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Chapter 17
Persuasive Speaking
Goal: To develop, organize, and present a persuasive speech
Overview: This chapter discusses the principles of persuasive speaking, including how to
write a specific goal, build an effective argument, use emotion to increase the audience’
involvement with the topic, choose an effective organizational strategy, shape audience
attitude by using reasons and sound evidence, use incentives to motivate your audience,
and develop speaker credibility.
Learning Outcomes
17-1 Explain how people to and process persuasive messages.
17-2 Tailor your persuasive speech goals as propositions aimed at your target audience.
17-3 Employ rhetorical strategies of logos to support your persuasive proposition.
17-4 Employ rhetorical strategies of ethos to support your persuasive proposition.
17-5 Employ rhetorical strategies of pathos to support your persuasive proposition.
17-6 Organize your persuasive speeches using an appropriate persuasive speech pattern.
Key Terms
Ad hominem
Apathetic
Arguing from analogy
Arguing from causation
Arguing from example
Arguing from sign
Argument
Attitude
Claim
Comparative advantages
pattern
Criteria satisfaction
pattern
Deductive reasoning
Derived credibility
Either/or
Emotions
Ethos
Fallacies
False cause
Goodwill
Hasty generalization
Incremental change
Inductive reasoning
Initial credibility
Logos
Motivated sequence
pattern
Neutral
Persuasion
Persuasive speech
Problem-cause-solution
pattern
Problem-solution pattern
Proposition
Proposition of fact
Proposition of policy
Proposition of value
Refutative pattern
Responsive
Rhetoric
Statement of reasons
pattern
Straw Man
Support
Syllogism
Target audience
Terminal credibility
Uninformed
Warrant
Figures and Tables
Figure 17.1 Examples of Persuasive Speech Propositions
Figure 17.2 Sample Opinion Continuum
Figure 17.3 Persuasive Speech Evaluation Checklist
Chapter Outline
I. The nature of persuasion
A. Persuasion is the word we use to label this process of influencing people’s attitudes,
beliefs, values, or behaviors. Persuasive speaking is the process of doing so in a
public speech
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B. Thinkers like Aristotle and Plato used the word rhetoric to mean using any and all
“available means of persuasion” in public speeches
1. Argument: articulating a position with the support of logos, ethos, and pathos
2. Logos: a persuasive strategy of constructing logical arguments that support your
position
3. Ethos: a persuasive strategy of highlighting your competence, credibility, and
good character as a means to convince others to support your position
4. Pathos: a persuasive strategy of appealing to emotions in order to convince
others to support your position
C. Processing Persuasive Messages
1. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to explain how likely people are to spend
more or less time critically evaluating information before making their decisions
2. Central route: we listen carefully, reflect thoughtfully, and maybe even mentally
elaborate on the message before making a decision
3. Peripheral route: a shortcut that relies on simple cues, such as a quick evaluation
of the speaker’s competence, credibility, and character (ethos), or a gut check
about what we feel (pathos) about the message
D. Characteristics of central route processing
1. If the issue is more important to us, we take the central route
2. We are less likely to change our minds when we form attitudes as a result of
central route processing, as beliefs are more strongly held
3. Persuaded by sound reasons and critical analysis
E. Characteristics of peripheral route processing
1. If the issue is less important to us, we take the peripheral route
2. We are less committed to attitudes formed using the peripheral route
3. Persuaded by more emotional appeal coming from a credible source
II. Writing persuasive speech goals as propositions: a declarative sentence that clearly
indicates the speaker’s position on the topic
A. Types of propositions
1. Questions of fact: designed to convince an audience that something is or is not
true or does or does not exist
2. Questions of value: designed to convince your audience that something is good,
bad, desirable, undesirable, fair, unfair, etc.
3. Questions of policy: designed to convince that they should take or support a
specific course of action
B. Tailoring your proposition to your audience
1. The target audience is the group of people you most want to persuade
2. Opposed
a. Strong opposition: move the audience closer to your position, but don’t
expect a complete change in your direction
b. Mild opposition: understand their resistance and present strong arguments to
support your position, including evidence to counter other attitudes
3. No opinion
a. Uninformed: not knowing enough about a topic to have formed an opinion;
provide basic arguments and information
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b. Neutral: knowing the basics about a topic but still having no opinion; provide
more elaborate arguments and strong evidence
c. Apathetic: having no opinion because they are not interested, unconcerned,
or indifferent; personalize the topic
4. In favor
a. Mildly in favor: reinforce and strengthen beliefs
b. Strongly agrees: build on the belief and move the audience to act
III. Rhetorical appeals to logos
A. Stephen Toulmin’s model has three major elements: the claim, the support, and the
warrant
1. The claim is the conclusion the speaker wants the audience to agree with
2. The support is the evidence offered as grounds for accepting the claim
3. The warrant is the reasoning process that connects the support to the claim
B. Inductive reasoning is arriving at a general conclusion based on several pieces of
specific evidence
C. Deductive reasoning is arguing that if something is true for everything that belongs
to a certain class (major premise) and a specific instance is part of that class (minor
premise), then we must conclude that what is true for all members of the class must
be true in the specific instance (logical conclusion). This three-part form of deductive
reasoning is called a syllogism
D. Types of logical arguments: different types of warrants can be used to illustrate the
relationship between the claim and the support on which it is based
1. Arguing from sign: support a claim by providing evidence that the events that
signal the claim have occurred
2. Arguing from example: the evidence you use as support are examples of the
claim you are making
3. Arguing from analogy: support a claim with a single comparable example that is
so significantly similar to the subject of the claim as to be strong proof
4. Arguing from causation: support a claim by citing events that have occurred that
result in the claim
5. Arguing by sign: support a claim by citing information that signals the claim
E. Reasoning fallacies
1. Hasty generalization: a claim is either not supported with evidence or is
supported with only one weak example
2. False cause: the alleged cause fails to be related to, or to produce, the effect
3. Either-or: suggesting there are only two alternatives when, in fact, others exist
4. Strawman: a speaker weakens the opposing position by misrepresenting it in
some way and then attacks that weaker (straw man) position
5. Ad hominem: attacking or praising the person making the argument rather than
addressing the argument itself
IV. Rhetorical appeals to ethos
A. Perceived credibility is dependent on the audience’s perception of the speaker’s
goodwill
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B. Empathy is the ability to see the world through the eyes of someone else
C. Speakers who are responsive show that they care about the audience by
acknowledging feedback, especially subtle negative cues
D. We are more likely to be persuaded when we perceive a speaker to be competent
and credible
1. Terminal credibility: the audience’s perception of your expertise at the end of
your speech
2. Initial credibility: their perception of your expertise at the beginning of your
speech
3. Derived credibility: perception of a speaker’s expertise during the speech
V. Rhetorical appeals to pathos
A. We are more likely to be involved with a topic when we have an emotional stake in it
B. Emotions are the buildup of action-specific energy
1. Negative emotions are disquieting, so when people experience them, they look
for ways to eliminate them
a. Fear
b. Guilt
c. Shame
d. Anger
e. Sadness
2. Positive emotions are feelings that people enjoy experiencing
a. Happiness or joy
b. Pride
c. Relief
d. Hope
e. Compassion
VI. Persuasive speech patterns
A. Statement of reasons pattern: a straightforward organization in which you present
the best-supported reasons you can find
B. Comparative advantages pattern: pattern used when a proposed change is compared
to other solutions and highlighted as superior
C. Criteria satisfaction pattern: an indirect organization that first seeks audience
agreement on criteria that should be considered when they evaluate a particular
proposition and then shows how the proposition satisfies those criteria
D. Refutative pattern: organize your main points by refuting other arguments and
bolstering your own
E. Problem-solution pattern: an organization that provides a framework for clarifying
the nature of the problem and for illustrating why a given proposal is the best one.
F. Problem-cause-solution pattern: similar to the problem-solution pattern but also
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explains causes of the problem and the provides a solution that addresses those
causes
G. Motivated sequence pattern: an organization pattern that combines the problem
solution pattern with explicit appeals designed to motivate the audience to act.
Technology Resources
Evoking Negative and Positive Emotions Read more about how to appeal to various
negative and positive emotions in an online section called “Increasing Audience Involvement
through Emotional Appeals.”
Maintaining the Faith
http://admin.wadsworth.com/resource_uploads/downloads/0495095834_79137.pdf
http://www.accessmylibrary.com To read and analyze a speech about Islam in the modern
world, go to AccessMyLibrary.com (free with registration) to find the article “Terrorism and
Islam: Maintaining Our Faith,” given by Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia,
at a conference of ministers from Muslim countries in May 2002.
Motivated Sequence Speech
http://admin.wadsworth.com/resource_uploads/downloads/0495095834_80452.pdf Read a
transcript of a speech that uses the motivated sequence pattern.
Movies
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Rated: N/A
Synopsis: A very jolly Kris Kringle is attending the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade when
he notices that the actor cast as Santa Claus is drunk. Indignant, he confronts the events
coordinator, who in turn convinces Kringle to play the part in a pinch. He does such a good
job that she hires him on the spot to be the store Santa for Macy’s in New York City. Once
there, his belief that he is the real Santa starts to become more obvious, and his sanity
comes into question. An argument with the Macy store psychologist leads to further
problems, and after getting himself committed to mental hospital, Kringle finds himself in
the unlikely position of being put on trial to prove that he is actually the real Santa Claus.
Questions for discussion
1. What reasoning is presented against Kringle’s sanity?
2. What evidence does Kringle’s lawyer present to prove that Kris is the real Santa Claus?
Does the evidence pass the tests of coming from a qualified source, being recent, being
persuasive for the audience, and really supporting the reasons?
3. Do the arguments presented for and against Kringle pass the types and tests of
argument?
4. What is the audience’s opinion on this matter? Who is opposed to declaring Kringle
insane? Who is neutral? Who is in favor of locking him up? How do these opinions affect
the outcome of the trial?
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To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Rated: N/A
Synopsis: A lawyer agrees to defend a young black man accused of raping a white woman.
The trial takes place in a racially divided town in Alabama during the 1930s.
Questions for discussion
1. How does Atticus Finch’s closing speech exemplify the persuasive speaking principles
discussed in your textbook? Provide an example to support your answer.
2. Tom Robinson, the defendant in the case, was found guilty. Was Finch speaker a
successful persuader with any of his audience? Why or why not?
Lean On Me (1989)
Rated: PG-13 (profanity, sex and nudity, violence, intense scenes)
Synopsis: A once grand high school, which has fallen into decay and is riddled with gang
violence and drug abuse, is turned around by a dedicated but tyrannical principal who is
determined to inspire his students to excellence.
Questions for discussion
1. Which rhetorical devices does Joe Clark use most frequently in his speech to the
students before they sit for the state competency exams?
2. How does Joe Clark tailor his propositions to his audience?
3. Can Joe Clark’s speech be categorized by a particular persuasive speech pattern? If so
which one? Explain.
Additional suggested movies: Ethics (Speaking with Confidence) (1997) (ethics,
credibility); Mastery of Speaking as a Leader (1994) (persuasive techniques, call to action);
Public Speaking (2000) (persuasion, apprehension management); Using Logic and
Reasoning (1999) (types of reasoning, fallacies); The Girl in the Café (2005) (Gina’s
response to the Prime Minister during dinner: emotional appeals); Braveheart (1995)
(rhetorical appeals, call to action)
Other Media Resources
1. Persuasive speech topics
http://www.write-out-loud.com/persuasive-speech-ideas.html
2. Stephen Downes’s Guide to the Logical Fallacies
http://web.uvic.ca/psyc/skelton/Teaching/General%20Readings/Logical%20Falllacies.ht
m
Discussion and Assignment Ideas
I Write a list of popular speech topic areas on the board, such as increasing gun control,
legalizing marijuana, legalizing gay marriage, assessing higher penalties for drunk
driving, or eliminating performance enhancing drugs in sports. Go over each topic,
asking the following questions:
1. Why is this such a popular topic choice?
2. Are your classmates likely to be interested in this topic?
3. Are they more likely to process the speech through the central route or through the
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peripheral route?
4. What kind of attitude do you think this class has on this topic: opposed, neutral, or in
favor?
5. How should a speaker take the information gained from asking questions 1–4 into
account when preparing a persuasive speech?
II. Quotes: These can be used to introduce topics, questions perspectives, or gain
individual opinion. Providing students with a quote and prompting them to write or
reflect on their personal feelings about the quote can help to spark discussion and
interest. Suggested prompts may include “Define this concept in your own words”; “Do
you agree with this statement? Explain”; “What text material can be used to support or
refute this idea?”
There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental
apparatus.
—Mark Twain
By persuading others, we convince ourselves.
—Junius
Nothing is as frustrating as arguing with someone who knows what he’s talking
about.
—Sam Ewing
III. Pass out several magazines or newspapers and direct students to the letters to the
editor and editorial sections. Ask students to get into groups and find examples of the
hasty generalization, false cause, and ad hominem fallacies in the editorial material. Was
it easy or hard to find these fallacies? Do these fallacies ever serve the purpose of
persuasion? If so, can they be supported as ethical? If not, why do speakers use such
fallacious reasoning?
IV. Speakers can use both positive and negative emotional appeals to increase audience
involvement. What kinds of topics do you think lend themselves to negative emotional
appeals? Which are more likely to involve positive appeals? Which do you think is more
effective overall, a negative or a positive emotional appeal? Why?
Sample Speeches
This section presents sample speeches prepared by students in an introductory speaking
course. Videos of all speeches are available at: www.cengagebrain.com
Sample Persuasive Speech
Sexual Assault Policy a Must
by Maria Lucia R. Anton
This section presents the outline and transcript of a sample persuasive speech developed
and presented by college student Maria Lucia R. Anton at the 1994 Interstate Oratorical
Association competition. It is now published in an anthology of the winning speeches by
college students that year. An adaptation plan was not required, so the one provided here
has been created as an example for you to use as you develop your own persuasive speech.
1. Review the outline and adaptation plan for Maria’s speech to petition her school’s
administration to create and implement a sexual assault prevention policy.
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2. Then read the transcript of Maria’s speech.
3. Use the Persuasive Speech Evaluation Checklist to help you evaluate this speech.
4. Write a paragraph of feedback to Maria describing the strengths of her speech and what
you think she might do next time to be more effective.
Adaptation Plan
1. Audience analysis: My audience is composed of traditional-age college students with
varying majors and classes. Most are European Americans from working- or middle-class
backgrounds.
2. Background knowledge: My perception is that my audience knows about sexual
assault on college campus, but not about the nuances of it.
3. Creating and maintaining interest: I will involve my audience by appealing to several
emotions including guilt, sadness, relief, hope, and most of all, compassion. I will use
representative examples as short stories.
4. Organization: I have organized my speech using the motivated sequence.
5. Building credibility: I will build credibility initially by pausing and looking listeners in
the eye before beginning. Throughout the speech I will cite strong sources. I will dress
professionally and sound emotionally convinced about the topic. I will provide credibility
at the end by pausing and looking listeners in the eye for a moment after appealing to
them with my call to action.
6. Motivation: The incentive that I will offer is that the audience members can act to
create a sexual assault policy on their campuses. Doing so will appeal to hope and
safety.
Outline
General purpose: To persuade
Speech goal: I want my audience to petition the administration on their campus to
formulate and implement a sexual assault prevention policy.
Attention catcher
I. “If you want to take her blouse off, you have to ask. If you want to touch her breast,
you have to ask. If you want to move your hand down to her genitals, you have to ask.
If you want to put your finger inside her, you have to ask.” [quotation from Antioch
College’s sexual offense policy]
A. The policy consists of three major points:
1. If you have an STD, you must disclose it to a potential partner.
2. It is not acceptable to knowingly take advantage of someone who is under the
influence of alcohol or drugs.
3. Obtaining consent is an ongoing process in any sexual interaction.
B. The policy is designed to create a safe campus environment.
Need
II. Sexual assault on college campuses is a problem across the nation.
A. Carlton College in Northfield, Minnesota, was sued for $800,000 in damages by four
university women. [Time magazine article]
B. Although college administration knows of enrolled rapists, they need not say or do
anything.
C. One in every four college women have been assault victims. [Ms. Magazine survey]
D. Between 30 and 40 percent of male students reported they might force someone to
have sex if they knew they would escape punishment. [Ms. Magazine survey]
E. The effects of sexual assault on victims is disturbing.
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Transition: Many campuses are open invitations for sexual assault. The absence of a policy
is a grand invitation.
Satisfaction
III. We need to push for sexual assault policies on our campuses.
A. Antioch policy example.
B. Fundamental points for any sexual assault policy.
1. Input from students, faculty, staff, and administration is crucial when developing
the policy.
2. The policy must be publicized in many venues including the student handbook,
newspaper, and radio station.
3. Educational programs must be developed to educate the campus community
about the sexual assault policy.
4. Campuses should outline a step-by-step procedure for reporting and addressing
sexual assault perpetrators.
Transition: It is pertinent that universities provide support to victims through such policies
and procedures if college campuses are to be a safe environment for all students.
Visualization
IV. All students should feel safe leaving the classroom at night.
A. The wheels of justice turn too slowly when sending victims to the local police.
B. Without a policy, there are no specific penalties to prosecute offenders.
C. With a policy, would-be offenders will think twice.
D. With a policy, there is at least a chance that justice will be served.
Action
V. We students must voice our concerns.
A. We must form petitions to demand that our universities create sexual assault
policies.
B. We must not stop until we’ve succeeded and our campuses have sexual assault
policies.
Sample Expository Speech
Don’t Chat and Drive
Adapted from a speech by Cedric McBeth Collin County Community College
1. Follow the speech plan action steps to prepare a speech in which you change audience
belief. Your instructor will announce the time limit and other parameters for this
assignment.
2. Criteria for evaluation include all the general criteria of topic and purpose, content,
organization, and presentation, but special emphasis will be placed on the primary
persuasive criteria of how well the speech’s specific goal was adapted to the audience’s
initial attitude toward the topic, the soundness of the reasons, the evidence cited in
support of them, and the credibility of the arguments.
3. Use the Persuasive Speech Evaluation Checklist to critique yourself as you practice your
speech.
4. Prior to presenting your speech, prepare a complete sentence outline and source list
(bibliography). If you have used Speech Builder Express to complete the action step
activities online, you will be able to print out a copy of your completed outline and source
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list. Also prepare a written plan for adapting your speech to the audience. Your
adaptation plan should address the following issues:
◼ How does your goal adapt to whether your prevailing audience attitude is in favor, no
opinion, or opposed?
◼ What reasons will you use, and how will the organizational pattern you select fit your
topic and audience?
◼ How will you establish your credibility with this audience?
◼ How will you motivate your audience?
◼ How you will organize your reasons?
Adaptation Plan
1. Key aspects of audience. Although the majority of listeners are familiar with the
problem of using cell phones while driving, I will present information and arguments to
convince them to support legislation banning cell phone use while driving.
2. Establishing and maintaining common ground. My main way of establishing common
ground will be by using the pronouns “we,” “us,” and so on.
3. Building and maintaining interest. I will use the Manocchio and Peña stories as well
as startling statistics to create and maintain attention.
4. Audience knowledge and sophistication. Because most of the class is familiar with
the general problem of driving while using cell phones, I will present specific statistics that
underlie the problem.
5. Building credibility. Early in the speech, I will refer to the reading and research I have
done on this issue.
6. Audience attitudes. Because my classmates are busy commuter students, I believe
most own cell phones and use them while driving, so they will be slightly hostile to my
proposition.
7. Adapt to audiences from different cultures and language communities. Although
my audience members are demographically diverse, cell phones are used by most class
members and issues are cross-cultural.
8. Use visual aids to enhance audience understanding and memory. I will start the
speech with a cell phone in hand, as though I were talking and driving.
Speech Outline: Don’t Chat and Drive
General purpose: To persuade
Speech goal (proposition): I want to persuade my classmates that cell phones should be
prohibited from use while driving an automobile.
Introduction
I. Alexander Manocchio is on trial for vehicular homicide.
II. How many of us in this classroom generally talk on cell phones while driving a car? How
many of us take into consideration the dangers of talking on our cell phones while
driving a car?
III. What I hope to convince you of today is that using a cell phone while driving an
automobile should be prohibited.
Body
I. First, let’s see how great a problem cell phone use is while driving.
A. Overall, cell phone usage has increased tremendously in the last 12 to 14 years.
1. Statistics show that 168 million people used cell phones as of August 2004.
2. Compare this figure to the approximately 4.3 million people who used cell
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phones in 1990.
B. The jump in cell phone use has been accompanied by the jump in traffic accidents
linked to cell phone use.
1. In 2001, in Texas alone, there were 1,032 accidents with eight fatalities in which
cell phone usage was considered a contributing factor.
2. Regardless of the age or the driving experience of the driver, the risk of collision
when using a cell phone is four times higher than when a cell phone is not used
by the driver.
C. Cell phone usage increases the likelihood of fatalities in accidents.
1. The risk factor for driving while using a cell phone amounts to 6.4 fatalities per
million drivers annually.
2. The chance that a driver using a cell phone would kill a pedestrian or other
motorists is 1.5 per 1 million people.
3. Combining these figures with the 210 million licensed drivers in the U.S. amounts
to a risk factor of roughly 1,660 fatalities per year involving cell phone–related
accidents.
Transition: Now that we have established that a problem exists, let’s look more closely at
why cell phone use creates this problem.
II. Using a cell phone while driving is distracting.
A. First, when accessing or dialing a phone, the driver loses eye contact with the road.
B. Second, while conversing, mental attention is split between conversation and the
ever-changing road conditions.
III. Here are the advantages to prohibiting the use of cell phones while driving.
A. It would eliminate the sources of mental distraction.
B. It would eliminate one source of physical distraction.
C. It would decrease the number of accidents and fatalities.
Conclusion
I. I’ve shown you how the increased use of cell phones while driving has led to an increase
in accidents and fatalities.
II. I’ve explained how cell phones distract drivers.
III. I’ve identified a policy that would reduce driver distractions and the accidents they
cause.
IV. A quotation by Patricia Peña shows the effect that one cell phone call can have.
Work Cited
Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. November 1997. “An Investigation of
the Safety Implications of Wireless Communications in Vehicles.”
Dunn, Susan. 2004. “Two Good Reasons Not to Use Your Cell Phone in the Car.” USA Today.
(http://www.americaninsurancedepot.com/protectyourself/cellphones.htm)
Gebler, Dan. 2000. “Cell Phones and Automobiles.” Wireless Newsfactor.
(http://www.uvm.edu/~vlrs/doc/cell_phones.htm)
Greve, Frank. 2000. “Restricting Car Phones is a Difficult Sell in the US.” Philadelphia
Inquirer.
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Evaluation Checklist
1. Was the goal of the speech clear?
2. Did the speaker have high-quality information?
3. Did the speaker use a variety of kinds of developmental material?
4. Were the visual aids used appropriate and well used?
5. Did the speaker establish common ground and was the content of the speech adapted to
the audience’s interests, knowledge, and attitudes?
6. Did the speaker’s introduction gain attention, gain goodwill and leader into the speech?
7. Were the speaker’s main points clear, parallel, and in meaningful complete sentences?
8. Did the speaker’s transitions lead smoothly from one point to another?
9. Did the speaker’s conclusion tie the speech together?
10. Was the language clear?
11. Was the language vivid?
12. Was the language emphatic?
13. Did the speaker sound enthusiastic?
14. Did the speaker show sufficient vocal expressiveness?
15. Was the speaker’s presentation spontaneous?
16. Was the speaker’s presentation fluent?
17. Did the speaker look at the audience?
18. Were the speaker’s pronunciation and articulation acceptable?
19. Did the speaker have good posture?
20. Was the speaker’s movement appropriate?
21. Did the speaker have sufficient poise?
22. Evaluate the speech:
excellent
good
satisfactory
fair
Sample Persuasive Speech
Capital Punishment
Eric Weis
Speech Outline
Specific Goal: I want to convince the audience that capital punishment is not effective.
Introduction
I. It is natural to feel anger toward murderers and to want vengeance.
II. But can we really justify the state-sanctioned murder that capital punishment amounts
to?
Thesis Statement
Capital punishment should be abolished because it is not only used in cases of clear guilt, it
does not help reduce prison overcrowding and expenses, and it does not deter violent
crime.
Body
I. The death penalty is not used only in cases of clear guilt.
A. Large numbers of people have been released when their convictions have been
overturned.