Persuasive Communication - How Audiences Decide. 2nd Edition

Emotions in Audience Decision Making 329

AN APPEAL TO PRIDE

D-Day Order Speech by Dwight D. Eisenhower

You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi

tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your

task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened.

He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940–41. The United

Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeat in open battle man to man. Our air offen-

sive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground.

Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war

and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned.

The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your

courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble

undertaking.

AN APPEAL TO SADNESS

Surrender Speech by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am

tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta-Hool-Hool-Shute is dead. The

old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men

is dead.

It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people,

some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where

they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how

many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead.

Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands

I will fight no more forever.

Emotionally Charged Words and Images

Attorneys, politicians, and advertisers routinely use emotionally charged words and images to

intensify the effects of their emotional appeals. An audience member’s emotional reaction to the

emotionally charged term “child abusers” predicts how they will judge a particular child abuser

better than their rational beliefs about the group of child abusers as a whole.^210 In the courtroom,

emotionally charged words are highly damaging to defendants even when the words have no evi-

dentiary value.^211 Unfortunately, any attempt to stifl e the negative emotions jurors feel when they

hear testimony using emotive language usually results in the jurors being even more biased by the

testimony. When used in skin cancer warnings, emotionally charged words such as deadly problems ,

ugly wrinkles , extreme risk have been shown to lead adults to reduce their sun exposure and to prac-

tice solar protection for both themselves and their children.^212