Enhancing Your Credibility 17.1 373
effectiveness: The more credible you are perceived as being by your listeners,
the more effective you will be as a persuasive communicator.
The importance to a speaker of a positive public image has been recognized
for centuries. As we noted in Chapter 16, Aristotle used the term ethos to refer to
a speaker’s credibility. He thought that to be credible, a public speaker should be
ethical, possess good character, have common sense, and be concerned for the
well-being of the audience. Aristotle’s speculations as to the factors that influ-
ence a speaker’s credibility have been generally supported by modern experi-
mental studies. Quintilian, a Roman teacher of public speaking, also believed
that an effective public speaker should be a person of good character. Quintil-
ian’s advice was that a speaker should be “a good person speaking well.”
But don’t get the idea that credibility is something that a speaker literally
possesses or lacks. Credibility is based on the listeners’ mind-set regarding the
speaker. Your listeners, not you, determine whether you have credibility or lack it.
Elements of Your Credibility
Credibility is not just a single factor or a single view of you on the part of your
audience. To be credible, you should be perceived as competent, trustworthy,
and dynamic.
CoMPeTenCe A speaker who is informed, skilled, or knowledgeable about
his or her subject is one with competence.
When you give a speech, you will be more persuasive if you convince your
listeners that you are knowledgeable about your topic. If, for example, you say
it would be a good idea for everyone to have a medical checkup each year, your
listeners might mentally ask, “Why? What are your qualifications to make such
a proposal?” But if you support your conclusion with medical statistics showing
how having a physical exam each year leads to a dramatically prolonged life,
you enhance the credibility of your suggestion. Thus, one way to enhance your
competence is to cite credible evidence to support your point.
TrusTWorThiness A second major factor that influences your audience’s
response to you is trustworthiness. You trust people whom you believe to be
honest; you can also predict what they will do or say in the future.
Earning an audience’s trust is not something that you can do simply by say-
ing, “Trust me.” You earn trust by demonstrating that you have had experience
dealing with the issues you talk about. Your listeners would be more likely to
trust your advice about how to tour Europe on $50 a day if you had been there
than they would if you took your information from a travel guide. Your trust-
worthiness may be suspect if you advocate something that will result in a direct
benefit to you. That’s why salespeople and politicians are often stereotyped as
being untrustworthy; if you do what they say, they will clearly benefit from a
sales commission if you buy a product, or gain power and position if you give
your vote.