one that clearly understands the relevance of the purchase, the persuader should do his or her best to make their product seem the most relevant to the customer. The seller may do this by asking the customer to visualize how happy they will be in their new car. This can also be done by highlighting the features of the car that are most applicable to the customer’s concerns (safety, high gas mileage, etc). These methods will invite the receiver to become more involved with the target of persuasion. All of these ways utilize the customer’s judgment of high relevance to the situation to construct a strong argument.

The act of persuasion is achieved by character anytime the speech is held in such a way as to render the speaker trustworthy. In case the speaker seems to be reliable, the audience is more likely not to have a room for doubt and believe him easily. In order to appear a credible person, the speaker must display ‘good sense, good moral character, and goodwill’

It is critical to identify the tangible benefits and values that really matters to people being persuade. Effective persuaders consider what is important to an audience and lays his or her position to match common ground with the audience. This is a give-and-take process. Effective persuaders also use testimonies, past and current research, etc and readjust their argument to make them appealing to their audience. Persuaders must know an audience well enough to know what will capture their immediate and continued attention.

For the completion of Journal One, the five key terms that I have implemented directly or indirectly from Chapter One and Chapter Two are Ethos, Pathos, Worldview, Facts, and Brainstorming. First, two of the three terms of Modes of Persuasion that I have used directly are Ethos and Pathos. The first time that I have learned to use the Modes of Persuasion terms of Ethos and Pathos in my writing and speaking skills was when I attended a Speech Communication course at Rock Valley College. During the Speech Communication course, not only did I completed multiple papers on the basis on how Ethos and Pathos helps writers and speakers address their point of views for their readers and audiences. Nonetheless, the Speech Communication course has also

Robert Cialdini wrote about how to be persuasive in his article “Harnessing the Science of Persuasion.” In this article, Cialdini addresses the six principles that he believes can help anyone master the science of persuasion. Contrary to popular belief, Cialdini argues that the ability to persuade others is not something that one is necessarily born with. Instead, by integrating six simple principles: likability, reciprocity, social proof, consistency, authority, and scarcity, anyone can be a successful persuader.

The first concept that is important to persuasion is being situation sensitive. It is important to understand that every situation is different. Even if the situation has a similar context the people and they way it is perceived is different and therefore requires its own form of persuasion. There are three factors that take a part in being situationally sensitive. The first factor the book discusses is people's level of commitment and their relationship. These things will play a role in how the message is perceived. “It is one thing to disagree with a strangers on a train to disagree about whether abortion is murder; it is quite another for a husband and his pregnant wife to have the same disagreement” (simons and Jones 126). This quote

It is human instinct to try and convince others that you are right and to do that you support your opinions with facts, you use logic, and sometimes, when appropriate, you bring emotion into the conversation. Even though rhetorical use in our speech is instinctive, it is a skill we can develop and some people must study it more than others. Through practice, we are able to strengthen our skills of persuasion.

Consistency is defined as the conformity in the application of something which is necessary for the sake of logic, accuracy, or fairness. Accoring to Persuasion is a Science, by Peter Wilby, people that appear to be an expert and trustworthy are more likely to be followed. Cialdini is quoted in this article as saying, “People then listen differently to the next thing you say. They open their ears and minds. So, when recommending someone for a job, mention a weak spot before you rhapsodise about their brilliance” (Wilby, 2007, para. 5). Authority is closely related to credibility. If someone has authority, people tend to be willing to be persuaded by them because they believe in them and they recognize them as an authoritative figure. Doctors are percieved to have authority on medical issues therfore we, as their patients, are inclined to listen (or be persuaded by) their advice as to our health problems. Scarcity is another principle of persuasion. Often times we are pulled into deals in the retail industry because ‘it’s a one time offer’. “The act of limiting access to a message causes individuals to want to receive it more and to become more favorable to it” according to Davidson (para. 42). The biggest