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© Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved - American College of the Middle East (ACM), Egaila, Kuwait.
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all the content in any form without the prior written approval
from the copyright holder is prohibited.
Content in this document by ACM falls under ACM Copyright.

Copyright © American College of the

Middle East. 2019 2020
17
Persuasive
Speaking

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Nature of Persuasion

■ Persuasion: Influencing the attitudes, values, beliefs, or

behavior of others
– Persuasive speaking: Persuasion in a public speech
■ Successful persuasive speakers convince an audience to
agree with them, change their behavior, or take action
– Rhetoric: Use of all available means of persuasion

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Nature of Persuasion (continued)

■ Persuasive speakers develop solid arguments

– Argument: Articulating a position with the support of
logos, ethos, and pathos
■ Logos: Constructing logical arguments supported with
evidence and reasoning
■ Ethos: Highlighting competence, credibility, and good
character
■ Pathos: Appealing to emotions

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

 Elaboration Likelihood Model
(ELM)
■ Explains how one evaluates information before making a
decision
– Involves one of the following ways:
■ Central route - Listening carefully, reflecting thoughtfully,
and mentally elaborating on the message
■ Peripheral route - Relying on simple cues
■ Persuasive speakers use strategies that address both central
and peripheral routes

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Propositions

■ Declarative sentences that clearly indicate the speaker’s

position on the topic
– Proposition of fact: Convinces the audience that
something did or did not occur, is or is not true, or will or
will not occur
– Proposition of value: Convinces the audience that
something is good, fair, moral, sound, or its opposite
– Proposition of policy: Convinces the audience that a
specific course of action should be taken

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Tailoring Propositions to the
Target Audience
■ Target audience: Group of people a speaker wants to
persuade
– Persuasion is based on the audience’s initial attitude
toward a topic, which can be classified as opposed, no
opinion, and in favor
■ Seek incremental change from the opposing audience
– Incremental change: Attempt to move an audience
only a small degree in the speaker’s direction

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Tailoring Propositions to the
Target Audience (continued)
– Classify target audience with no opinion as either
uninformed, neutral, or apathetic
– If the target audience is only mildly in favor, their beliefs
need to be reinforced and strengthened
– Induce audience in favor of the topic to further commit
to the belief by giving new reasons and more recent
evidence

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

■ 1. Logos is a persuasive strategy of highlighting your

competence and credibility. T/F
■ 2. Pathos is a persuasive strategy of appealing to emotions in
order to convince others to support your position. T/F
■ 3. When listeners are taking a central route to analyzing
information, they base their decision on
a) Simple cues
b) Appeals to logic
c) emotions

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

■ 4) “Cell phones cause brain cancer” this is

■ A) proposition of fact
■ B) proposition of value
■ C) proposition of policy

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Logos -
Logos-Based Arguments
■ Claim (C): Conclusion the speaker wants the audience to
agree with
■ Support (S): Evidence offered as grounds for accepting the
claim
■ Warrant (W): Reasoning process that connects the support to
the claim

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Logos -
Logos-Based Arguments (continued)
– Inductive reasoning: Arriving at a general conclusion
based on several pieces of evidence

– Deductive reasoning: Arguing that if something is true

for everything in a certain class, then it is true for a given
item in that class
■ Syllogism: Three-part form of deductive reasoning
– Includes a major premise, minor premise, and claim

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

■ 5. “Ali’s car makes strange noises. This is a common sign that

a car needs a tune up. So, Ali’s car needs a tune up”.
This is an example of:
a) Inductive reasoning
b) Deductive reasoning
c) Syllogism

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

6. This is an example of:

a) Elaboration likelihood model
b) Proposition of value
c) Syllogism

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Logos -
Types of Logical Arguments
■ Arguing from sign
– Supports a claim by citing information that signals a
claim
■ Arguing from example
– Supports a claim by providing one or more individual
examples to support a claim

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Logos -
Types of Logical Arguments
(continued)

■ Arguing from analogy

– Supports a claim with a single comparable example that
is similar to the subject of the claim
■ Arguing from causation
– Citing events that always bring about or lead to a
predictable effect or set of effects

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

9. If you cannot smell or test anything, chances are you have

coronavirus.
This is:
a) Arguing from example
b) Arguing from analogy
c) Arguing from sign
d) Arguing from causation

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

10. If you come home very late, mom will be angry.

This is:
a) Arguing from example
b) Arguing from analogy
c) Arguing from sign
d) Arguing from causation

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

11. There are quite a few malls in Kuwait. Avenues, 360 Mall,
and LaMarina are just a few of them.
This is:
a) Arguing from example
b) Arguing from analogy
c) Arguing from sign
d) Arguing from causation

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Logos -
Fallacies
■ Flawed reasoning
■ Hasty generalization: Claim is either not supported with
evidence or is supported with only one weak example
■ False cause: The alleged cause fails to produce the effect
■ Either/or: Claim is supported by suggesting that there are
only two alternatives when others exist

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Logos -
Fallacies (continued)
■ Straw man: Speaker weakens the opposing position by
misrepresenting it and then attacks that weaker position
■ Ad hominem: One attacks or praises the person making the
argument, rather than the argument itself

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

7. My friend is breaking the speed limit all the time, but he has
never been stopped by police. Therefore, I can break the speed
limit too.
This is:
a) Straw man
b) Ad hominem
c) Syllogism
d) Hasty generalization

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

8. Pepsi is the better drink than Cola because David Beckham

advertised it.

This is:
a) Either/or
b) Straw man
c) Ad hominem
d) Syllogism

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

This is:
a) Either/or
b) Straw man
c) Ad hominem
d) Syllogism

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

1. After I did plastic surgery, I developed interest in exact

sciences. I am considering getting a degree in math now. I
think plastic surgery stimulates brain activity.
What fallacy is it?
a) Hasty generalization
b) Ad hominem
c) False cause
d) Either or

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

2. “I have lived in Kuwait all my life and it has never snowed here.
There can be no snow in this country.”
Which persuasive strategy is used?
a) Logos
b) Ethos
c) Pathos

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

3. "He is a forensics and ballistics expert for the federal

government - if anyone's qualified to determine the murder
weapon, it's him."

Which persuasive strategy is used?

a) Logos
b) Ethos
c) Pathos

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Ethos -
Conveying Good Character
■ Audience members believe in a speaker based on his or her
goodwill
– Goodwill: Audience’s perception that a speaker:
■ Understands them
■ Empathizes with them
■ Is responsive to them

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Ethos -
Conveying Competence and
Credibility
■ A speaker’s terminal credibility should be greater than his or
her initial credibility
– Terminal credibility: Perception of a speaker’s expertise
at the end of the speech
– Initial credibility: Perception of a speaker’s expertise at
the beginning of the speech

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Ethos -
Conveying Competence and
Credibility (continued)
■ Explain one’s competence
– Helps achieve a level of derived credibility
■ Derived credibility: Perception of a speaker’s expertise
during the speech
■ Use evidence from respected sources
■ Use nonverbal delivery and vocal expression

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

1. Which of these is used to convey competence and credibility?

a) Showing understanding of the audience
b) Using respected sources
c) Being responsive to the audience

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

2. Which of these needs to be greater by the end of your speech?

a) Initial credibility
b) Terminal credibility
c) Derived credibility

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Rhetorical Appeals to Pathos

■ Audience involvement can be increased by evoking negative

or positive emotions during a speech
– Negative emotions - Fear, guilt, shame, anger, and
sadness
– Positive emotions - Happiness or joy, pride, relief, hope,
and compassion

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Recap

Which emotion is being used for persuasion here?

1. “Don’t walk alone at night! There might be dangerous people
around. Who knows what they might do to you?”
2. “You are throwing away a lot of food while there are millions of
starving people and animals out there”.
3. “This deadly disease took many lives of our loved ones. Let us
use all available measures to prevent more”.

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Which emotion is being used for
persuasion here?

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Which emotion is being used for
persuasion here?

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Which emotion is being used for
persuasion here?

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Guidelines for Appealing to
Emotions
■ Tell vivid stories
■ Use startling statistics
■ Incorporate listener-relevance links
■ Choose striking presentational aids
■ Use descriptive and provocative language
■ Use nonverbal delivery, gestures, and facial expressions to
highlight the emotions conveyed

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Persuasive Speech Patterns

■ Statement of reasons
– Helps confirm propositions of fact by presenting best-
supported reasons in a meaningful order
■ Comparative advantages
– Attempts to convince that something is of more value
than something else

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Persuasive Speech Patterns
(continued 1)

■ Criteria satisfaction
– Seeks agreement on the criteria that should be
considered when evaluating a proposition
– Shows how it satisfies the criteria
■ Refutative
– Arranges main points according to opposing arguments
■ Helps challenge the points and strengthen one’s own

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Persuasive Speech Patterns
(continued 2)

■ Problem–solution
– Explains the nature of a particular problem and then
proposes a solution
■ Problem–cause–solution
– Demonstrates that there is a problem caused by specific
things
■ Proposes a solution that addresses the causes

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

Persuasive Speech Patterns
(continued 3)

■ Motivated sequence
– Problem–solution pattern with explicit appeals designed
to motivate the audience to act
– Replaces the introduction-body-conclusion model with
steps of attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, and
action appeal

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

a) ethos
b) pathos
c) logos

Copyright © American College of the Middle East. 2019 2020

This ACM document and its content is copyright of the American College Of The Middle East –
© Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved - American College of the Middle East (ACM), Egaila, Kuwait.
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all the content in any form without the prior written approval
from the copyright holder is prohibited.
Content in this document by ACM falls under ACM Copyright.

Copyright © American College of the

Middle East. 2019 2020