As an English major, I am a lover of words. I get a geeky thrill when I read a well-crafted sentence and an even geekier thrill when I can see the way it leads to persuasion. Persuasion is a fascinating subject and vital to communications. Professional communicators are often looking to persuade someone to do something. In other words, Proctor and Gamble didn’t just distribute Tide to grocery stores and it magically became a leading detergent. Consumers had to be sold Tide.
There is a vast selection of books on how to persuade people. One of the most recognized works on a persuasion technique called rhetoric is Aristotle’s Rhetoric, written in 350 BCE (Roberts, n.d.). Aristotle defined rhetoric as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion (Roberts, n.d., Part 2).” In this work, Aristotle explained three important rhetorical appeals you can use to change someone’s mind: the appeal to ethos (credibility), appeal to logos (logic), and the appeal to pathos (emotion) (Roberts, n.d).
Ethos can be developed by virtue of a speaker’s credentials/status, or by employing techniques such as speaking in the same language as an audience (The Art, n.d.). Logos can be established with statistics, data, and reasoning (The Art, n.d.). Pathos can be developed by connecting with the audience emotionally (The Art, n.d.).
Chances are you have seen these types of appeals a million times in your life. For example:
Ethos:
Dr. Adams is speaking about the Coronavirus. His credibility is established by his medical degree and his status as the United States Surgeon General. Additionally, the reporter adds Dr. Adam’s credibility by calling him the “Nation’s top doctor.” These elements make him a viable authority on the subject and thus people are very likely to be persuaded by what he says.
Logos:
In order to convince people to buy Lysol, this ad provides the statistic that Lysol kills 99.9% of germs. This speaks to the effectiveness of Lysol and how it will achieve the desired result of cleaning a surface.
Pathos:
Pathos is seen in this Christmas ad. Apple tugs at our heartstrings with the heart-warming narrative that includes using their products.
These are just a few examples of how to use rhetoric in communications messages. There is a wealth of information about the subject in Rhetoric. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in persuasion.
Elizabeth
Sources:
The Art of Rhetoric. (n.d.) Retrieved on March 20, 2020, from http://utminers.utep.edu/kmooy/Arto%20of%20rhetoric.htm
Roberts, R. (n.d.) Retrieved on March 20, 2020, from http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.3.iii.html
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