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Step 2: Analyze Your Audience 217

audience sOciOlOgY Communication
When analyzing an audience, be careful not to assume that people covered by the Choice Point
same label are necessarily all alike. As soon as you begin to use a sociological charac- unpopular thesis
teristic with an expressed or implied “all,” consider the possibility that you may be You’ve decided to tackle the
stereotyping. Don’t assume that all women or all older people or all highly educated hypocrisy you see in classmates who publicly
people think or believe the same things. They don’t. Nevertheless, there are charac- support the values of racial equality but
teristics that seem to be more common among one group than another, and it is privately express racist attitudes. You’re afraid,
these characteristics that you want to explore in analyzing your audience. Some of however, that your audience will walk out on
the most important factors are considered in Table 11.2. you as soon as you state your thesis. What are
some of the things you can do to avoid any knee-
jerk reaction from your listeners? What might you
audience PsYchOlOgY say (especially in your introduction) to make
them listen to what essentially will be criticism?
Focus your psychological analysis of the audience on three questions: How willing is
your audience? How knowledgeable is your audience? And how favorable is your
audience?

how Willing is Your audience? If you face an audience that is willing (even eager) to
hear your speech, you’ll have an easy time relating your speech to them. If, however, your
audience is listening unwillingly, consider the following suggestions:
● Secure their attention as early in your speech as possible—and maintain their interest
throughout—with supporting materials that will speak to their motives, interests, and Take a look at “Religion and
concerns. Religiousness” at tcbdevito
.blogspot.com. How important
● Relate your topic and supporting materials directly to your audience’s needs and wants; is religion to members of your
show them how what you are saying will help them achieve what they want. communication class?

TABle 11.2 audience sociology
No list of audience characteristics can possibly be complete, and the list presented here is no exception. These, then, are some of the audi-
ence factors you may want to consider and some questions you may want to ask, depending on your specific thesis and audience.

audience characteristics Questions to ask
Cultural factors Are the cultural beliefs and values of the audience relevant to your topic and purpose? Might the cultural
memberships of this audience influence the way they see the topic?
Age Will the ages of your audience members influence how your speech topic and purpose are viewed? Will
they see what you’re saying as relevant to the present and near future?
Gender Will both genders find your topic and supporting materials interesting and relevant? Will men and women
have different attitudes toward the topic or different experiences that will be relevant to your topic?
Religion and Will the religion and religiousness of your listeners influence their responses to your speech? Might your
religiousness topic or purpose be seen as an attack on the religious beliefs of any segment of your audience?
Educational levels Does the educational level of your audience suggest any stylistic adjustment? Will technical terms have to
be defined? Will the educational level suggest different persuasive strategies or supporting materials?
Occupation Is your audience’s level of job security and occupational pride related to your topic, purpose, or examples?
and income Will people from different economic levels see your topic and purpose in different ways?
Relational status Will singles be interested in hearing about the problems of selecting preschools? Will those in long-term
relationships be interested in the depression many people who are not in close relationships feel?
Values What do audience members value? What do they consider important to their current and future lives?
What do they hold sacred? What do they consider profane?
Special interests What special interests do the audience members have? What occupies their leisure time? How can you
integrate these interests into your examples and illustrations or use them as you select quotations?
Political beliefs Will audience members’ political affiliations influence how they view your topic or purpose? Are they
politically liberal? Conservative? Might this influence how you develop your speech?
Organizational Might audience members’ affiliations give you cues as to their other beliefs and values? Might you use
memberships references to these organizations in your speech, perhaps as examples or illustrations?