Page 414 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 14 Persuasive Speaking 381

Similarity and Interpersonal Attraction

A second dimension of perception important to how an audience responds to
you and your speech is similarity. As a rule of thumb, the more similar audience
members perceive you to be to themselves, the more interpersonally attractive
they will perceive you to be as well. The reason is not hard to understand. People
are suspicious of those they feel are dissimilar to themselves. How can an out-
sider, they think, understand their needs or the needs of their local community?
Of course, appearance-based perceptions of similarity can disappear as soon
as we open our mouths to talk or to express an opinion. Regional accents and
dialects can interfere with appearance-based perceptions of similarity. So too
can a person’s vocabulary or use of slang. Before assuming that similarity ex-

ists, it’s best to actually talk to the person. Even superficial conversations about
hobbies and pastimes can be a source of information about another’s culture,
demography, and individual likes or dislikes.
Finally, although it is good to emphasize or take advantage of known simi-
larities between the audience and the speaker, it’s also crucial that the speaker
establish expertise on the subject as slightly to moderately greater than that of
most audience members. This doesn’t mean saying something foolish such as,
“I know more than you do.” It means making yourself credible in the eyes of
your audience.

Creating a Positive Impression

Persuasion demands impression management. Impression management demands
recognition of the fact that the content of your persuasive message interacts with
its delivery. Before you actually speak, your audience will have started to form
its impression of you. Whether or not you recognize it, for example, you have
been on stage in your class since its inception. Everything you have done and
said has served to create an impression of you in the minds of your classmates
and instructor.
Even when you have no prior history with your audience, audience members
will begin to “size you up” as soon as they become aware of you and your role.
It simply makes good sense, then, to think about the role your nonverbal com-
munication plays in mediating audience perceptions before you speak. Your ap-
pearance, posture, and facial expressions as you initially face your audience, for
example, can favorably dispose your audience to the content of your speech.
Needless to say, the role of nonverbal communication in the delivery of your
persuasive speech will serve to reinforce or modify the audience’s initial impres-
sion of you. Impression management, therefore, does end once you have actu-
ally started to speak.

Message Construction

Our discussion of message construction focuses on (1) the organization of your
persuasive message, (2) the kinds of evidence you’ll want to include in your mes-
sage, (3) the role emotion in general and fear specifi cally can play in your mes-
sage, and (4) the care needed in choosing the actual words with which you con-
struct your persuasive message.