personal character of the speaker, eg. body type, height, movement,expertise, word choice, eye contact, vocal quality, etc.
- "ethos is not a thing or a quality but an interpretation that is the product of the speaker-audience interaction"
Pathos:-
Psychological state of the audience. The psychological/emotional state of the listener can affect persuaion.
-Our judgement when we are pleased & friendly is not the same as when we are pained &hostile.
- Important to know both the individual's actual state of mind/desired state of mind.
Logos:-
Substance of a message, logic presented to provide proof to the listener.
- No. of people
- Critical to know how to adapt quickly to your audience’s need, wants, fears and desires.
- Research & read your audience
- Human nature is as varied as the colour of rainbow Human actions & thoughts are never perfectly predictable because each of us has different emotions, attitudes, beliefs, personalities and traints
- Pyramid:
Long Term
Commitment: Respect, Honor, Trust
Coorperation: Convince, Encourage, Coax
Coercion: Pressure, manipulate, intimidate
Control: Force, Fear, Threats
Short Term
MOST of us have a systematic way of looking at the world. When this mode is operating, our minds are perfectly primed to automatically respond to persuasion triggers.
Professor of Psychology Gregopry Neidert estimates that our brains actually run on idle 90~95% of he time. Thinking is hard work. It is human nature to conserve cognitive energy. Thinking burns 3 times as many calories as watching TV
Main reasons we choose not to think:
1. The amout of information available is so overwhelming we don’t even attempt to digest any of it.
2. Our decisions simply aren’t weighty enough to warrant the effort of researching all the available information we receive, we selectively choose what we will acknowledge and what we will ignore.
We love shortcuts to thinking.
A. Dissonance – Internal Pressure
- Theory of Cognitive Dissonance: Leon Festinger at Stanford University in 1957
- Most of us feel more hamony in our lives when everythings is consistent. Consistency is the glue that holds everything in our lives together, thereby allowing us to cope with the world.
- When people behave in amanner that is inconsistent with these cognitions, they find themselves in a state of discomfort. In such an uncomfortable state, they’ll naturally be inclined to adjust their behaviors or attitudes to regain mental & emotional consistency. When our beliefs, attitudes and actions mesh, we live harmoniously. When they don’t, we feel dissonance at some level – feeling awkward, uncomfortable, unsettled, disturbed, upset, nervous, or confused. In order to eliminate or reduce such tension, we will do everything possible to change our attitude & behavior, even if it means doing something we don’t want to do.
- We seek psycho-emotional stasis at all times.
Methods of protecting mental consistency
1. Denial: deny problems. Ignoring/demeaning the source of information
“This is just the media going after him. He is doing a great job, so the opposing party is trying to smear his good name. This will all blow over when the facts come out. It’s all just a big misunderstanding.”
2. Modification: Change existing cognitions to achieve consistency. –involves admitting you were wrong & making changes to remedy your errors.
“I cant’s believe I voted for this guy. I feel swindled and taken advantages of. I really mistook him for a man of character. I need to apologize to my family and friends. I cannot support a man who does not honor his wedding vows.”
3. Reframing: Change your understanding/interpretation of the meaning. Modify your own thinking or devalue the importance of he whole matter, considering it unimportant altogether.
Media said affair. Well, I’m sure he didn’t actually sleep with her. Maybe they’re just good friends. I’m sure his wife knew all about he whole thing. Even if they did have an affair, who doesn’t? Is it that big of a deal?”
4. Search: Determined to find a flaw in the other side’s position, to discredit the source, and to seek social/ evidentiary support for your own viewpoint. –Attempt to convince the source of his error/convince others you did the right thing.
“I’ve heard about the reporter breaking this story. He’s blown things out of proportion before. All the friends I’ve talked to don’t think the story is true. In fact, this reporter has been against the mayor from the time he became a candidate. I’m going to call the reporter right now.”
5. Separation: separate the attitudes that are in conflict.-What happens in one areas of your life should not affect he other areas of your life.
“I voted for him and he is doing a great job. Inflation is low, unemployment is not a problem, and crime has been reduced. He is doing everything he said he would. It doesn’t matter what he does in his private life. What matters is how he is doing his job. There is no connection between an affair and his job performance.”
6. Rationalization: Find excuse for why the inconsistency is acceptable. Change expectations/ try to alter what really happened. You find reasons to justify your behavior or your opinions.
“Well, his wife is cold to him and she’s never around when he needs her. She’s never really supported him since he took office. After all, she still has her own business. Maybe this is just a marriage of convenience and this relationship is part of their agreement.”
Maintaining Psychological Consistency
In politics, members of dif. Parties will refuse to peaceably / tolerantly listen to opposing party commercials.
Smokers won’t read articles about the dangers of smoking.
Drug users don’t spend much time at clinics.
WE DON’T WANT to find information that might oppose our current points of view.
Using Dissonance to create action
Most people try to follow through when they promise they will do some thing, especially if it is in writing.
Foot in the Door: “sequential request”: Using a person’s self-perception to motivate her to partake of the desired action.
FITD Technique:
1. Small commitments
2. Written commitments
3. Public commitments
Key points:
1. The first request: need to be “of sufficient size for the FITD technique to work.
2. Your Prospect’s viewpoint: Prospect senses.
3. External Incentives:
4. Source of the request
Three Steps to using FITD
Step 1: Get a commitment: PAVE
Public
Affirmative
as many “yes” answers as possible.-> develop consistency within the person that will carry over into your major request.
Voluntary
“Are you serious? Do you really mean that?”
Effortful
The more effort and public the commitment is, the more commitment it will create down the line.
Step 2: Create Dissonance
Commitment: create the dissonance
Final solution / major request is what you ultimately want to accomplish.
Step3: Offer a solution: Solution=call to action
