Page 317 - Essentials of Human Communication

296 Chapter 14 The Persuasive Speech

Video Choice point
Planning for Success
Margo has been volunteering as a Big Sister for the past year and has made excellent progress
with her mentee. The organization is planning a service day for at-risk high school girls on the importance of
planning for college, and Margo has been asked to give a speech to the entire group of volunteers and men-
tees. Because she has only dealt with this topic on a one-to-one basis, Margo is concerned about how to be
persuasive while speaking to a fairly large group. She considers the topics covered in this chapter as she con-
templates her communication choices.

Watch the video “Planning for Success” at MyCommunicationLab.com

Character An audience will judge your credibility in terms of what they perceive is your
character—whether they see you as someone who is honest and whom they can trust. One
Explore the Exercise “Com- way to establish your moral character is to stress fairness. For example, stress that you’ve
parative Credibility Judgments” examined both sides of the issue (if indeed you have). Also, make it clear to the audience that
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you’re interested in their welfare rather than seeking self-gain. If the audience feels that you’re
“out for yourself,” they’ll justifiably question your credibility. Tell your audience how the new
legislation will reduce their taxes, how recycling will improve their community, how a knowl-
edge of sexual harassment will make their workplace more comfortable.
Watch the Video
“The Special Olympics” at
MyCommunicationLab Charisma Another quality that establishes credibility is charisma, a combination of your
personality and dynamism as seen by the audience. An audience will perceive you as credible
if they like you and see you as friendly and pleasant rather than aloof and reserved. Similarly,
audiences favor the dynamic speaker over the hesitant, nonassertive speaker.
One way to stress charisma is to demonstrate a positive outlook. Show the audience that
you have a positive orientation to the public speaking situation and to the entire speaker–
audience encounter. Stress your pleasure at addressing the audience. Stress hope rather than
despair, happiness rather than sadness. Demonstrate enthusiasm. Be emphatic. Use language
that’s vivid and concrete rather than colorless and vague. Use gestures that are clear and deci-
sive rather than random and hesitant. Demonstrate a firm commitment to the position you’re
advocating.

Listening to the Fallacies of Credibility Appeals and Character Attacks As
with logical or emotional appeals, become conscious of fallacious strategies that focus on at-
tacking the person. Be alert for the following fallacies in the speeches of others, and eliminate
them from your own reasoning:
● Personal interest attacks may attempt to disqualify someone from having a legitimate
point of view because he or she isn’t directly affected by an issue or proposal or doesn’t
have firsthand knowledge; for example, a speaker might dismiss an argument on abor-
tion merely because it was made by a man. This type of fallacy may also attempt to
disqualify someone because he or she will benefit in some way from a proposal. For
example, arguing that someone is rich, middle class, or poor and thus will benefit
greatly from a proposed tax cut does not mean that the argument for the tax cut is invalid.
The legitimacy of an argument can be judged only on the basis of the evidence and
reasoning presented.
● Character attacks, often referred to as ad hominem arguments, involve accusing another
person (usually an opponent) of some wrongdoing or of some character flaw. The pur-
pose is to discredit the person or to divert attention from the issue under discussion.
Arguments such as “How can we support a candidate who has smoked pot [or avoided
the military]?” or “Do you want to believe someone who has been unfaithful on more
than one occasion?” are often heard in political discussions but probably have little to do
with the logic of the argument.