104
Chapter 17
PERSUASIVE SPEAKING
Chapter Goals
At the end of this chapter, your students should be able to:
•
Find a subject for a persuasive speech
•
Decide on a claim of fact, value, or policy
•
Diagram and explain Toulmin’s model of reasoning
•
Analyze an audience’s attitude toward a topic
•
Develop a speech to convince
•
Create a speech to actuate behaviors
Chapter Outline
I.
Select your persuasive topics by asking four questions.
A.
What do I believe strongly?
B.
What arouses strong emotions in me?
C.
What social ideals do I support?
D.
What practices enrich my life?
II.
Make a claim of fact, value, or policy, which generally build upon one another.
A.
Factual claims answer what, when, where, why or how something happened or will happen.
1.
Debatable points are disputable statements about things that did or did not happen or
exist.
2.
Causal relationships argue something is the result of something that came before it and
lead to it.
a.
Often two things regularly occur together, which is correlation.
3.
Predictions contend that something will or will not happen in the future.
B.
Evaluating something as right or wrong, good or better, beautiful or ugly are value claims.
1.
Resolving value conflicts demands agreement on criteria.
2.
Convince an audience to accept your standards and they will more easily accept your
judgment.
C.
Policy claims are statements about desirable actions using terms like should or would.
1.
When arguing against the status quo (existing state of affairs), the burden of proof is the
speaker’s responsibility to show policies should change.
2.
Some policy claims aim at personal behaviors.
3.
Claims in favor of the current situation and against change have presumption.
III.
Use Toulmin’s reasoning model to create an argument.
A.
Make a claim, a disputable assertion about a fact, value, or policy.
B.
Support it with grounds, data, or evidence (facts, examples, quotations, statistics, and
comparisons as described in Chapter 8); otherwise, your assertion is unsupported.
C.
Connect the evidence to the claim through a warrant or reasoning that justifies your
conclusion.
D.
Provide backing or reasons to support or defend the warrant.
E.
Prepare to deal with rebuttals or objections and counterarguments.
105
IV.
Assess your audience’s attitude to better identify how listeners will respond to your goal.
A.
Ask why when listeners are neutral toward your claim.
B.
When differences are mild, approach your audience directly.
C.
Rethink your options when listeners are negative toward your proposal.
D.
Approach common ground when audiences reject your proposal.
E.
If audiences are hostile toward you personally it is vital to emphasize common ground.
V.
Choose a specific purpose or response you want from your listeners.
A.
A speech to convince is appropriate when audience members don’t believe your claim or
accept your value judgment.
1.
Convincing about facts requires some general strategies:
a.
Define terminology and provide history of the issue.
b.
Use only high quality evidence with credibility.
c.
Rely more on logical appeals.d. Cite sources to prove your competence.
e. Show respect for your listener’s intelligence and beliefs.
2.
Apply this model to be sure you consider your audience’s response.
B.
Convincing about values involves getting others to share a judgment we hold.
1.
Using emotional appeals by linking values everyone can agree on.
2.
Appeal to authority if your sources are accepted by your audience.
3.
The criteria-satisfaction pattern is a strategy which answers audience questions.
a.
What criteria do we use?
b.
Where do these criteria come from?
c.
Why should we accept these sources?
C.
Convincing about policies involves answering stock issues.
1.
Harm or ill is showing the problem is significant enough to call for a solution.
2.
Blame is the cause part of the problem, linked to the effects established in the harm
section.
3.
Cure is the solution section of the speech where you provide a plan and describe how it
will create solvency.
4.
Cost is the feasibility part of the plan where you do a cost-benefit analysis and weigh
advantages and disadvantages.
V.
Sometimes you want to actuate an audience, or get them to change their actions.
A.
Cognitive dissonance theory explains why people behave in ways inconsistent with their
beliefs or values.
B.
The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) adds a social component to motivating an audience
and assumes humans weigh cost and benefits of acting.
1.
Our actions line up with our attitudes.
2.
Our subjective norms influence our perceptions of what people who are important think
we should do.
3.
Perceived behavioral control is our opinion about our ability to accomplish the desired
behavior.
C.
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence is a commonly used persuasive pattern especially effective
when purpose is to actuate an audience.
1.
Attention step involves gaining the audience’s attention and drawing it to your topic.
2.
Need step is similar to the problem part of a problem-solution speech.
3.
Satisfaction step is a solution that will satisfy the need and includes as many as five parts.
a.
Statement
b.
Explanation
c.
Theoretical demonstration
d.
Practicality
e.
Meeting objections
106
4.
The visualization step is unique and asks the listeners to imagine the future in a positive
or negative manner.
5.
The final call for action includes:
a.
Naming the specific action, attitude, or belief you are advocating.
b.
Stating your personal intention to act.
c.
Ending with impact.
Suggested Videos
TV or Feature Films Tape a law and order show or show the courtroom scene of a movie. Have
students diagram the prosecution and defense argument using Toulmin’s model (Figure 17.1).
•
In the library scene of the feature film, Field of Dreams, two women hurl fallacious arguments
at one another. Show the clip and have students identify the fallacies. (comprehension,
analysis)
•
Twelve Angry Men or The Castle (1999, Australia) are two feature films that clearly show
logical arguments, emotional appeals, and speaker credibility. Show short clips of your
choice and discuss the interwoven nature of the various proofs.
Discussion Topics
Figure 17.1: Toulmin’s Model (p. 239) Students should become familiar with the elements of this
very common linear model of reasoning. I often use high profile trials or hearings to teach this
diagram, because they illustrate Toulmin’s model and they show how pathos (motive) and ethos
(the character of the defendant, the lawyers, the witnesses) contribute to the argument.
(knowledge, comprehension, analysis)
Select Your Topic (pp. 235-236) Have students share their topic with you. Speakers who choose their
topic early—and stick with it—obviously have more time to analyze their audience, do appropriate
research, and prepare their speech with care. It’s also better if they care about their topic—but not
too much. One student spoke on the high cost of auto insurance, a subject that made him so
furious he could hardly talk about it! He, fortunately, harnessed his emotion for the speech, and it
worked; he cared enough to make an impassioned appeal for change without losing control.
(analysis, application)
Make Fact, Value, and Policy Claims (pp. 236-238) Many students don’t realize how many claims
can be made about a single topic; consequently, they create speeches that have no clear focus. Do
this activity in class and have each group share its claims. Possible topics include (the often
overused) euthanasia, abortion, or capital punishment; discipline of children; television violence;
hazards of smoking; campus issues; civil rights; etc. (comprehension, application, synthesis)
Theories of Persuasion (pp. 244-247) Most instructors save a discussion of persuasive theories for
this chapter which briefly introduces the cognitive dissonance theory and the Theory of Reasoned
Action. (knowledge, comprehension)
107
Critical Thinking Exercises
(See pp. 248-249 of the textbook for Critical Thinking Exercises)
Application Exercises
(See p. 249 of the textbook for Application Exercises)
Internet Activities
You can access instructor’s resources at http://www.cengage.com/us/. You will need your instructor’s
access code. Students and instructors may also go to MindTap to find a broad range of resources that
will help students better understand the material in the chapter, complete assignments, and succeed
on tests. MindTap also features speech videos with critical viewing questions, speech outlines, and
transcripts.