Page 412 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Self-Assessment

Perceived Source Credibility

The following scales measure perceptions of a source’s credibility. Fill them out on either your-
self or another speaker. Remember, too, that how you perceive your own credibility may not
coincide with the perception of others who see and hear you speak.

Expert _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Inexpert
Competent _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Incompetent
Authoritative _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Unauthoritative

Trustworthy _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Untrustworthy
Good _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Bad
Fair _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Unfair
There are seven steps with each scale. Those nearest the positive adjective are worth 7 and
those nearest the negative adjective are worth 1. The fi rst three items assess Competence,
and the second three assess Character. The higher the score, the greater the Competence
and Character.

Credibility Before the Speech
Often, speakers’ reputations precede them; in fact, reputation may be what
prompts the audience to attend, especially when the speaker is famous, is an ex-
pert, or has new or unusual information about the topic. For example, comedian
and political commentator Bill Maher spoke to a standing-room-only crowd on
our campus. Audience members knew his reputation as an irreverent comic and
self-labeled libertarian well in advance of his speech. Because the overwhelming
majority of people in the audience were sympathetic to his point of view, more-
over, he was perceived as highly credible before uttering a single word.
Of course, most of us are not experts and may not even be known to our audi-
ence. One way to build credibility before we speak is to have someone introduce
us to the audience. In Chapter 16 we discuss how to present a speech of intro-
duction that will enhance an audience’s perception of the speaker’s credibility. If
you are not introduced, you will have to establish your own credibility by what
you say in your speech and how you say it.

Credibility During the Speech
Under most but not all conditions, the speaker’s level of credibility at the outset
of the speech is insuffi cient to sustain the audience’s perception of believability.
Credibility by way of reputation can be negated as a result of the speaker’s ap-
pearance, message, and delivery. Audience members can quickly become dis-
enchanted and may even turn against speakers whom they feel are just going
through the motions or resting too much on their laurels.
On the other hand, even speakers with little initial credibility can build per-
ceptions of competence and character during their speech. As a case in point,
students in an introductory public speaking course may have little initial cred-
ibility with each other because they don’t know each other and don’t know each
other’s qualifi cations to speak on various topics. Practically speaking, then, 379
these students begin to build their credibility with their fi rst speeches. Their