Do you ever need to convince someone of something?
You may want someone to do:
Agree with you
Take an action
Buy a product
The 3 appeals of persuasion can help:
Ethos (credibility)
Pathos (emotion)
Logos (facts)
Ethos
Establish your character and credibility in the subject.
Gain built-in credibility by highlighting your related expertise or credentials, such as an advanced degree, certification, or years of experience in the subject.
Establish credibility by citing expert sources, sharing similarities with your audience, or having an expert endorse you.
Quiz
You are listening to a presentation on climate change. Which of the following accomplishments by the speaker is an example of built-in ethos that will help them establish credibility?
Pathos
Get an emotional reaction from your audience.
Show an image or video that illustrates the consequences of inaction or the benefits of action.
Use analogies and metaphors to compare your ideas to something they already feel strongly about.
Tell a story to make your audience feel a strong emotion, such as excitement, sadness, or anger.
Use descriptive words to make your audience see, hear, smell, taste, or feel your words
Pathos can be powerful, but don't overuse it.
It could backfire and elicit the opposite emotion.
Quiz
You want your roommates to help clean the apartment. Which of these is an example of a pathos appeal?
Logos
Support your claims with facts and figures.
Showing how much you know about the topic also helps build credibility.
Appeal to people's logic:
Share statistics from a credible source
Show a graph of results or trends
Cite supporting research
Share case studies with outcomes
Quiz
You're asking your boss to purchase new software. Which of the following is an example of a Logos appeal?
Take Action
Next time you need to persuade someone, ask yourself 3 questions:
Your feedback matters to us.
This Byte helped me better understand the topic.