Summary (^247)
Satisfaction: My survey revealed that you need how-to information about signing up.
I. For $34 and proof of identity, the Department of Motor Vehicles can mark your driver’s
license.
II. You can get a free donor card from http://www.organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm.
III. You can sign up for free at http://www.donatelifenw.org or on the online donor registry at
http://www.organdonor.gov/donor/registry.shtm.
IV. Be sure to tell your family your wishes because they may have to tell doctors who ask
about donating.
Visualization
I. Imagine you sign up, a tragedy happens, and Josh in New Mexico gets your heart, Mary in
Colorado has a new kidney, Glen in North Dakota receives your liver, and many more have
improved lives from other tissues.
II. Now imagine you don’t follow up, a tragedy happens, and several very sick people can’t
benefit from your organs.
III. Which choice is ideal?
Action
I. Follow one of the easy procedures and sign up to be a donor.
II. I did this last year, and I’m very glad I did.
III. No more procrastination; do it today!
As you might imagine, this pattern is good for sales speeches when your goal is to
create a need and motivate people to purchase a product.
Summary
The best subjects for persuasive speeches come from the things that matter most to
you personally. For this reason, ask yourself questions such as “What do I believe
strongly?” “What arouses my strong feelings?” “What would I like to see changed?”
“What enriches my life?” Your answers will generally provide topics that you’re willing
to defend. Choosing your subject is only the first part of topic selection. You must then
decide whether you will focus on developing a claim of fact, value, or policy. Toulmin’s
Model of Reasoning can help you visualize the elements needed to defend your claim
successfully.
Understanding the strength of the audience’s attitude—comprised of their beliefs,
emotions, and actions regarding your topic—will help you develop specific strategies for
audiences who are hostile or somewhat opposed to your ideas, for audiences who are
neutral, and for audiences who are generally supportive of your claim.
This chapter explained how to develop speeches around two specific goals: to con-
vince or to actuate behaviors. A speech to convince aims to gain audience agreement
with your conclusions, whether they are about facts, value judgments, or the wisdom
and feasibility of specific policies. A speech to actuate tries to motivate the audience
to act in the ways you propose. According to cognitive dissonance theory, motivation
comes when our beliefs and actions don’t match up; aligning them helps us regain the
desired state of balance or equilibrium. The Theory of Reasoned Action adds a social
component. We act when our beliefs and attitudes are favorable toward the behavior
in question, when we believe that we can accomplish it, and when we think others are
supportive of our actions. One of the most common patterns for motivating people to
act is Monroe’s Motivated Sequence with its five elements: attention, need, satisfaction,
visualization, and action.Copyright 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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