Chapter 18 Review

“Persuasive speakers are credible, logical, and emotionally affecting.”

After you have selected a topic for your persuasive speech, analyzed your audience, and chosen an effective thesis, you need to develop a message that compels listeners to accept your thesis—and your ultimate goal of changing or strengthening their beliefs, attitudes, or actions. You can do this by combining ethos, logos, and pathos.

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Through ethos, you establish your credibility as a speaker. The audience must perceive that you are competent and trustworthy and have their best interests at heart. You can avoid losing credibility by avoiding statements that raise doubts about your knowledge, honesty, or goodwill.

Through logos, you use credible evidence to support your claims. You also present sound reasoning to establish these claims by using examples, comparisons, signs, and cause-effect relationships. When reasoning, it is essential to avoid logical fallacies.

Through pathos, you further strengthen your persuasive power by evoking your audience members’ emotions—not to manipulate your listeners but to move them in an ethical and responsible manner to take the action you’re proposing or adopt the belief you’re advocating.

Together, ethos, logos, and pathos can help you win your listeners’ heads (their reason), hearts (their emotions), and hands (their commitment to action). Master these three tools, and you’ll greatly enhance your prowess as a persuasive speaker.

LaunchPad for Speak Up offers videos and encourages self-assessment through adaptive quizzing. Look for the check icon and play icon throughout the chapter for adaptive quizzing and online video activities.

Key Terms

ethos (credibility) 538

competence 538

trustworthiness 538

goodwill 539

Play video logos 543

evidence 543

fallacious (faulty) reasoning 543

precise evidence 544

Play video inductive reasoning 547

example reasoning 547

representative example 549

comparison reasoning 550

sign reasoning 550

causal reasoning 551

Play video hasty generalization 553

post hoc fallacy 553

reversed causality 555

Play video ad populum (bandwagon) fallacy 555

Play video ad hominem (personal attack) fallacy 555

straw person fallacy 556

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Play video slippery slope fallacy 557

Play video false dilemma fallacy 557

appeal to tradition fallacy 558

Play video pathos 560

fear appeal 561

loaded language fallacy 565

Review Questions

  1. Question

    Explain the three primary elements of credibility.

  2. Question

    Indicate six steps you can take to enhance your own credibility.

  3. Question

    What are four mistakes you can make that may harm your credibility?

  4. Question

    What are three fundamental components of a logical message?

  5. Question

    Identify and explain eight logical fallacies.

  6. Question

    What factors come into play when making an emotional appeal?

  7. Question

    What kinds of practices can harm an emotional appeal?

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. Question

    What role does audience analysis play in establishing your credibility? Is the speaker’s responsibility to back up claims with solid evidence the same for a sympathetic audience as it is for a hostile or neutral audience?

  2. Question

    As an audience member, how can you identify logical fallacies during a speech? How can you identify weak or misleading evidence? How do you react when a speaker’s claims are based on unsound evidence or reasoning?

  3. Question

    How should a speaker who favors a particular tradition develop a logical argument in favor of that tradition that avoids committing an appeal to tradition fallacy? For example, how might a speaker build a case for the general education requirement described in the text on page 558? In a broader sense, how can you build a strong and ethical argument for maintaining a tradition that you support?
    How should a speaker who favors a particular tradition develop a logical argument in favor of that tradition that avoids committing an appeal to tradition fallacy? For example, how might a speaker build a case for the general education requirement described in the text on page 558? In a broader sense, how can you build a strong and ethical argument for maintaining a tradition that you support?

  4. Question

    What types of presentation aids can you use to build your credibility?

  5. Question

    Reflect on your position on a controversial issue in society. What evidence could persuade you to change your mind or adopt a neutral position? Who or what would be a credible source that might induce you to rethink your position? How can the answers to these questions help you in your own efforts as a persuasive speaker?

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Activities

  1. Question

    Working in a group, select a thesis for a persuasive speech. Then prepare four supporting arguments for that thesis, using a different type of inductive reasoning (example, comparison, sign, and causal) for each supporting argument.
    Chapter 18 - Activity Question 1

  2. Question

    Select an issue that would be appropriate for a persuasive speech. Construct three different arguments for that issue using powerful language (see p. 562). Break into groups, and share your arguments. After each person shares, have the others rate the effectiveness of the argument on a scale of 1 (not convincing) to 10 (highly convincing). After providing ratings, group members should explain why they found some words and phrases more powerful than others.
    Chapter 18 - Activity Question 2

  3. Question

    Create a credibility checklist based on the bulleted list on pages 539 to 540. Review a persuasive speech in this text or one that you find on the Internet, and see how many of the criteria the speaker fulfills.
    Chapter 18 - Activity Question 3

  4. Question

    Video Activity 18.4: “Morales, Without Liberty and Justice for All.” Watch Enrique Morales’s persuasive speech. Identify where he uses ethos, pathos, and logos in an effort to persuade his audience. Evaluate how well he uses evidence and reasoning to build his case. Are there any changes you would advise him to make?
    Chapter 18 - Activity Question 4

  5. Question

    Review the illustration “Supporting Causal Reasoning”. Working individually or in groups, select a claim based on causal reasoning that you could make in a persuasive speech. Then think of one argument in support of that claim that explains the link between cause and effect, explain the type of credentials that would make an author credible on this claim, and identify a correlation that would help show a link between cause and effect.
    Chapter 18 - Activity Question 5

  6. Question

    Watch a few episodes of a program such as The Daily Show. For one episode, assess each comedic bit or segment, and identify those that focus on pundits’ and politicians’ use of loaded language and fear appeals. Characterize a few of the fallacies being exposed.
    Chapter 18 - Activity Question 6