Things to Try: Activities

1. To enrich your understanding of the chapter, check out:

   LearningCurve for adaptive quizzing for the chapter.

   The “Browse Resources for this Unit” tab to view videos illustrating key concepts.

2. Question

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   Check out a persuasive speech video. You can view one of the persuasive speech videos that accompany this textbook, or you can check one out on YouTube. Listen to and watch the speech critically in light of what you have learned about persuasion. Does the speaker use a clear proposition of fact, value, or policy as a thesis statement? What do you feel the speaker is aiming at—influencing your beliefs, attitudes, or behavior? Maybe all three? Is the speaker’s use of rhetorical proofs effective? Consider the elements we have discussed: ethos (character), logos (reasoning), and pathos (emotion).
3. On your next grocery store trip or while waiting in a doctor’s office, look through some magazine advertisements (bridal magazines are particularly interesting to search). As you page through the advertisements looking for examples of appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos, consider the following questions:
   • What magazine and ads did you choose to examine?
   • Which form of proof do you find most persuasive? Why?
   • Which form of proof do you find least persuasive? Why?
   • Is there a form of proof used consistently in the ads of the particular magazine you looked at? Why do you think that is?
4. At one point in this chapter, we asked you to think of a time when an instructor presented a viewpoint that went against one of your deeply held beliefs. Now it’s time for you to be the speaker.
   • Choose a topic that you feel very passionate about (a controversial topic would work best here).
   • Now imagine that you are presenting the topic to a receptive audience, a neutral audience, and a hostile audience. What do you as a speaker need to do in order to prepare to present your topic to each type of audience? What do you know about your listeners’ dispositions? What do you know about their needs? What is most relevant to them?
   • Particularly when dealing with neutral and hostile audiences, what are some ways that you can bridge the gap between your beliefs and those of your audience members? How can you generate goodwill and understanding?
   • Is there a particular organizational pattern that would best suit you, your topic, or your audience? For example, are you sufficiently comfortable with and knowledgeable enough about your hostile audience’s counterpoints so that you are comfortable refuting them using the refutational organizational pattern?