Public Speaking

Develop Ethos or Speaker Credibility (^215)
SCHOLARS HAVE STUDIED rhetoric—the art of persuasion—for centuries,
but during World War II, they began to focus more specifically on the conditions
and strategies that could give rise to a leader such as Hitler. Why could he
persuade so many otherwise ordinary people to do such horrible things? Why
would others resist and heroically rescue Nazi targets? One study of rescuers
found that, although they were similar in most ways to nonrescuers, they more
often grew up in homes where parents disciplined them through reasoning,
explanations, and advice.^1 In other words, their parents used persuasion, not
coercion, to help them make wise choices.
Review the
chapter
Learning
Objectives
and Start
with a quick
warm-up
activity.
Persuasion is defined as the symbolic process in which a communicator
creates an argument in an attempt to convince others to change their attitudes or
behaviors in an atmosphere of free choice. However, persuaders can only raise a
need and create a case for change; their audiences must choose whether to change
or to resist their appeals.^2
What makes a message persuasive? Centuries ago, Aristotle identified three
modes of persuasion, which he called artistic proofs because you, the speaker,
must create them:
The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker [ethos]; the sec-
ond on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind [pathos]; the third on
the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself [logos].^3
Persuasive methods are found in the canon of invention. This chapter describes
ethos, pathos, and logos, which work together to form a totality of “good reasons.”
In other words, emotion is often reasonable; reason has emotional underpinnings;
and it is both reasonable and emotionally satisfying to hear a credible speaker.
Creating and evaluating arguments by using these three modes will help you be
a better speaker and listener. However, “winning” an argument is neither desirable
nor possible in many cases, so the chapter concludes with principles and forms of
invitational rhetoric.

Develop Ethos or Speaker Credibility

Audiences place their confidence in speakers they see as personally believable,

trustworthy, and of good character. Their inner reasoning runs something like this:

“She really knows what she’s talking about. She also seems to have good intentions, so

I trust what she’s saying.” In contrast, a speakers’ credibility can discredit his claims

if listeners think, “He’s using one-sided material from very extreme sources! He

just wants us to buy something. I don’t trust his motives, so I don’t really trust his

information.”

These examples illustrate the artistic proof called ethos—the proof that comes

from your personal qualities. Here, Aristotle explains how ethos is often your most

effective mode of persuasion:

Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character [ethos] when the speech

is so spoken as to make us think him [or her] credible. We believe good [people]

more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the

question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions

are divided.^4

Because ethos depends on your listener’s perception of you as a speaker, you can

shape a positive impression by paying attention to your personal appearance, showing

confidence, making eye contact, using appropriate gestures, and avoiding vocalized

pauses as described in Chapter 14. Four additional components of ethos include: good

character, goodwill, good sense, and dynamism.

persuasion the symbolic

process in which a commu-

nicator intentionally creates

an argument in an attempt

to convince others to change

their attitudes or behaviors in

an atmosphere of free choice

argument an intentional,

purposeful set of reasons

created to explain disputed

beliefs and conclusions

artistic proofs reasons the

speaker creates to accept an

argument

Read, highlight, and take

notes online.

ethos personal credibility

or character traits that make

a speaker believable and

worthy of the audience’s

confidence

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