Transcript fa 10 week 7

EMOTIONAL APPEALS
Week 7
READ 142
Fall 2010
1
PRESENTATIONS NEXT TWO WEEKS
BRING YOUR PACKET NEXT WEEK.
 Presentation (20 points)
 Participation (12 points)

2 logical fallacies chart completed during
presentations
 Member Evaluation

Members in your group will evaluate your
contribution (15 points)

2
3
4
Let’s go over your reading for the week.
Please get into five groups.
Group 1: Questions 1 & 2
 Group 2: Question 3
 Group 3: Questions 4 & 5
 Group 4: Questions 6 & 7
 Group5: Question 8

5
EMOTIONAL APPEALS
6
DEFENSE ATTORNEY
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I urge you to
acquit John Jones of this crime of murder. He is
married and has three children. If he is executed
or goes to prison for life, his family will end up in
the poorhouse.”
7
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
“Ladies and gentlemen, I urge you to convict John
Jones of this crime of murder. We need to put
him where he can never commit any crimes. If
you don’t convict him, you may be his next
victim.”
8
SOUND CONVINCING?
Both arguments sound convincing, but you can’t
take both sides.
 Both sides are manipulating with emotions.
 Neither side has addressed the real issue.
 What is the real issue?

9
EMOTIONAL APPEALS
An appeal is something that makes an argument
attractive, worth considering, plausible.
 Appeals are considered illegitimate when they
serve as substitutes for evidence and seeks to
control our emotions, which diverts us from the
real argument.
 This becomes manipulative propaganda.
 Manipulative propaganda is used when someone
plays with our emotions in a way designed to
make us agree with them without thinking
through the matter carefully.

10
(FAULTY) APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
A faulty appeal to
authority is an appeal
to someone who has no
special knowledge in
the area being
discussed.
 “My car mechanic says
the best way to fix
computer problems is
to just give the
computer a good, sharp
kick. He says it should
always work.”

11
APPEAL TO FEAR

An appeal to fear is
used when someone
makes you fear the
consequences of not
doing what he wants.
12
APPEAL TO PATRIOTISM

An appeal to
patriotism suggests
that an argument is
worth holding out of
loyalty to one’s
country, political
party, or some other
group.
13
APPEAL TO PITY OR SYMPATHY
When someone tries to make us do something
only because we pity him or her, that person is
appealing to pity.
 “Mr. Jones lost the last election because his
opponent used a smear campaign to discredit
him. Mr. Jones lost the election before that
because of voter fraud. Mr. Jones lost the
election before that because nobody knew who he
was. Don’t you think it is about time you voted
for Mr. Jones?”
 WSPA commercial

14
15
APPEAL TO PREJUDICE
 Using
emotionally
charged terms to
attach value or
moral goodness to
believing a claim.
 It inflames
negative feelings,
beliefs, or
stereotypes about a
particular group.

Of course the federal
government should
build a fence along the
border. Illegal
immigrants sneak
across the border now
and take jobs away
from Americans who
are out of work.
16
Editorial: Anti-Gay Violence in Super Bowl Ads Still
Not Funny
 http://www.afterelton.com/TV/2008/2/superbowlads
17
APPEAL TO TRADITION
When someone makes an appeal to tradition, he
or she encourages to buy some product or take
some action because it is associated with things
of the past.
 "Our society has always ridden horses. It would
be foolish to start driving cars.”
 "Your invention is a bad idea because it has no
historical precedent."

18
19
MACY’S TV COMMERCIAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm2FJMJWK
kQ
20
WITH YOUR GROUP, COME UP WITH AN
APPEAL ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.
appeal to authority
2. appeal to patriotism
3. appeal to prejudice
4. appeal to fear
5. appeal to pity or sympathy
All Groups: appeal to tradition
1.
21
LET’S GO OVER PRACTICE
EXERCISES.
Turn to page 352 in your textbook.
 On a piece of paper, put your name and label this
“Emotional Appeals”
 Practice Exercise 3

22
OTHER MANIPULATIVE APPEALS
23
BANDWAGON
The bandwagon technique appeals to
the reader’s need to belong and to do
what everyone is doing.
Should you by a
product just because
it is the most
popular?
24
APPEAL TO FLATTERY
An appeal to flattery
occurs whenever a
person attempts to
compliment or flatter
another in order to get
her to accept the truth
of a claim.
“People who know their
cars choose the
Thunderbolt.”
25
JUST PLAIN FOLKS

The plain folks appeal
is an attempt by the
speaker or writer to
convince the public
that his or her views
reflect those of the
common person and
that they are also
working for the
benefit of the common
person.
Walmart commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=VbucVty_xs&feature=related
26
TRANSFER

Transfer is an appeal
in which someone
tries to make us
transfer our good or
bad feelings about one
thing to another
unrelated thing.
27
NAME CALLING

Writers may use name
calling to deflect
attention away from
the real argument.
This old WWII propaganda
poster calls Japanese
citizens the enemy. Also this
poster makes them look like
monsters.
28
RIDICULE
This appeal asks the reader to dismiss an idea by
subjecting it to ridicule rather than by analyzing its
inherent weaknesses.
 It may substitute humor for supporting evidence.

29
TESTIMONIAL
The testimonial technique
uses a famous person.
The testimonial tries to
connect the writer’s
opinion to the reader’s
feeling about this person.
30
TESTIMONIAL
 This
man seems
like a normal,
likeable guy.
 The text is written
as if he is talking
directly to the
reader.
31
WITH YOUR GROUP, COME UP WITH AN
APPEAL ABOUT THE LEGALIZATION OF
MARIJUANA
bandwagon appeal
2. plain folks
3. ridicule or name calling
4. transfer
5. flattery
All Groups: testimonial
1.
32
LET’S GO OVER SOME EXERCISES.
Turn to page 358.
 LABEL THIS PRACTICE EXERCISE 4

33
SARAH PALIN’S SPEECH
Listen to Sarah Palin’s speech.
1. emotional appeals in paragraphs 1-36
2. emotional appeals in paragraphs 37-74
3. emotional appeals in paragraphs 75-109
4. relevant facts & reasons, 37-74
5. relevant facts & reasons, 75-109

appeal to authority
appeal to fear
appeal to patriotism
appeal to prejudice
plain folks
ridicule/name calling
34
Conclusion
• Emotional appeal techniques can be
extremely effective in persuading the reader
to act on a feeling.
• If we focus on the facts instead of the
feelings, we will make a better decision
about the writer’s opinion.
35
CONCLUSION
Fallacious appeals to emotions are effective
because it's easier for most people not to think
critically, but to rely on their gut reaction; and
it's easier for the person making the appeal to
excite his listeners' emotions than to construct a
persuasive argument.
 As a result, those who try to persuade us most
often--politicians and advertisers-- tend to rely on
emotional appeals in order to motivate us to do
things that we might not do for purely rational
reasons.

36