1. WHAT IS A PERSUASIVE ARGUMENT?
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS A PERSUASIVE ARGUMENT?

2. Anticipation Guide
When making a decision about what to buy or how to behave, it’s most important to follow one’s instincts.

3. Anticipation Guide
People are strong enough to resist influences from television, video games, magazines.

4. Anticipation Guide
Children are mostly affected by what their parents tell them and not by what they see.

5. Anticipation Guide
I am not influenced by the persuasive techniques of others.

6. A persuasive argument is a communication/message that appeals to a listener’s or reader’s—
Reason
Values
Beliefs
Emotions

7. WHY ARE PERSUASIVE ARGUMENTS USED?

8. Why are persuasive arguments used?
To convince you to accept the writer’s or speaker’s position
To change your mind or point of view
To challenge you to act (buy a product, contribute to a campaign)

9. THE GOAL
The goal of argumentative writing is to persuade your audience that your ideas are valid, or more valid than someone else’s.

10. What kind of persuasive messages do you encounter?

11. What kind of persuasive messages do you encounter?
Media: advertising, commercials, radio ads, TV shows, internet ads, infomercials, editorials
Oral communications: Political messages, speeches
Images: TV shows, magazines, billboards, print ads

12. PERSUASION AND ARGUMENT ARE DIFFERENT STRATEGIES
Persuasion influences someone to do something by making promises and/or appealing to emotions, beliefs, and values.
Argument is a form of persuasion that relies on logical thought and reasoning.

13. COMBINE BOTH TO CREATE A WINNING MESSAGE
Most persuasive messages and communications combine both reason and emotion.

14. WHO PERSUADES YOU? WHY DOES IT MATTER?

15. WHO PERSUADES YOU? Politicians, advertisers, organizations
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
To make an informed decision or to make choices that are in your own best interest, you must know how to read between the lines.

16. HOW MANY TV ADS/COMMERICIALS DO YOU ENCOUNTER IN ONE YEAR?

17. LET’S CONSIDER THESE NUMBERS!
Average American watches 9 hours of television per week
Average child watches 1,480 minutes (one day and some) of television per week
Number of 30 second TV commercials seen in a year by an average child is 16,000

18. IF YOU BREAK IT DOWN AND COMPARE IT—
The average American youth watches 1,200 hours of television per year
The average American youth spends 900 hours per year in school
Source: A.C. Nielsen Co. February 7th, 2012

19. HOW ARE WE PERSUADED? THREE PILLARS OF PERSUASION
The Greek philosopher Aristotle
divided persuasive appeals into
three categories
Ethos—body
Logos—brain
Pathos—heart

20. ETHOS/CREDIBLE ETHOS relates to the character of the writer/speaker.
WE ASK—
Who is speaking?
Is the speaker credible?
Is the speaker believable? Trustworthy?

21. LOGOS/LOGIC Appeals to logic and reasoning
Facts, statistics, authorities

22. LOGOS/LOGIC

23. PATHOS/EMOTIONS Appeals to emotions, such as – Sympathy Pity Fear
Regret
Vanity

24. THE FOUR PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES
How would you influence people?
Create a message that —
Appeals to emotions
Appeals to values
Appeals by association
Appeals through word choice or rhetoric (the art of speaking or writing effectively and persuasively)

25. 1. Emotional Appeal Using strong emotions
Smoking causes premature aging

26. 2. THE VALUES APPEAL Draws on people’s moral standards

27. 2. THE VALUES APPEAL Draws on people’s moral standards

28. 3. WORD CHOICE/RHETORIC repetition, parallelism

29. 3. RHETORICAL QUESTION
A FIGURE OF SPEECH IN WHICH THE PERSON ASKING THE QUESTION IS TRYING TO MAKE A POINT AND IS NOT INTERESTED IN THE ACTUAL ANSWER TO THE QUESTION
Mercy For Animals is a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal rights organization focused on promoting a vegetarian diet.

30. 3. RHETORICAL QUESTION

31. 4. ASSOCIATION APPEAL Persuading you to do what others do
A. Bandwagon Appeal
B. Plain Folks Appeal
C. Testimonial
D. Transfer

32. A. BANDWAGON APPEAL Taps into people’s desire to belong or be a part of a group

33. A. BANDWAGON APPEAL Taps into people’s desire to belong or be a part of a group
Liking isn’t helping

34. B. PLAIN FOLKS APPEAL The speaker is an Average Joe, a regular person, who can understand the concerns of ordinary people
trust

35. C. TESTIMONIALS Endorsements from the famous or satisfied customers

36. D. TRANSFER Connects a product, candidate, or a cause with a positive image or idea