WHAT IS PERSUASION ?

1
WHAT IS PERSUASION ?

• using coercion or force to produce an effect?
• using tools to produce x effect in an audience?
• using symbols to induce action ?
• motivating a sense of identification to produce
  action?

2
EARLY PERSUASION THEORIES

• focussed on rhetoric
• PERSUASION TODAY includes ...

• advertising
• movements
• organisational identification practices

3
ARISTOTLE

• 3 persuasion types Deliberative Forensic Ep
  ideictic
• PERSUADERS USE PROOF
• Inartistic (controlled by the situation eg
  photos, statistics)
• Artistic (invented/created by the persuader)
• Ethos Pathos Logos

4
CICEROS THEORY OF STASIS

• 3 KEY STASIS (clash points)
• DEFINITION OF A FACT/VALUE
• EXISTENCE
• QUALITY
• STYLE
• Plain Middle Grand

5
5 CANONS OF RHETORIC

• Invention
• Arrangement
• Style
• Delivery
• Memory
• Persuasion gt Speech

6
SEMIOTICS

• Words Signs Signals Symbols
• The map is not the territory
• CODES
• Code Confusion
• Differance

7
Audience-Oriented Persuasion Theories

• Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festlinger,
  1957)
• - Balance
• Elaboration Likelihood Model (Pettey and
  Cacioppo 1986)
• - central/peripheral

8
More audience-related theories

• Social Construction of Reality (Peter L Berger
  et al, 1966)
• opinions product of interaction with society
• Symbolic Convergence Theory (Ernest Bormann
  1985)
• Fantasies/rhetorical vision

9
MEDIA THEORIES

• One-shot Model
• Two-Step Flow of Information
• Uses and Gratification
• Cultivation Analysis
• Agenda Setting (power source/medium)

10
ETHICS OF PERSUASION

• Coercion
• Violence
• Deception
• Access
• Oppression
• Privacy
• Conflict of Interest

11
ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

• APPROACHES AND STANDARDS
• Categorical Imperative (Kant) Universal
• Utilitarian Principle (Mill) Situational
• Constitution of a country
• Johannesens ethical standards political/human-nat
  ure/dialogical
• Theoretic discourse/Practical discourse (Habermas
  1973)

12
Think about ...

• Visual Images and Ethics
• Political Persuasion
• Advertising
• Organizational Advocacy
• Journalism
• Ethical Communication
• Ethics and Audience Members