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We are more easily persuaded, in general, by the reasons that we ourselves discovers than by those which are given to us by others.

–Pascal

For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you’re not enthusiastic enough.

–Zig Ziglar

Getting Started

No doubt there has been a time when you wanted something from your parents, your supervisor, or your

friends, and you thought about how you were going to present your request. But do you think about how often

people—including people you have never met and never will meet—want something from you? When you watch

television, advertisements reach out for your attention, whether you watch them or not. When you use the Internet,

pop-up advertisements often appear. Living in the United States, and many parts of the world, means that you

have been surrounded, even inundated, by persuasive messages. Mass media in general and television in particular

make a significant impact you will certainly recognize.

Consider these facts:

• The average person sees between four hundred and six hundred ads per day—that is forty million to

fifty million by the time he or she is sixty years old. One of every eleven commercials has a direct

message about beauty (Raimondo M., 2010).

• By age eighteen, the average American teenager will have spent more time watching

television—25,000 hours—than learning in a classroom (Ship, J., 2005).

• An analysis of music videos found that nearly one-fourth of all MTV videos portray overt violence,

with attractive role models being aggressors in more than 80 percent of the violent videos (DuRant, R.

H., 1997).

• Forty percent of nine- and ten-year-old girls have tried to lose weight, according to an ongoing study

funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (Body image and nutrition: Fast facts., 2009).

• A 1996 study found that the amount of time an adolescent watches soaps, movies, and music videos is

associated with their degree of body dissatisfaction and desire to be thin (Tiggemann, M. and

Pickering, A. S., 1996).

• Identification with television stars (for girls and boys), models (girls), or athletes (boys) positively

correlated with body dissatisfaction (Hofschire, L. J. and Greenberg, B. S., 2002).

• At age thirteen, 53 percent of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to 78

percent by the time they reach seventeen (Brumber, J. J., 1997).

• By age eighteen, the average American teenager will witness on television 200,000 acts of violence,

including 40,000 murders (Huston, A. C., et al., 1992).

Mass communication contains persuasive messages, often called propaganda, in narrative form, in stories and

even in presidential speeches. When President Bush made his case for invading Iraq, his speeches incorporated

many of the techniques we’ll cover in this chapter. Your local city council often involves dialogue, and persuasive

speeches, to determine zoning issues, resource allocation, and even spending priorities. You yourself have learned

many of the techniques by trial and error and through imitation. If you ever wanted the keys to your parents’ car

for a special occasion, you used the principles of persuasion to reach your goal.

References

Body image and nutrition: Fast facts. (2009). Teen Health and the Media. Retrieved from http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi?section=bodyimage&page=fastfacts.

Brumberg, J. J. (1997). The body project: An intimate history of American girls. New York, NY: Random House.

DuRant, R. H. (1997). Tobacco and alcohol use behaviors portrayed in music videos: Content analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 87, 1131–1135.

Hofschire, L. J., & Greenberg, B. S. (2002). Media’s impact on adolescent’s body dissatisfaction. In D. Brown, J. R. Steele, & K. Walsh-Childers (Eds.), Sexual Teens, Sexual Media. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Huston, A. C., et al. (1992). Big world, small screen: The role of television in American society. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Raimondo, M. (2010). About-face facts on the media. About-face. Retrieved from http://www.about-face.org/r/facts/media.shtml.

Ship, J. (2005, December). Entertain. Inspire. Empower. How to speak a teen’s language, even if you’re not one. ChangeThis. Retrieved from http://www.changethis.com/pdf/20.02.TeensLanguage.pdf.

Tiggemann, M., & Pickering, A. S. (1996). Role of television in adolescent women’s body: Dissatisfaction and

drive for thinness. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 20, 199–203.

14.1 What Is Persuasion?

Persuasion is an act or process of presenting arguments to move, motivate, or change your audience. Aristotle

taught that rhetoric, or the art of public speaking, involves the faculty of observing in any given case the available

means of persuasion (Covino, W. A. and Jolliffe, D. A., 1995). In the case of President Obama, he may have

appealed to your sense of duty and national values. In persuading your parents to lend you the car keys, you

may have asked one parent instead of the other, calculating the probable response of each parent and electing to

approach the one who was more likely to adopt your position (and give you the keys). Persuasion can be implicit

or explicit and can have both positive and negative effects. In this chapter we’ll discuss the importance of ethics,

as we have in previous chapters, when presenting your audience with arguments in order to motivate them to

adopt your view, consider your points, or change their behavior.

Motivation is distinct from persuasion in that it involves the force, stimulus, or influence to bring about change.

Persuasion is the process, and motivation is the compelling stimulus that encourages your audience to change their

beliefs or behavior, to adopt your position, or to consider your arguments. Why think of yourself as fat or thin?

Why should you choose to spay or neuter your pet? Messages about what is beautiful, or what is the right thing to

do in terms of your pet, involve persuasion, and the motivation compels you to do something.

Another way to relate to motivation also can be drawn from the mass media. Perhaps you have watched

programs like Law and Order, Cold Case, or CSI where the police detectives have many of the facts of the case,

but they search for motive. They want to establish motive in the case to provide the proverbial “missing piece of

the puzzle.” They want to know why someone would act in a certain manner. You’ll be asking your audience to

consider your position and provide both persuasive arguments and motivation for them to contemplate. You may

have heard a speech where the speaker tried to persuade you, tried to motivate you to change, and you resisted the

message. Use this perspective to your advantage and consider why an audience should be motivated, and you may

find the most compelling examples or points. Relying on positions like “I believe it, so you should too,” “Trust

me, I know what is right,” or “It’s the right thing to do” may not be explicitly stated but may be used with limited

effectiveness. Why should the audience believe, trust, or consider the position “right?” Keep an audience-centered

perspective as you consider your persuasive speech to increase your effectiveness.

You may think initially that many people in your audience would naturally support your position in favor of

spaying or neutering your pet. After careful consideration and audience analysis, however, you may find that

people are more divergent in their views. Some audience members may already agree with your view, but others

may be hostile to the idea for various reasons. Some people may be neutral on the topic and look to you to consider

the salient arguments. Your audience will have a range of opinions, attitudes, and beliefs across a range from

hostile to agreement.

Rather than view this speech as a means to get everyone to agree with you, look at the concept of measurable

gain, a system of assessing the extent to which audience members respond to a persuasive message. You may

reinforce existing beliefs in the members of the audience that agree with you and do a fine job of persuasion. You

may also get hostile members of the audience to consider one of your arguments, and move from a hostile position

to one that is more neutral or ambivalent. The goal in each case is to move the audience members toward your

position. Some change may be small but measurable, and that is considered gain. The next time a hostile audience

member considers the issue, they may be more open to it. Figure 14.1 “Measurable Gain” is a useful diagram to

illustrate this concept.

Edward Hall also underlines this point when discussing the importance of context. The situation in which a

conversation occurs provides a lot of meaning and understanding for the participants in some cultures. In Japan,

for example, the context, such as a business setting, says a great deal about the conversation and the meaning to

the words and expressions within that context. In the United States, however, the concept of a workplace or a

business meeting is less structured, and the context offers less meaning and understanding.

Cultures that value context highly are aptly called high-context cultures. Those that value context to a lesser

degree are called low-context cultures. These divergent perspectives influence the process of persuasion and are

worthy of your consideration when planning your speech. If your audience is primarily high-context, you may be

able to rely on many cultural norms as you proceed, but in a low-context culture, like the United States, you’ll

be expected to provide structure and clearly outline your position and expectations. This ability to understand

motivation and context is key to good communication, and one we will examine throughout this chapter.

References

Covino, W. A., & Jolliffe, D. A. (1995). Rhetoric: Concepts, definitions, boundaries. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Hall, E. (1966). The hidden dimension. New York, NY: Doubleday.

14.2 Principles of Persuasion

What is the best way to succeed in persuading your listeners? There is no one “correct” answer, but many experts

have studied persuasion and observed what works and what doesn’t. Social psychologist Robert Cialdini offers us

six principles of persuasion that are powerful and effective:

1. Reciprocity

2. Scarcity

3. Authority

4. Commitment and consistency

5. Consensus

6. Liking

You will find these principles both universal and adaptable to a myriad of contexts and environments. Recognizing

when each principle is in operation will allow you to leverage the inherent social norms and expectations to your

advantage, and enhance your sales position.

Principle of Reciprocity

Reciprocity is the mutual expectation for exchange of value or service. In all cultures, when one person gives

something, the receiver is expected to reciprocate, even if only by saying “thank you.” There is a moment when

the giver has power and influence over the receiver, and if the exchange is dismissed as irrelevant by the giver

the moment is lost. In business this principle has several applications. If you are in customer service and go out

of your way to meet the customer’s need, you are appealing to the principle of reciprocity with the knowledge

that all humans perceive the need to reciprocate—in this case, by increasing the likelihood of making a purchase

from you because you were especially helpful. Reciprocity builds trust and the relationship develops, reinforcing

everything from personal to brand loyalty. By taking the lead and giving, you build in a moment where people

will feel compelled from social norms and customs to give back.

Principle of Scarcity

You want what you can’t have, and it’s universal. People are naturally attracted to the exclusive, the rare, the

unusual, and the unique. If they are convinced that they need to act now or it will disappear, they are motivated to

action. Scarcity is the perception of inadequate supply or a limited resource. For a sales representative, scarcity

may be a key selling point—the particular car, or theater tickets, or pair of shoes you are considering may be sold

to someone else if you delay making a decision. By reminding customers not only of what they stand to gain but

also of what they stand to lose, the representative increases the chances that the customer will make the shift from

contemplation to action and decide to close the sale.

Principle of Authority

Trust is central to the purchase decision. Whom does a customer turn to? A salesperson may be part of the process,

but an endorsement by an authority holds credibility that no one with a vested interest can ever attain. Knowledge

of a product, field, trends in the field, and even research can make a salesperson more effective by the appeal to

the principle of authority. It may seem like extra work to educate your customers, but you need to reveal your

expertise to gain credibility. We can borrow a measure of credibility by relating what experts have indicated

about a product, service, market, or trend, and our awareness of competing viewpoints allows us insight that is

valuable to the customer. Reading the manual of a product is not sufficient to gain expertise—you have to do extra

homework. The principal of authority involves referencing experts and expertise.

Principle of Commitment and Consistency

Oral communication can be slippery in memory. What we said at one moment or another, unless recorded, can

be hard to recall. Even a handshake, once the symbol of agreement across almost every culture, has lost some of

its symbolic meaning and social regard. In many cultures, the written word holds special meaning. If we write it

down, or if we sign something, we are more likely to follow through. By extension, even if the customer won’t be

writing anything down, if you do so in front of them, it can appeal to the principle of commitment and consistency

and bring the social norm of honoring one’s word to bear at the moment of purchase.

Principle of Consensus

Testimonials, or first person reports on experience with a product or service, can be highly persuasive. People

often look to each other when making a purchase decision, and the herd mentality is a powerful force across

humanity: if “everybody else” thinks this product is great, it must be great. We often choose the path of the herd,

particularly when we lack adequate information. Leverage testimonials from clients to attract more clients by

making them part of your team. The principle of consensus involves the tendency of the individual to follow the

lead of the group or peers.

Principle of Liking

Safety is the twin of trust as a foundation element for effective communication. If we feel safe, we are more likely

to interact and communicate. We tend to be attracted to people who communicate to us that they like us, and who

make us feel good about ourselves. Given a choice, these are the people with whom we are likely to associate.

Physical attractiveness has long been known to be persuasive, but similarity is also quite effective. We are drawn

to people who are like us, or who we perceive ourselves to be, and often make those judgments based on external

characteristics like dress, age, sex, race, ethnicity, and perceptions of socioeconomic status. The principle of liking

involves the perception of safety and belonging in communication.

References

Cialdini, R. (1993). Influence. New York, NY: Quill.

14.3 Functions of the Presentation to Persuade

What does a presentation to persuade do? There is a range of functions to consider, and they may overlap or you

may incorporate more than one as you present. We will discuss how to

• stimulate,

• convince,

• call to action,

• increase consideration, and

• develop tolerance of alternate perspectives.

We will also examine how each of these functions influences the process of persuasion.

Stimulate

When you focus on stimulation as the goal or operational function of your speech, you want to reinforce existing

beliefs, intensify them, and bring them to the forefront. Perhaps you’ve been concerned with global warming for

quite some time. Many people in the audience may not know about the melting polar ice caps and the loss of

significant ice shelves in Antarctica, including part of the Ross Ice Shelf, an iceberg almost 20 miles wide and

124 miles long, more than twice the size of Rhode Island. They may be unaware of how many ice shelves have

broken off, the 6 percent drop in global phytoplankton (the basis of many food chains), and the effects of the

introduction of fresh water to the oceans. By presenting these facts, you will reinforce existing beliefs, intensify

them, and bring the issue to the surface. You might consider the foundation of common ground and commonly

held beliefs, and then introduce information that a mainstream audience may not be aware of that supports that

common ground as a strategy to stimulate.

Convince

In a persuasive speech, the goal is to change the attitudes, beliefs, values, or judgments of your audience. If we

look back at the idea of motive, in this speech the prosecuting attorney would try to convince the jury members

that the defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. He or she may discuss motive, present facts, all with the goal

to convince the jury to believe or find that his or her position is true. In the film The Day After Tomorrow, Dennis

Quaid stars as a paleoclimatologist who unsuccessfully tries to convince the U.S. vice president that a sudden

climate change is about to occur. In the film, much like real life, the vice president listens to Quaid’s position with

his own bias in mind, listening for only points that reinforce his point of view while rejecting points that do not.

Audience members will also hold beliefs and are likely to involve their own personal bias. Your goal is to get

them to agree with your position, so you will need to plan a range of points and examples to get audience members

to consider your topic. Perhaps you present Dennis Quaid’s argument that loss of the North Atlantic Current will

drastically change our climate, clearly establishing the problem for the audience. You might cite the review by a

professor, for example, who states in reputable science magazine that the film’s depiction of a climate change has

a chance of happening, but that the timetable is more on the order of ten years, not seven days as depicted in the

film. You then describe a range of possible solutions. If the audience comes to a mental agreement that a problem

exists, they will look to you asking, “What are the options?” Then you may indicate a solution that is a better

alternative, recommending future action.

Call to Action

In this speech, you are calling your audience to action. You are stating that it’s not about stimulating interest

to reinforce and accentuate beliefs, or convincing an audience of a viewpoint that you hold, but instead that

you want to see your listeners change their behavior. If you were in sales at Toyota, you might incorporate our

previous example on global warming to reinforce, and then make a call to action (make a purchase decision),

when presenting the Prius hybrid (gas-electric) automobile. The economics, even at current gas prices, might not

completely justify the difference in price between a hybrid and a nonhybrid car. However, if you as the salesperson

can make a convincing argument that choosing a hybrid car is the right and responsible decision, you may be more

likely to get the customer to act. The persuasive speech that focuses on action often generates curiosity, clarifies

a problem, and as we have seen, proposes a range of solutions. They key difference here is there is a clear link to

action associated with the solutions.

Solutions lead us to considering the goals of action. These goals address the question, “What do I want the audience to do as a result of being engaged by my speech?” The goals of action include adoption, discontinuance, deterrence, and continuance.

Adoption means the speaker wants to persuade the audience to take on a new way of thinking, or adopt a new

idea. Examples could include buying a new product, voting for a new candidate, or deciding to donate blood. The

key is that the audience member adopts, or takes on, a new view, action, or habit.

Discontinuance involves the speaker persuading the audience to stop doing something what they have been

doing, such as smoking. Rather than take on a new habit or action, the speaker is asking the audience member to

stop an existing behavior or idea. As such, discontinuance is in some ways the opposite of adoption.

Deterrence is a call action that focuses on persuading audience not to start something if they haven’t already

started. Perhaps many people in the audience have never tried illicit drugs, or have not gotten behind the wheel of

a car while intoxicated. The goal of action in this case would be to deter, or encourage the audience members to

refrain from starting or initiating the behavior.

Finally, with continuance, the speaker aims to persuade the audience to continue doing what they have been

doing, such as re-elect a candidate, keep buying product, or staying in school to get an education.

A speaker may choose to address more than one of these goals of action, depending on the audience analysis.

If the audience is largely agreeable and supportive, you may find continuance to be one goal, while adoption is

secondary.

These goals serve to guide you in the development of solution steps. Solution steps involve suggestions or ways

the audience can take action after your speech. They often proceed from national to personal level, or the inverse.

Audience members appreciate a clear discussion of the problem in a persuasive speech, but they also appreciate

solutions. You might offer a national solution that may be viewed as unworkable, but your solution on a personal

level may be more realistic, such as considering an alternate point of view or making a small donation to a worthy

cause.

Increase Consideration

Perhaps you know that your audience is not open to emotional appeals that involve the fear of global warming,

so you choose to base your persuasive speech on something they are more open to: the economic argument

and the relative cost of car ownership. In this speech, you want to increase consideration on the part of the audience whose members either hold hostile views or perhaps are neutral and simply curious. You might be able

to compare and contrast competing cars and show that the costs over ten years are quite similar, but that the Prius

has additional features that are the equivalent of a bonus, including high gas mileage. You might describe tax

incentives for ownership, maintenance schedules and costs, and resale value. Your arguments and their support

aim at increasing the audience’s consideration of your position. You won’t be asking for action in this presentation,

but a corresponding increase of consideration may lead the customer to that point at a later date.

Develop Tolerance of Alternate Perspectives

Finally, you may want to help your audience develop tolerance of alternate perspectives and viewpoints. Perhaps

your audience, as in the previous example, is interested in purchasing a car and you are the lead salesperson on

that model. As you listen, and do your informal audience analysis, you may learn that horsepower and speed are

important values to this customer. You might raise the issue of torque versus horsepower and indicate that the

“uumph” you feel as you start a car off the line is torque. Many hybrid and even electric vehicles have great torque,

as their systems involve fewer parts and less friction than a corresponding internal combustion-transaxle system.

Your goal is to help your audience develop tolerance, but not necessarily acceptance, of alternate perspectives. A

traditional way of measuring speed has always been how fast a car can go from zero to sixty miles per hour.

You are essentially indicating that there are two relevant factors to consider when discussing speed (horsepower

and torque), and asking the customer to consider the alternate perspective. Lots of horsepower might be all right

for high speeds, but by raising the issue of their normal driving, they might learn that what counts day in and day

out for driving is torque, not horsepower. By starting from common ground, and introducing a related idea, you

are persuading your audience to consider an alternate perspective.

14.4 Meeting the Listener’s Basic Needs

In this section we will examine why we communicate, illustrating how meeting the listener’s basic needs is central

to effective communication. It’s normal for the audience to consider why you are persuading them, and there

is significant support for the notion that by meeting the audience’s basic needs, whether they are a customer,

colleague, or supervisor, you will more effectively persuade them to consider your position.

Not all oral presentations involve taking a position, or overt persuasion, but all focus on the inherent

relationships and basic needs within the business context. Getting someone to listen to what you have to say

involves a measure of persuasion, and getting that person to act on it might require considerable skill. Whether

you are persuading a customer to try a new product or service, or informing a supplier that you need additional

merchandise, the relationship is central to your communication. The emphasis inherent in our next two discussions

is that we all share this common ground, and by understanding that we share basic needs, we can better negotiate

meaning and achieve understanding.

Maslow’s Hierarchy

If you have taken courses in anthropology, philosophy, psychology, or perhaps sociology in the past, you may have

seen Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Figure 14.3 “Maslow’s Hierarchy”). Psychologist Abraham Maslow provides

seven basic categories for human needs, and arranges them in order of priority, from the most basic to the most

advanced.

In this figure, we can see that we need energy, water, and air to live. Without any of these three basic elements,

which meet our physiological needs (1), we cannot survive. We need to meet them before anything else, and will

often sacrifice everything else to get them. Once we have what we need to live, we seek safety (2). A defensible

place, protecting your supply lines for your most basic needs, could be your home. For some, however, home is

a dangerous place that compromises their safety. Children and victims of domestic violence need shelter to meet

this need. In order to leave a hostile living environment, people may place the well-being and safety of another

over their own needs, in effect placing themselves at risk. An animal would fight for its own survival above all

else, but humans can and do acts of heroism that directly contradict their own self-interest. Our own basic needs

motivate us, but sometimes the basic needs of others are more important to us than our own.

We seek affection from others once we have the basics to live and feel safe from immediate danger. We look

for a sense of love and belonging (3). All needs in Maslow’s model build on the foundation of the previous needs,

and the third level reinforces our need to be a part of a family, community, or group. This is an important step that

directly relates to business communication. If a person feels safe at your place of business, they are more likely

to be open to communication. Communication is the foundation of the business relationship, and without it, you

will fail. If they feel on edge, or that they might be pushed around, made to feel stupid, or even unwanted, they

will leave and your business will disappear. On the other hand, if you make them feel welcome, provide multiple

ways for them to learn, educate themselves, and ask questions in a safe environment, you will form relationships

that transcend business and invite success.

Once we have been integrated in a group, we begin to assert our sense of self and self-respect, addressing our

need for self-esteem (4). Self-esteem is essentially how we feel about ourselves. Let’s say you are a male, but you

weren’t born with a “fix-it” gene. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but for many men it can be hard to admit. We no

longer live in a time when we have to build our own houses or learn about electricity and plumbing as we grow

up, and if it is not part of your learning experience, it is unreasonable to expect that you’ll be handy with a wrench

from the first turn.

The do-it-yourself chain Home Depot may have recognized how this interest in home repair is paired with many

men’s reluctance to admit their lack of experience. They certainly turned it into an opportunity. Each Saturday

around the country, home repair clinics on all sorts of tasks, from cutting and laying tile to building a bird house,

are available free to customers at Home Depot stores. You can participate, learn, gain mastery of a skill set,

and walk out of the store with all the supplies you need to get the job done. You will also now know someone

(the instructor, a Home Depot employee) whom you can return to for follow-up questions. Ultimately, if you

don’t succeed in getting the job done right, they will help you arrange for professional installation. This model

reinforces safety and familiarity, belonging to a group or perceiving a trustworthy support system, and the freedom

to make mistakes. It’s an interactive program that squarely addresses one of customers’ basic of human needs.

Maslow discusses the next level of needs in terms of how we feel about ourselves and our ability to assert

control and influence over our lives. Once we are part of a group and have begun to assert ourselves, we start

to feel as if we have reached our potential and are actively making a difference in our own world. Maslow calls

this self-actualization (5). Self-actualization can involve reaching your full potential, feeling accepted for who

you are, and perceiving a degree of control or empowerment in your environment. It may mean the freedom to go

beyond building the bird house to the tree house, and to design it yourself as an example of self-expression.

As we progress beyond these levels, our basic human curiosity about the world around us emerges. When we

have our basic needs met, we do not need to fear losing our place in a group or access to resources. We are free

to explore and play, discovering the world around us. Our need to know (6) motivates us to grow and learn. You

may have taken an elective art class that sparked your interest in a new area, or your started a new sport or hobby,

like woodworking. If you worked at low-paying jobs that earned you barely enough to meet your basic needs, you

may not be able to explore all your interests. You might be too exhausted after sixty or seventy hours a week on

a combination of the night shift and the early morning shift across two jobs. If you didn’t have to work as many

hours to meet your more basic needs, you’d have time to explore your curiosity and address the need to learn.

Want to read a good book? You’d have the time. Want to take a watercolor class? Sounds interesting. If, however,

we are too busy hunting and gathering food, there is little time for contemplating beauty.

Beyond curiosity lies the aesthetic need to experience beauty (7). Form is freed from function, so that a wine

bottle opener can be appreciated for its clever design that resembles a rabbit’s head instead of simply how well it

works to remove the cork. The appreciation of beauty transcends the everyday, the usual; it becomes exceptional.

You may have walked in a building or church and become captivated by the light, the stained-glass windows, or

the design. That moment that transcends the mundane, that stops you in your tracks, comes close to describing the

human appreciation for the aesthetic, but it’s really up to you.

We can see in Maslow’s hierarchy how our most basic needs are quite specific, and as we progress through

the levels, the level of abstraction increases until ultimately we are freed from the daily grind to contemplate

the meaning of a modern painting. As we increase our degree of interconnectedness with others, we become

interdependent and, at the same time, begin to express independence and individuality. As a speaker, you may

seek the safety of the familiar, only to progress with time and practice to a point where you make words your own.

Your audience will share with you a need for control. You can help meet this need by constructing your speech

with an effective introduction, references to points you’ve discussed, and a clear conclusion. The introduction will set up audience expectations of points you will consider, and allow the audience to see briefly what is coming.

Your internal summaries, signposts, and support of your main points all serve to remind the audience what you’ve

discussed and what you will discuss. Finally, your conclusion answers the inherent question, “Did the speaker

actually talk about what they said they were going to talk about?” and affirms to the audience that you have

fulfilled your objectives.

Social Penetration Theory

The field of communication draws from many disciplines, and in this case, draws lessons from two prominent

social psychologists. Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor articulated the social penetration theory, which describes

how we move from superficial talk to intimate and revealing talk (Altman, I. and Taylor, D., 1973). Altman and

Taylor discuss how we attempt to learn about others so that we can better understand how to interact (Altman, I.

and Taylor, D., 1973).With a better understanding of others and with more information, we are in a better position

to predict how they may behave, what they may value, or what they might feel in specific situations. We usually

gain this understanding of others without thinking about it through observation or self-disclosure. In this model,

often called the “onion model,” we see how we start out on superficial level, but as we peel away the layers, we

gain knowledge about the other person that encompasses both breadth and depth.

We come to know more about the way a person perceives a situation (breadth), but also gain perspective into

how they see the situation through an understanding of their previous experiences (depth). Imagine these two

spheres, which represent people, coming together. What touches first? The superficial level. As the two start to

overlap, the personal levels may touch, then the intimate level, and finally the core levels may even touch. Have you ever known a couple—perhaps your parents or grandparents—who have been together for a very long time?

They know each other’s stories and finish each other’s sentences. They might represent the near overlap, where

their core values, attitudes, and beliefs are similar through a lifetime of shared experiences.

We move from public to private information as we progress from small talk to intimate conversations. Imagine an onion. The outer surface can be peeled away, and each new layer reveals another until you arrive at the heart of the onion. People interact on the surface, and only remove layers as trust and confidence grows.

Another way to look at it is to imagine an iceberg. How much of the total iceberg can you see from the surface

of the ocean? Not much. But once you start to look under the water, you gain an understanding of the large size

of the iceberg, and the extent of its depth. We have to go beyond superficial understanding to know each other,

and progress through the process of self-disclosure to come to know and understand one another. See Figure 14.5

“American Foreign Service Manual Iceberg Model” for an illustration of an “iceberg model” adapted from the

American Foreign Service Manual (American Foreign Service Manual, 1975). This model has existed in several forms since the 1960s, and serves as a useful illustration of how little we perceive of each other with our first impressions and general assumptions.

References

Altman, I., & Taylor, D. (1973). Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

American Foreign Service Manual. (1975).

Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row.

14.5 Making an Argument

According to the famous satirist Jonathan Swift, “Argument is the worst sort of conversation.” You may be

inclined to agree. When people argue, they are engaged in conflict and it’s usually not pretty. It sometimes appears

that way because people resort to fallacious arguments or false statements, or they simply do not treat each other

with respect. They get defensive, try to prove their own points, and fail to listen to each other.

But this should not be what happens in persuasive argument. Instead, when you make an argument in a

persuasive speech, you will want to present your position with logical points, supporting each point with

appropriate sources. You will want to give your audience every reason to perceive you as an ethical and

trustworthy speaker. Your audience will expect you to treat them with respect, and to present your argument in

way that does not make them defensive. Contribute to your credibility by building sound arguments and using

strategic arguments with skill and planning.

In this section, we will briefly discuss the classic form of an argument, a more modern interpretation, and finally

seven basic arguments you may choose to use. Imagine that each is a tool in your toolbox, and that you want

to know how to use each effectively. Know that people who try to persuade you, from telemarketers to politics,

usually have these tools at hand.

Let’s start with a classical rhetorical strategy, as shown in Table 14.2 “Classical Rhetorical Strategy”. It asks

the rhetorician, speaker, or author to frame arguments in six steps.

The classical rhetorical strategy is a standard pattern and you will probably see it in both speech and English

courses. The pattern is useful to guide you in your preparation of your speech and can serve as a valuable checklist

to ensure that you are prepared. While this formal pattern has distinct advantages, you may not see it used exactly

as indicated here on a daily basis. What may be more familiar to you is Stephen Toulmin’s rhetorical strategy that

focuses on three main elements, shown in Table 14.3 “Toulmin’s Three-Part Rhetorical Strategy”.

Toulmin’s rhetorical strategy is useful in that it makes the claim explicit, clearly illustrating the relationship

between the claim and the data, and allows the listener to follow the speaker’s reasoning. You may have a good

idea or point, but your audience will be curious and want to know how you arrived at that claim or viewpoint. The

warrant often addresses the inherent and often unspoken question, “Why is this data so important to your topic?”

and helps you illustrate relationships between information for your audience. This model can help you clearly

articulate it for your audience.

Argumentation Strategies: GASCAP/T

Here is useful way of organizing and remembering seven key argumentative strategies:

1. Argument by Generalization

2. Argument by Analogy

3. Argument by Sign

4. Argument by Consequence

5. Argument by Authority

6. Argument by Principle

7. Argument by Testimony

Richard Fulkerson notes that a single strategy is sufficient to make an argument some of the time, but more

common is an effort to combine two or more strategies to increase your powers of persuasion. He organized

the argumentative strategies in this way to compare the differences, highlight the similarities, and allow for their

discussion. This model, often called by its acronym GASCAP, is a useful strategy to summarize six key arguments

and is easy to remember. In Table 14.4 “GASCAP/T Strategies” we have adapted it, adding one more argument

that is often used in today’s speeches and presentations: the argument by testimony. This table presents each

argument, provides a definition of the strategy and an example, and examines ways to evaluate each approach.

Evidence

Now that we’ve clearly outlined several argument strategies, how do you support your position with evidence or

warrants? If your premise or the background from which you start is valid, and your claim is clear and clearly

related, the audience will naturally turn their attention to “prove it.” This is where the relevance of evidence

becomes particularly important. Here are three guidelines to consider in order to insure your evidence passes the

“so what?” test of relevance in relation to your claim. Make sure your evidence is:

1. Supportive Examples are clearly representative, statistics accurate testimony authoritative, and information reliable.

2. Relevant Examples clearly relate to the claim or topic, and you are not comparing “apples to oranges.”

3. Effective Examples are clearly the best available to support the claim, quality is preferred to quantity, there are only a few well-chosen statistics, facts or data.

Appealing to Emotions

While we’ve highlighted several points to consider when selecting information to support your claim, know that

Aristotle strongly preferred an argument based in logic over emotion. Can the same be said for your audience, and

to what degree is emotion and your appeal to it in your audience a part of modern life?

Emotions are a psychological and physical reaction, such as fear or anger, to stimuli that we experience as a

feeling. Our feelings or emotions directly impact our own point of view and readiness to communicate, but also

influence how, why, and when we say things. Emotions influence not only how you say what you say, but also how

you hear and what you hear. At times, emotions can be challenging to control. Emotions will move your audience,

and possibly even move you, to change or act in certain ways. Marketing experts are famous for creating a need

or associating an emotion with a brand or label in order to sell it. You will speak the language of your audience in

your document, and may choose to appeal to emotion, but you need to consider the strategic use as a tool that has

two edges.

Aristotle indicated the best, and most preferable, way to persuade an audience was through the use of logic,

free of emotion. He also recognized that people are often motivated, even manipulated, by the exploitation of their

emotions. In our modern context, we still engage this debate, demanding to know the facts separate from personal

opinion or agenda, but see the use of emotion used to sell products. If we think of the appeal to emotion as a

knife, we can see it has two edges. One edge can cut your audience, and the other can cut you. If you advance

an appeal to emotion in your document on spaying and neutering pets, and discuss the millions of unwanted pets

that are killed each year, you may elicit an emotional response. If you use this approach repeatedly, your audience

may grow weary of it, and it will lose its effectiveness. If you change your topic to the use of animals in research,

the same strategy may apply, but repeated attempts at engaging an emotional response may backfire on you, in

essence “cutting” you, and produce a negative response, called emotional resistance.

Emotional resistance involves getting tired, often to the point of rejection, of hearing messages that attempt

to elicit an emotional response. Emotional appeals can wear out the audience’s capacity to receive the message.

As Aristotle outlined, ethos (credibility), logos (logic) and pathos (passion, enthusiasm and emotional response)

constitute the building blocks of any document. It’s up to you to create a balanced document, where you may

appeal to emotion, but choose to use it judiciously.

On a related point, the use of an emotional appeal may also impair your ability to write persuasively or effectively. If you choose to present an article to persuade on the topic of suicide, and start with a photo of your brother or sister that you lost to suicide, your emotional response may cloud your judgment and get in the way of your thinking. Never use a personal story, or even a story of someone you do not know, if the inclusion of that story causes you to lose control. While it’s important to discuss relevant topics, including suicide, you need to assess you own relationship to the message. Your documents should not be an exercise in therapy and you will sacrifice ethos and credibility, even your effectiveness, if you “lose it” because you are really not ready to discuss the issue.

As we saw in our discussion of Altman and Taylor, most relationships form from superficial discussions and

grow into more personal conversations. Consider these levels of self-disclosure when planning your speech to

persuade in order to not violate conversational and relational norms.

Now that we’ve outlined emotions and their role in a speech in general and a speech to persuade specifically, it’s important we recognize the principles about emotions in communication that serve us well when speaking in public.

DeVito offers us five key principles to acknowledge the role emotions play in communication and offer guidelines

for their expression.

Emotions Are Universal

Emotions are a part of every conversation or interaction that we have. Whether or not you consciously experience

them while communicating with yourself or others, they influence how you communicate. By recognizing that

emotions are a component in all communication interactions, we can place emphasis on understanding both the

content of the message and the emotions that influence how, why, and when the content is communicated.

The context, which includes your psychological state of mind, is one of the eight basic components of

communication. Expression of emotions is important, but requires the three Ts: tact, timing, and trust. If you find

you are upset and at risk of being less than diplomatic, or the timing is not right, or you are unsure about the level

of trust, then consider whether you can effectively communicate your emotions. By considering these three Ts,

you can help yourself express your emotions more effectively.

Emotional Feelings and Emotional Expression Are Not the Same

Experiencing feelings and actually letting someone know you are experiencing them are two different things.

We experience feeling in terms of our psychological state, or state of mind, and in terms of our physiological

state, or state of our body. If we experience anxiety and apprehension before a test, we may have thoughts

that correspond to our nervousness. We may also have an increase in our pulse, perspiration, and respiration

(breathing) rate. Our expression of feelings by our body influences our nonverbal communication, but we can

complement, repeat, replace, mask, or even contradict our verbal messages. Remember that we can’t tell with any

degree of accuracy what other people are feeling simply through observation, and neither can they tell what we

are feeling. We need to ask clarifying questions to improve understanding. With this in mind, plan for a time to

provide responses and open dialogue after the conclusion of your speech.

Emotions Are Communicated Verbally and Nonverbally

You communicate emotions not only through your choice of words but also through the manner in which you say those words. The words themselves communicate part of your message, but the nonverbal cues, including inflection, timing, space, and paralanguage can modify or contradict your spoken message. Be aware that emotions are expressed in both ways and pay attention to how verbal and nonverbal messages reinforce and complement each other.

Emotional Expression Can Be Good and Bad

Expressing emotions can be a healthy activity for a relationship and build trust. It can also break down trust

if expression is not combined with judgment. We’re all different, and we all experience emotions, but how we

express our emotions to ourselves and others can have a significant impact on our relationships. Expressing

frustrations may help the audience realize your point of view and see things as they have never seen them before.

However, expressing frustrations combined with blaming can generate defensiveness and decrease effective

listening. When you’re expressing yourself, consider the audience’s point of view, be specific about your

concerns, and emphasize that your relationship with your listeners is important to you.

Emotions Are Often Contagious

Have you ever felt that being around certain people made you feel better, while hanging out with others brought

you down? When we interact with each other, some of our emotions can be considered contagious. If your friends

decide to celebrate, you may get caught up in the energy of their enthusiasm. Thomas Joiner noted that when one

college roommate was depressed, it took less than three weeks for the depression to spread to the other roommate

(Joiner, T., 1994). It is important to recognize that we influence each other with our emotions, positively and

negatively. Your emotions as the speaker can be contagious, so use your enthusiasm to raise the level of interest

in your topic. Conversely, you may be subject to “catching” emotions from your audience. Your listeners may

have just come from a large lunch and feel sleepy, or the speaker who gave a speech right before you may have

addressed a serious issue like suicide. Considering the two-way contagious action of emotions means that you’ll

need to attend to the emotions that are present as you prepare to address your audience.

References

Altman, I., & Taylor, D. (1973). Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Aristotle. (1991). On rhetoric (G. A. Kennedy, Trans.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

DeVito, J. (2003). Messages: Building interpersonal skills. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Fulkerson, R. (1996). The Toulmin model of argument and the teaching of composition. In B. Emmel, P. Resch, & D. Tenney (Eds.), Argument revisited: Argument redefined: Negotiating meaning the composition classroom (pp. 45–72). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Joiner, T. (1994). Contagious depression: Existence, specificity to depressed symptoms, and the role or reassurance seeking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 287.

Toulmin, S. (1958). The uses of argument. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

14.6 Speaking Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies

What comes to mind when you think of speaking to persuade? Perhaps the idea of persuasion may bring to mind

propaganda and issues of manipulation, deception, intentional bias, bribery, and even coercion. Each element

relates to persuasion, but in distinct ways. In a democratic society, we would hope that our Bill of Rights is

intact and validated, and that we would support the exercise of freedom to discuss, consider and debate issues

when considering change. We can recognize that each of these elements in some ways has a negative connotation

associated with it. Why do you think that deceiving your audience, bribing a judge, or coercing people to do

something against their wishes is wrong? These tactics violate our sense of fairness, freedom, and ethics.

Manipulation involves the management of facts, ideas or points of view to play upon inherent insecurities or

emotional appeals to one’s own advantage. Your audience expects you to treat them with respect, and deliberately

manipulating them by means of fear, guilt, duty, or a relationship is unethical. In the same way, deception involves

the use of lies, partial truths, or the omission of relevant information to deceive your audience. No one likes to be

lied to, or made to believe something that is not true. Deception can involve intentional bias, or the selection of

information to support your position while framing negatively any information that might challenge your belief.

Bribery involves the giving of something in return for an expected favor, consideration, or privilege. It

circumvents the normal protocol for personal gain, and again is a strategy that misleads your audience. Coercion

is the use of power to compel action. You make someone do something they would not choose to do freely. You

might threaten punishment, and people may go along with you while the “stick” is present, but once the threat

is removed, they will revert to their previous position, often with new antagonism toward the person or agency

that coerced them. While you may raise the issue that the ends justify the means, and you are “doing it for the

audience’s own good,” recognize the unethical nature of coercion.

As Martin Luther King Jr. stated in his advocacy of nonviolent resistance, two wrongs do not make a right.

They are just two wrongs and violate the ethics that contribute to community and healthy relationships. Each

issue certainly relates to persuasion, but you as the speaker should be aware of each in order to present an ethical

persuasive speech. Learn to recognize when others try to use these tactics on you, and know that your audience

will be watching to see if you try any of these strategies on them.

Eleven Points for Speaking Ethically

In his book Ethics in Human Communication (Johannesen, R., 1996), Richard Johannesen offers eleven points to

consider when speaking to persuade. His main points reiterate many of the points across this chapter and should

be kept in mind as you prepare, and present, your persuasive message.

Do not:

• use false, fabricated, misrepresented, distorted or irrelevant evidence to support arguments or claims.

• intentionally use unsupported, misleading, or illogical reasoning.

• represent yourself as informed or an “expert” on a subject when you are not.

• use irrelevant appeals to divert attention from the issue at hand.

• ask your audience to link your idea or proposal to emotion-laden values, motives, or goals to which it is actually not related.

• deceive your audience by concealing your real purpose, by concealing self-interest, by concealing the group you represent, or by concealing your position as an advocate of a viewpoint.

• distort, hide, or misrepresent the number, scope, intensity, or undesirable features of consequences or effects.

• use “emotional appeals” that lack a supporting basis of evidence or reasoning.

• oversimplify complex, gradation-laden situations into simplistic, two-valued, either-or, polar views or choices.

• pretend certainty where tentativeness and degrees of probability would be more accurate.

• advocate something which you yourself do not believe in.

Aristotle said the mark of a good person, well spoken was a clear command of the faculty of observing in any

given case the available means of persuasion. He discussed the idea of perceiving the many points of view related

to a topic, and their thoughtful consideration. While it’s important to be able to perceive the complexity of a case,

you are not asked to be a lawyer defending a client.

In your speech to persuade, consider honesty and integrity as you assemble your arguments. Your audience will

appreciate your thoughtful consideration of more than one view, your understanding of the complexity, and you

will build your ethos, or credibility, as you present your document. Be careful not to stretch the facts, or assemble

them only to prove yourself, and instead prove the argument on its own merits. Deception, coercion, intentional

bias, manipulation and bribery should have no place in your speech to persuade.

Avoiding Fallacies

Fallacies are another way of saying false logic. These rhetorical tricks deceive your audience with their style,

drama, or pattern, but add little to your speech in terms of substance and can actually detract from your

effectiveness. There are several techniques or “tricks” that allow the speaker to rely on style without offering

substantive argument, to obscure the central message, or twist the facts to their own gain. Here we will examine

the eight classical fallacies. You may note that some of them relate to the ethical cautions listed earlier in this

section. Eight common fallacies are presented in Table 14.5 “Fallacies”. Learn to recognize these fallacies so they

can’t be used against you, and so that you can avoid using them with your audience.

References

Johannesen, R. (1996). Ethics in human communication (4th ed.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.

14.7 Sample Persuasive Speech

Here is a generic, sample speech in an outline form with notes and suggestions.

Attention Statement

Show a picture of a person on death row and ask the audience: does an innocent man deserve to die?

Introduction

Briefly introduce the man in an Illinois prison and explain that he was released only days before his impending

death because DNA evidence (not available when he was convicted), clearly established his innocence.

A statement of your topic and your specific stand on the topic:

“My speech today is about the death penalty, and I am against it.”

Introduce your credibility and the topic: “My research on this controversial topic has shown me that deterrence

and retribution are central arguments for the death penalty, and today I will address each of these issues in turn.”

State your main points.

“Today I will address the two main arguments for the death penalty, deterrence and retribution, and examine

how the governor of one state decided that since some cases were found to be faulty, all cases would be stayed

until proven otherwise.”

Body Information: Provide a simple explanation of the death penalty in case there are people who do not know about it.

Provide clear definitions of key terms.

Deterrence: Provide arguments by generalization, sign, and authority.

Retribution: Provide arguments by analogy, cause, and principle.

Case study: State of Illinois, Gov. George Ryan. Provide an argument by testimony and authority by quoting:

“You have a system right now…that’s fraught with error and has innumerable opportunities for innocent people

to be executed,” Dennis Culloton, spokesman for the Governor, told the Chicago Tribune. “He is determined not

to make that mistake.”

Solution steps:

1. National level. “Stay all executions until the problem that exists in Illinois, and perhaps the nation, is addressed.”

2. Local level. “We need to encourage our own governor to examine the system we have for similar errors and opportunities for innocent people to be executed.”

3. Personal level. “Vote, write your representatives, and help bring this issue to the forefront in your community.”

Conclusion

Reiterate your main points and provide synthesis; do not introduce new content.

Residual Message

Imagine that you have been assigned to give a persuasive presentation lasting five to seven minutes. Follow the

guidelines in Table 14.6 “Sample Speech Guidelines” and apply them to your presentation.

14.8 Elevator Speech

An elevator speech is to oral communication what a Twitter message (limited to 140 characters) is to written

communication. It has to engage and interest the listener, inform and/or persuade, and be memorable (Howell, L.,

2006). An elevator speech is a presentation that persuades the listener in less than thirty seconds, or around a

hundred words. It takes its name from the idea that in a short elevator ride (of perhaps ten floors), carefully chosen

words can make a difference. In addition to actual conversations taking place during elevator rides, other common

examples include the following:

• An entrepreneur making a brief presentation to a venture capitalist or investor

• A conversation at the water cooler

• Comments during intermission at a basketball game

• A conversation as you stroll across the parking lot

Creating an Elevator Speech

An elevator speech does not have to be a formal event, though it can be. An elevator speech is not a full sales

pitch and should not get bloated with too much information. The idea is not to rattle off as much information as

possible in a short time, nor to present a “canned” thirty-second advertising message, but rather to give a relaxed

and genuine “nutshell” summary of one main idea. The speech can be generic and nonspecific to the audience or

listener, but the more you know about your audience, the better. When you tailor your message to that audience,

you zero in on your target and increase your effectiveness (Albertson, E., 2008). The emphasis is on brevity, but a

good elevator speech will address several key questions:

1. What is the topic, product or service?

2. Who are you?

3. Who is the target market? (if applicable)

4. What is the revenue model? (if applicable)

5. What or who is the competition and what are your advantages?

Example:

1. How are you doing?

2. Great! Glad you asked. I’m with (X Company) and we just received this new (product x)—it is

amazing. It beats the competition hands down for a third of the price. Smaller, faster, and less

expensive make it a winner. It’s already a sales leader. Hey, if you know anyone who might be

interested, call me! (Hands business card to the listener as visual aid)

References

Albertson, E. (2008). How to open doors with a brilliant elevator speech. New Providence, NJ: R. R. Bowker.

Howell, L. (2006). Give your elevator speech a lift. Bothell, WA: Publishers Network.

14.9 Additional Resources

Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, asks, “Which messages spur citizens to protect the environment?” January 25, 2007, at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA); free downloads of MP3 and PDF transcripts are available. https://www.thersa.org/discover/audio/2014/09/small-changes-to-make-a-big-difference/

Justthink.org promotes critical thinking skills and awareness of the impact of images in the media among young people. http://www.change.org/organizations/just_think_foundation

Watch a YouTube video of a persuasive speech on becoming a hero. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYtm8uEo5vU

Watch a YouTube video of a persuasive speech on same-sex marriage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR4N8oEQR3c&feature=related

Professional speaker Ruth Sherman speaks persuasively about her book, Get Them to See It Your Way, Right Away. http://www.ruthsherman.com/video.asp

Visit this site for a video and other resources about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. http://www.abrahammaslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp

Read an informative article on negotiating face-to-face across cultures by Stella Ting-Toomey. https://www.sfu.ca/davidlamcentre/forum/past_PRF/PRF_1999/intercultural-conflict-competence-eastern-andwestern-lenses.html

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides a guide to persuasive speaking strategies. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/04

Visit the Web site of talk show host Sean Hannity and assess his persuasive speaking techniques. http://www.hannity.com

Visit the Web site of National Public Radio and assess the persuasive message of various radio programs. http://www.npr.org

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