Techniques of Persuasion

and Rhetoric

What is Persuasion?Persuasion is the simply, the art of swaying or manipulating people’s feeling, opinions and/or actions. Speakers, writers and advertisers can enhance strong arguments or disguise weak ones in order to better promote their product or idea.

In order to not be swayed, we must be able to identify the techniques these speakers, writers and advertisers are using in order to objectively examine their product or idea

Thesis

Example Example Example

Explain Explain Explain

Restate

How is it Different from Analysis?Analysis Structure

Claim

Reason Reason Reason

Evidence Evidence Evidence

Counter

Refute

How is it Different from Analysis?Persuasive Structure

Associative Appeals: Speakers, writers and advertisers can influence your feelings, opinions and actions by utilizing language that appeals by association.

1. Bandwagon Appeal: “Everybody’s doing it…”…People associate product with a sense of belonging and fitting in

2. Everyman Appeal: “Nothing fancy about it…”…People associate product with accessibility, we all can do it

3. Testimonial: “And you will too…”…People associate celebrity endorser with product

4. Transfer: “It’s like…”…People make positive associations between product and

image/idea

How Do the Pros Persuade?

How Do the Pros Persuade?Emotional Appeals: Speakers, writers and advertisers can influence your feelings, opinions and actions by specifically targeting your emotions.

1. Pathos: “Feeling not facts…”…People are emotional by nature, we are easily influenced by

laugher, sadness, lust, anger, jealousy, etc. and we are more likely to do things if we find joy in them, or feel guilty about it

Moral Appeals: Speakers, writers and advertisers can influence your feelings, opinions and actions by specifically targeting your ethics or your beliefs about what is right and wrong.

1. Ethos: “It’s what is right…”…People who are religious, traditional, or self righteous are particularly influenced because if you think it is the right thing to

do, you are more likely to do it

How Do the Pros Persuade?

How Do the Pros Persuade?Logic Appeals: Speakers, writers and advertisers can influence your feelings, opinions and actions by specifically targeting your logic by convincing you it makes the most sense for you.

1. Logos: “If…Then…”…Some people are very scientific or black and white about the

world and need numbers or statistics or factual and reliable information

What are Rhetorical Devices?Rhetorical devices are the ways in which speakers, writers, and advertisers use language to emphasize their product of ideas in order to make it more memorable.

1. Repetition (anaphora): use of the same words or phrases more than once for emphasis

2. Parallelism: use of similar syntax (sentence structure) to express related ideas or ideas of equal importance; this often creates a rhythm

3. Analogy: use of a comparison between two subjects to allow for comparisons and connections to be made

View the following Pepsi ads and determine which persuasive techniques are used; there may be more than one

You Try…

Read And Ain’t I a Woman? adapted from a speech by Sojourner Truth. • Circle repetition• Box parallelism• Underline analogy

You Try…