Methods of Persuasion
Logos: Research and Reasoning

• Monday: LAB DAY; turn in the Analysis of the Persuasive Speech Topic Form p. 46.
• Wednesday: Lecture Day; pulling the speech together and some review
• Friday: Unit II Exam
• Review materials are available online at
• www.public.iastate.edu/~aslagell/spcm212/unit_II_review.html
• Then we are meeting in Labs for 2 ½ weeks.
• Workshop Days Oct. 25 or Nov. 1

Building A Persuasive Speech

• The Building Blocks
• Strong Analysis: Problem, Plan and Practicality
  
• Evidence / Supporting Material
• Statistics, Examples, Testimony using Ethos, Logos and Pathos
  
• Reasoning
• Principle
• Specific Instances [generalization]
• Analogy
• Causal
• Audience Connection
• With Content: Mental Dialogue
• With Structure
  
• With Delivery         
  

Sample Speech: We watched a speech about Chewing Tobacco and analyzed it.

Deduction refers to arguments that run from general to specific; they are characterized by necessity.
Induction refers to arguments that run from specific to general; they are characterized by an inductive leap.

Classic form of Deduction: the syllogism

The U.S. Constitution guarantees citizens the right to vote.
Women are citizens                                                       .
The U.S. Constitution guarantees women the right to vote.

Universities not in compliance with NCAA non-discrimination policies should be shunned by other universities.
The University of Illinois and The University of North Dakota are not in compliance with NCAA non-discrimination policies.
The University of Illinois and The University of North Dakota should be shunned by other universities.

Consider: what do you have to believe for these arguments to make sense?

• She's a girl; she can't throw the ball.
• [assumes the listener will supply the principle that "girls can't throw"]

• He's a man, of course he wouldn't stop to ask directions.
• [assumes the listener will supply the principle that "men don't ask for directions.]

• The people of Iraq are intelligent people, they support Democracy.
• [assumes the listener will supply the principle that "all intelligent people support Democracy."]

• 16 year olds have undeveloped brains so they can’t judge risks.
• People with undeveloped brains can’t judge risks.

• By writing a letter to your representative, you can help pass this law.

• Writing letters leads to passing new laws.
  

• Because it is good for the environment all people should be using ethanol fuel blends.
• [assumes the listener will supply the principle that "people should always do what is good for the environment.]

• Gun registration will let the government know where the guns are, so if we support gun registration we are helping the government ban guns and take them away.
• [Assumes the audience will supply the principle: "If the government knows where guns are, they will eventually ban them and come take them away."]
  
  
  

To be effective a law must be enforced and have adequate penalties.
Adopting my plan will make Wisconsin’s laws on chewing tobacco be enforced and will create adequate penalties.
Therefore, my plan will be effective at curbing chewing tobacco use.

• The police say he committed the crime, so he committed the crime.
• stereotypes
• starting from principles that only those who already agree with you would maintain.

• Surveys and studies are often grounded in reasoning from specific instances.
• Neilson ratings
• Very Useful for Proving there is a Problem
  

• “Chewing tobacco use is widespread.”
• The A.C.S. says one in twelve Americans is a regular user.
• The average age of first use is 10.
• 40% of high school boys say they have tried it.
• 21% of kindergartners (boys?) have tried it.

• There are too many car accidents, death and injuries involving teen drivers.
• National Hwy Safety Administration Info
• 7 % of drivers, but are 14% of fatalities
• 3,657 teen drivers killed last year
• 2,384 teen passengers killed
• 2, 625 21 and older killed in accidents with teen drivers
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
• Teens have highest % of crashes caused by speeding, and driver error and the most single car crashes
• USA Today says 16 yr olds are 3 times more likely to be in a fatal crash than older drivers. Generalization in the self-defense speech

• College students are especially easy targets for crime.
• Evidence from Street Wisdom for Women.
• Alcohol use and crime
• campus areas are often the highest crime districts of their communities

• In a random poll taken last month of 320 members of the American Association of Retired Persons, 96 percent of those interviewed clearly opposed any major changes in the Social Security system.  Clearly, then, the American People oppose such changes.  [weak because of bias and so you can't generalize to the population as a whole].
• the two people I sat next to in lecture got Bs on their speeches, so everybody but me got a B on the speech.
• “but Mom, everybody else is going to the party!”

Arguments from Analogy: Literal or Figurative

Both are grounded in the concept of similarity

Examples of Literal Analogies

• Socialized medicine works in Canada, so socialized medicine will work in the U.S.
• The U.S. got rid of the half-penny in 1857 without causing harms, so today we can get rid of the penny without causing harms.
• A self-defense course made me able to defend myself; it will make you able to defend yourself.

• It worked in California, so it can work in Wisconsin.
• Good evidence to show that the law is working in California
• Some sense of similarity between California and Wisconsin helps it work.
• Kansas City Royals have banned its use so other teams might too.

• The university shouldn't be able to tell me what classes I have to take; after all, the store manager doesn't tell me what groceries to buy.
• A ban on all alcohol use in the dorms will work at ISU because such a ban worked at Luther College.
• We praise the lives of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of others, why can’t we celebrate embryos sacrificed in order to save the lives of others?
• Banning guns worked in Japan, so it will work here.

• Essentially a simile, but can be useful for framing an argument
• Not useful as proof/evidence
• It is typically heard as pathos not logos
• Figurative Analogy Example:
  Malcolm X on integrating the Civil Rights Movement
   "It’s just like when you’ve got some coffee that’s too black, which means it’s too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won’t even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep."
                                                                                                             "Message to the Grass Roots," speech, Nov. 1963, Detroit (published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 1, 1965).

• Examples
• cigarettes cause lung cancer
• Dry Veishea causes off campus trouble

Problems of Causal Arguments

• “post hoc ergo propter hoc” = “after this therefore because of this”
• confusing a relationship in time with cause and effect
• seen in superstitions
• seen in “just look what happened after we . . . . “ arguments.
• multiple causation
• rain forest destruction is the cause of global warming
• T.V. is responsible for school gun violence.
• my printer problem caused me to be unable to do my speech
• correlation vs. causation

• use causal chains to help the audience see the causal relationship.
• use testimony of experts to support conclusions

Looking For Reasoning in The Boating and Drinking Text

I. Reasoning in Boating and Drinking.

    A.  Specific Instances reasoning in Boating and Drinking

Drinking and boating is a serious problem is the generalization claim proven by the evidence:

the example on Fox Lake
Statistics from the National Safety Council
Ranking from the U.S. Department of Transportation
WI State Center for Health Statistics
the U.S Coast Guard
the National Transportation Safety Board

“boater’s hypnosis” causes you to become impaired from alcohol use more quickly.
drinking while driving a boat is legal and causes accidents and fatalities.

driving a car = driving a boat

It is illegal to drink while driving a car, it should be illegal to drink while driving a boat.

Driving a boat while drinking is even worse than driving a car: [a fortiori argument]

Boats go faster
Boats are harder to stop
Boater’s hypnosis makes driver impairment even worse on a boat.

My plan is to require boater safety education.
Mandatory boater education will result in safer behaviors on the waterways.
What must I believe for that argument to work?
Having information about a safety issue will result in safer behaviors.

Full structure of the syllogism is:

Having information about safety on the waterways will result in safer behaviors.
My plan will require that boaters get safety information.
Therefore, my plan will result in safer behaviors on the waterways.

• Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that pennies should be eliminated from the United States money supply.
• Central Idea: Because Pennies cause problems for individuals, businesses, and the economy as a whole, they should be eliminated from the U.S. money system.

Argument analysis Problem with Pennies:

Pennies are a costly nuisance for the business community.The National Association of Convenience Stores estimates that an average of two seconds is spent handling pennies during each of its members’ 10 billion annual cash transactions. That comes out to a total of 5.5 million hours spent handling pennies—at an annual cost of $22 million. According to Fortune magazine, some banks charge up to 30 cents for every dollar’s worth of pennies they process.

The following is an example of what pattern of reasoning?

"When the U.S. stopped minting half-cent coins in 1857, a similar procedure of rounding off purchases and phasing out the coins worked extremely well. None of us miss the half-cent, and in a few years none of us will miss the penny."

The following is an example of what pattern of reasoning?

Outdated products that create problems for individuals, for businesses and for the nation as a whole should be eliminated.  Since Pennies create serious problems at all three levels, the penny should be eliminated from our economy. 

The following is an example of what pattern of reasoning?

Rounding off the sales tax to the nearest nickel on purchases won't increase the taxes you pay, just like rounding off your income to the nearest dollar when you file income taxes doesn't increase your taxes.

Check your work

Be sure to incorporate Ethos and Pathos throughout your Speech too [see the Special Olympics speech pp. 460-462 in the textbook as an example]

ETHOS: Building credibility throughout your speech

• Announce your expertise
• in the introduction
• as you cite sources
• Announce your concern
• Build Common Ground with your audience
• demonstrate concern for their interests and needs
• use shared principles (values, beliefs, attitudes) to build your arguments
• Deliver your speech fluently, expressively and with conviction
 

• Use emotional language
• concrete terms
• stylistic devices
• Develop vivid examples
• Speak with sincerity and conviction
• Use emotional appeals hand in hand with your evidence and reasoning

Can you identify the kind or reasoning and or the fallacy in the following examples?
Once you have tried to answer these on your own you can go here for answers and discussion.

1. According to a study by the American Medical Association, men with bald spots have three times the risk of heart attack as men with a full head of hair.  Strange as it may seem, it looks as if baldness is a cause of heart attacks.

2. The U.S. Constitution guarantees all citizens the right to bear arms.  Gun control legislation infringes on the right of citizens to bear arms.  Therefore, gun control legislation is contrary to the Constitution.

3.  I don’t see any reason to wear a helmet when I ride a bike. Everyone bikes without a helmet.

  4. It’s ridiculous to worry about protecting America’s national parks against pollution and overuse when innocent people are being killed by domestic terrorists.

 5. There can be no doubt that the Great Depression was caused by Herbert Hoover.  He became President in March 1929, and the stock market crashed just seven months later.

6. If we allow the school board to spend money remodeling the gymnasium, next they will want to build a new school and give all the teachers a huge raise.  Taxes will soar so high that businesses will leave and then there will be no jobs for anyone in this town.

7. Raising a child is like having a pet--you need to feed it, play with it, and everything
will be fine.

8. One nonsmoker, interviewed at a restaurant, said, “I can eat dinner just fine even though people around me are smoking.”  Another, responding to a Los Angeles Times survey, said, “I don’t see what all the fuss is about.  My wife has smoked for  years and it has never bothered me.”  We can see, then, that secondhand smoke does not cause a problem for most nonsmokers.

9. I can’t support Representative Frey’s proposal for campaign finance reform.  After all, he was kicked out of law school for cheating on an exam.

10. Our school must either increase tuition or cut back on library services for students.