Analysis of Persuasion in the Media Age (part 3)

Early Rhetorical Theory

The first theories of persuasion focused on oratory in literate cultures, which we refer to as rhetoric. For many centuries, we equated persuasion with rhetoric. However, traditional public speaking is no longer seen as the dominant form of persuasion. Today we consider many more types of persuasion including advertising, persuasive movements and organizational identification practices. Ancient theorists contributed much to our understanding of contemporary persuasion.



Aristotle

Aristotle was among the first theorists to present a unified theory of persuasion. Trained as a biologist, he was interested in classifying the elements of persuasion. Much of what Aristotle said about persuasion was recorded in The Rhetoric. His theory has served for centuries as a useful account of persuasion. If you have taken a class in public speaking, there is a good chance that you have relied on the wisdom of Aristotle in preparing and presenting your speeches.

Aristotle identified three types of persuasive situations: deliberative, forensic and epideictic. Deliberative speeches are designed to prove that some future action should be taken They are similar to speeches made in a legislative assembly. Your city council engages in deliberative persuasion when it debates whether to hire more police officers. The counsel members in favor of such a proposal may argue that hiring more police officers will reduce future crime. Deliberative speeches have as their ends the advantageous or the harmful. Speakers try to convince an audience that a future action will produce some advantage or prevent some harm. Forensic speeches attempt to prove that some past action occurred. Attorneys in a court of law engage in judicial persuasion. A prosecutor attempts to persuade the judge or jury that some criminal action took place in the past and that the defendant was responsible for the action . Defense counsel may dispute that the event took place or if it did, the defense may argue that the defendant was not responsible for the event. These speeches focus on the morals or virtues of the person or event in question. The speaker praises some individual because the individual displays virtues that are important to the community . A funeral eulogy usually praises an individual for his or her virtuous life.

• The study of ethos or the credibility of the speaker, is very important because audiences are persuaded not only by the argument presented, but by the speaker as well. According to Aristotle, a speaker's ethos is composed of three qualities:practical wisdom, virtue and goodwill. Practical wisdom concerns making decisions and having knowledge of what one is speaking about. Virtue refers to the qualities of compassion expressed by a speaker. Goodwill is having the audiences best interest at heart. A speaker who has these three traits is persuasive according to Aristotle. 
• Effective speakers not only have credibility (or ethos), but they use pathos as well. Pathos is a form of proof that appeals to an audience's emotions to persuade them. 
• The third type of artistic proof is logos or the use of logical argument. Aristotle wrote that there are two types of logical argument: induction and deduction.
• Inductive reasoning is argument by example: reasoning from particular cases to a universal conclusion. A persuader might use examples of three school shootings to argue that school violence is a serious problem that should be reduced.
• Deductive reasoning, on the other hand involves reasoning from generalizations to structurally certain conclusions. An example would be these three statements: All people are mortal. I am a person. Therefore, I am mortal.
• Style, or the manner in which ideas are communicated is important to the persuasive effect of communication as well. Aristotle summarized style by saying a communicator should "be clear." If a speech is not clear, it has not served its function.
• Aristotle was also interested in metaphor as a stylistic device. A metaphor associates a new idea with an idea the audience already understands. 

The End