modes of persuasion kelly ludwig, assistant professor kcai graphic design department I also call it “modes of appeal” ethos pathos logos modes of appeal Back in 350 b.c.e. Aristotle developed his ideas about the modes of persuasion, the potential for a speaker’s appeal to an audience. He organized his thoughts into three distinct categories “Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word, there are three kinds…” to summarize, a brief quote about his ideas: Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. [...] ethos “Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible.” Ethos (credibility / character), or ethical appeal, means convincing by the character of the author. We tend to believe people whom we respect. One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to, in other words making yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect. pathos “Secondly, persuasion may come through the hearers, when the speech stirs their emotions.” Pathos is the Greek word for both “suffering” and “experience.” The words empathy and pathetic are derived from pathos. In design it means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. We can look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how pathos, emotional appeals, are used to persuade. Language choice affects the audience's emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument. logos “Thirdly, persuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or an apparent truth by means of the persuasive arguments suitable to the case in question.” – Aristotle Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. This will be the most important technique we will study, and Aristotle's favorite. We'll look at deductive and inductive reasoning, and discuss what makes an effective, persuasive reason to back up your claims. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough. We'll study the types of support you can use to substantiate your thesis, and look at some of the common logical fallacies, in order to avoid them in your writing. ethos defined greek for “character” • credibility • respectability, reputation • like-ability • message quality • ex: testimonials, endorsements, seals of approval More simply put, we will be briefly examining ethos: an ethical appeal Ethos is the greek word for “character”, so it is persuading by the character of the author. It includes factors like • credibility • respectability • likability The author’s reputation is independent of the message [are they an accepted authority on the subject?] Within the message, attention is paid to grammar, spelling, citing sources, etc. Refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or speaker. -appealing to ethics, moral, and character ethos within graphic design "Ethos" is used to describe the audience's perception of the rhetor's credibility or authority. The audience asks themselves, "What does this person know about this topic?" and "Why should I trust this person?" An author would use ethos to show to his audience that he is a credible source and is worth listening to. Ethos is the Greek word for “character.” The word “ethic” is derived from ethos. Your audience will judge your propositions as being more true and acceptable if you succeed to establish your credibility. Aristotle argued that three things must be communicated in order to appear trustworthy: • Practical intelligence • A virtuous character • Good will main techniques: • personal branding • confidence in delivery • cites credible resources ethosics Ethos / Appealing to the audience through the credibility of the author or a spokesperson. How can you remember this? extrinsic ethos There are two kinds of ethos: extrinsic (outside what you have to say) and intrinsic (inside what you have to say). Extrinsic ethos is the reputation or character of the author that precedes them. It is based on prior knowledge and/or assumptions we make about the author. A good test of extrinsic ethos is to ask yourself, “Based on what I’ve already seen or heard about this person, product, experience, or thing, how credible does it seem? Institutions, public roles and publications also project an ethos or credibility. We assume, for example, that The New York Times is a more credible source than the Weekly World News or the National Inquirer. Examples of extrinsic ethos would be this: If you are a successful professional basketball player talking about basketball to other pro athletes, then your ethos is strong with your audience even before you open your mouth. Your audience assumes you are knowledgable about your subject because of your experience. If you are a baseball player talking about basketball, instead, then your extrinsic ethos is not as strong because you haven't been played pro basketball, but you're still a professional athlete and know something about that kind of life. If you were a college professor of graphic design, then your extrinsic ethos is likely to be pretty weak, since your knowledge of professional basketball and you’re not that tall. http://w.web.umkc.edu/williamsgh/dialogues/225.rhetorical.appeals.html Think of testimonials, the reputation of the author / spokesperson is previously established think of testimonials And we usually assume that a person selected for a position of responsibility or honor is more credible than someone without official sanction. The use of celebrity spokespeople constitutes an ethical appeal. they are borrowing an authority or expert on the subject, someone whose reputation precedes them, to speak on the topic. Many times in advertising, the “expert” status of the spokesperson is questionable, at best, and the relationship is a stretch. Oh yeah, there is the “danger” of investing in someone’s character. This particular example is noteworthy on multiple levels. First, Lance Armstrong, as a cancer survivor, is certainly a credible spokesperson on the topic of cancer, and his status as a seven time Tour de France winner establishes his authority as someone who “lives strong”. However, Armstrong’s doping accusations and subsequent removal from the record books as the tour winner demonstrate how credibility can change over time, affecting the credibility of the companies or products with which they are associated. intrinsic ethos Intrinsic ethos is the impression created by the text itself when you encounter it. In this situation, ask yourself, “What was the quality or reliability of the product or experience once you encountered it?” Let’s go back to that basketball analogy. Let's say you're that professional basketball player mentioned before, and you start to address your audience and suddenly you stutter and mumble, you get all the rules of basketball wrong ("there's a three-point line?"), and you mispronounce other players' names, and you reveal your ignorance of the history of basketball by mentioning teams that never existed. Suddenly your overall ethos takes a nose-dive with your audience, and you become less persuasive. At the other extreme, let's say you're that college design professor, and you speak with confidence and reveal that you know a great deal not only about the intricacies of basketball, but also about individual players' records, and the history and origins of the sport. Your overall ethos, which was weak to begin with because the audience was skeptical of what an design professor would know about their sport, suddenly gets stronger. It gets stronger because your intrinsic ethos goes up in the eyes of your audience. So, these marks are considered to be intrinsic ethos. Quality is realized through experience. The good housekeeping seal of approval is a sought-after mark of quality for many home-related products that display a level of acceptance by a kind of “accrediting body”. Displaying this seal on your product implies that it is a cut above the competition. An interesting note about the design of this logo is that the large black and white mark is actually the newest version and the blue and red mark is the previous version. Even the seal of approval needs to maintain a look of authority by reverting to an old-fashioned look, and asserting how long they have been around. So, these marks are considered to be intrinsic ethos. Quality is realized through experience. what details do you see on this patch that seek to establish the sense of authority or strong reputation of this company? notice how many claims are made here: original, quality, trade mark, the patent and the date it was patented. this patch is loaded with references to the credibility of the company and the product. pathos defined greek for “suffering” or “experience” • emotional use of language • generates sympathy • conjures one’s imagination • uses sensory details • ex: puppies, “poster children,” sex sells Pathos is often associated with emotional appeal. It is persuasion by appealing to our emotions. This is done through • the use of strong, clever, vivid, emotional use of language • generating a sense of sympathy with the subject • conjuring one’s imagination • using sensory details like showing detailed visuals, describing smells or using sound to create a sense of place pathos within graphic design Does the message connect with me emotionally? Emotions have the power to modify our judgments, appealing to emotions can help burst positive arguments or dampen negative arguments. Designer use pathos to invoke sympathy from an audience; to make the audience feel what what the author wants them to feel. A common use of pathos would be to draw pity from an audience.