Chapter 16 Persuasive Speaking Persuasive Speaking Introduction A

Chapter 16 Persuasive Speaking

Persuasive Speaking: Introduction • A speech can be well organized, with solid supporting materials, and still fail to persuade. • This chapter will explore how to motivate an audience to take a specific action or adopt certain ideas, values, or beliefs.

Persuasive Speaking: An Overview • This chapter will cover: – The nature of a persuasive speech – Framing your argument based on audience analysis – Ethical obligations – Organizing your persuasive speech

The Nature of a Persuasive Speech: Persuasive Speeches Attempt to Influence Audience Members • The goal is to influence your audience’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions. • Speakers try to do one or more of the following: – Strengthen audience commitment – Weaken audience commitment – Advocate audience action

The Nature of a Persuasive Speech: Persuasive Speeches Attempt to Influence Audience Members

The Nature of a Persuasive Speech: Persuasive Speeches Advocate fact, Value, or Policy Claims • A persuasive speech makes one of three types of claims: – Fact claim: Asserts that something is true or false – Value claim: Offers a judgment on a subject – Policy claim: Advocates an action by organizations, institutions, or audience members

The Nature of a Persuasive Speech: Persuasive Speeches Use Strategic Discourse • Select arguments with the best chance of achieving your rhetorical purpose in an ethical way. • You must understand your audience’s perspective on your topic to choose arguments wisely.

The Nature of a Persuasive Speech: Strategic Discourse

Framing Your Argument Based on Audience Disposition

Framing Your Argument Based on Audience Disposition • Consider your audience’s: – Latitude of acceptance (range of acceptable positions) – Latitude of rejection (range of unacceptable positions)

Framing Your Argument Based on Audience Disposition • Boomerang effect: Pushing listeners to oppose your ideas even more vigorously • This happens when your position falls within your listeners’ latitude of rejection and they have a strong and very different viewpoint from yours.

Framing Your Argument Based on Audience Disposition

Tailoring Your Persuasive Message to Your Audience • Appealing to your audience’s needs • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Basic-level needs must be met before higher-level needs become important.

Tailoring Your Persuasive Message to Your Audience • If you can relate your message to your listeners’ various needs, you are more likely to persuade them.

Tailoring Your Persuasive Message to Your Audience: Connecting to Your Listeners’ Values • Values: Core conceptions of what is desirable for your life and society • Values guide judgments • Explain how your argument aligns with audience values

Connecting to Your Listeners’ Values

Tailoring Your Persuasive Message to Your Audience: Demonstrating How Your Audience Benefits • Help listeners visualize benefits gained if they take the actions you are advocating. • Listeners weigh costs and benefits before responding to your persuasive appeal. – Tip: Show costs are low.

Demonstrating How Your Audience Benefits

Tailoring Your Persuasive Message to Your Audience: Acknowledging Listeners’ Reservations • Use a two-sided argument in which you voice your listeners’ objections to your thesis. • Then refute or mitigate these objections with evidence and sound reasoning.

Acknowledging Listeners’ Reservations

Tailoring Your Persuasive Message to Your Audience: Focusing on Peripheral Beliefs • Peripheral beliefs: Beliefs that have not been held for a long time • Core beliefs: Beliefs held for a long time that are relatively immune to persuasion

Ethical Persuasion: Help Your Audience Make an Informed Decision • Present truthful claims and key facts to help your listeners accept your thesis. • Do not manipulate listeners into agreement. • Avoid arguments based on faulty reasoning.

Ethical Persuasion: Research Your Facts • Ensure that facts are accurate before presenting them. • If few credible sources support your claim, research other arguments that support your position.

Ethical Persuasion: Note Any Biases • Make listeners aware of any rewards that may come to you if they accept your thesis. • Your audience will respect your honesty when you reveal any biases. • Practice full disclosure.

Ethical Persuasion: Attribute Your Research Properly • Cite your sources. • Ensure that quotations and paraphrases are accurate.

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech: Organizing Fact Claims • Use a causal pattern when you want to argue that one thing causes another. • Example: – Thesis: Fast-food restaurants are a significant cause of health problems in the United States.

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech: Organizing Fact Claims • Use a comparison pattern when you want to claim that two things are similar or different. • Example: – Thesis: There are significant differences between the two candidates for the legislature in our district.

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech: Organizing Fact Claims • Use a categorical pattern when each main point reflects a different reason that you believe your fact claim is true. • Example: – Thesis: The earth is experiencing climate change.

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech: Organizing Value Claims • Use a criteria-application pattern when one point establishes standards for the value judgment you make and the next point applies it to your thesis. • Example: – Thesis: Community service is a valuable part of the college experience.

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech: Organizing Value Claims • Use a categorical pattern when listeners understand each point’s relevance to the claim, making it unnecessary for you to explain how each main point supports your value judgment. • Example: – Thesis: Advanced driver-training courses are beneficial.

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech: Organizing Policy Claims • Use a motivated sequence to establish five main points: – Attention – Need – Satisfaction – Visualization – Action

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech: Policy Claims

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech: Organizing Policy Claims • Use a problem-causesolution pattern that consists of the following three points: – Present the problem. – Demonstrate how the existing organizational or institutional policies will not solve it. – Present a solution to minimize the problem.

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech: Organizing Policy Claims • Use a comparative advantage format to persuade listeners that your proposal is better than the status quo, although a policy change may not be urgent. – The first point on your outline reveals your solution. – Each subsequent point details an advantage of your solution.

Organizing Policy Claims: Comparative Advantage Format

Tips for Organizing Your Persuasive Speech • Tip: It is easiest to motivate your audience to action when you know that they already agree with your claims. • Tip: Persuasion works best when you tailor your message to the audience, so be sure you know what your audience’s needs, motivations, and values are as they relate to your topic.