1. Chapter 16
Persuasive Speaking

2. • Define the goals of persuasive
speaking
• Develop a persuasive topic and
thesis
• Evaluate your listeners and tailor
your speech to them
Chapter Outcomes

3. • Explain three forms of rhetorical
proof: ethos, logos, and pathos
• Identify the logical fallacies,
deceptive forms of reasoning
• Choose an appropriate
organizational strategy for your
speech
Chapter Outcomes
(cont.)

4. Persuasion
The process of
influencing
attitudes, beliefs,
and behaviors on a
given topic

5. The Goals of
Persuasive Speaking
• Influencing attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviors of your audience
– Attitudes are evaluations of people,
objects, ideas, or events.
– Beliefs are how people perceive reality.
– Behavior is how people act or function.

6. Developing a
Persuasive
Topic and Thesis• Your topic should…
– be somewhat controversial
– allow you to develop a message to bring
about change in the audience

7. Developing a
Persuasive
Topic and Thesis (cont.)
• A persuasive thesis may be
stated as a...
– proposition of fact
– proposition of value
– proposition of policy

8. Developing a
Persuasive
Topic and Thesis (cont.)• Propositions of Fact
– Claim what something is or what
something is not
– Involve issues that have conflicting
evidence or beliefs
• Goal: Align your audience’s perception
or opinion of the fact with your own.

9. Developing a
Persuasive
Topic and Thesis (cont.)• Propositions of Value
– Claim that something meets or does not
meet a specific standard of goodness
or quality or right or wrong
– Value statements reflect your opinion
• Goal: Align your audience’s beliefs and
attitudes with your own.

10. Developing a
Persuasive
Topic and Thesis (cont.)• Propositions of Policy
– Make claims about what goal, policy, or
course of action should be pursued
– Commonly used during election
campaigns
• Goal: Persuade your audience that a
current policy is or is not working.

11. Persuading Your
Audience
• Understanding Your Audience’s
Disposition
– Receptive audience
– Hostile audience
– Neutral audience

12. Persuading Your
Audience (cont.)
• Consider what you would like your
audience to do at the speech’s
conclusion.
– What is their anchor position at the
beginning of the speech?
– This determines their latitude of
acceptance and rejection.

13. Persuading Your
Audience (cont.)
• Understanding Your Audience’s Needs

14. Persuading Your
Audience (cont.)
• Understanding What Is Relevant to
Your Audience
– Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
• Central processing (longer lasting)
• Peripheral processing

15. Persuading Your
Audience (cont.)
• Determining relevance:
– Is your message relevant to listeners?
– Did you present the topic at the correct
level?
– Did you establish your credibility?
– Did you create a common bond?

16. Strategies for
Persuasive Speaking
• Forms of rhetorical proof
– Ethos
• Speaker’s qualifications and personality
– Logos
• Nature of speech’s message
– Pathos
• Audience’s feelings

17. Strategies for
Persuasive Speaking
(cont.)
• Ethos (moral character)
– Credibility
– Character
– Trustworthiness
– Goodwill

18. Strategies for
Persuasive Speaking
(cont.)
• Logos (reasoning)
– Inductive reasoning draws general
conclusions based on evidence.
– Deductive reasoning proceeds from
the general to the specific.
• syllogism: major premise, minor premise,
conclusion

19. Strategies for
Persuasive Speaking
(cont.)
• Pathos (appeal to listener's
emotions)
– Should be combined with
logical appeals for lasting
effect

20. Strategies for
Persuasive Speaking
(cont.)
• Avoiding logical fallacies
– Bandwagoning
– Reduction to the absurd
– Red herring fallacy
– Personal attacks (ad hominem fallacy)
– Begging the question
– Either-or fallacy (false dilemma
fallacy)
– Appeal to tradition
– Slippery slope fallacy

21. Organizing Patterns
in Persuasive
Speaking
• Problem-solution pattern
– Alternative: problem-cause-solution
• Refutational organizational pattern
– Show points opposed to your own
• Comparative advantage pattern
– Effective when listeners know the issue

22. Organizing Patterns in
Persuasive Speaking
(cont.)
• Monroe’s Motivated Sequence
– Attention
– Need
– Satisfaction
– Visualization
– Action