Page 418 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Considering Diversity

Culture and Persuasion

1
As a society, we value a reasoning process that is more punished as children develop.” Another culture, such as
likely to produce true than false beliefs, likely to produce that of Japan, may place greater emphasis on tradition and
a large number of truthful arguments and statements, and appeal to authority than does the North American culture.
likely to do so with a fair amount of speed. Through our col- Thus, operating in a system that values rationality requires
lective experience we learn that certain types of reasoning a persuader to at least appeal to reason and evidence in
work well. We internalize these and use them as templates order to be successful. 2
for evaluating communicators and their messages.
Some cultures value reasoning more than others. West-
1 Rodney A. Reynolds and Michael Burgoon, “Belief Processing,
ern culture tends to value rational argument and view any-
Reasoning, and Evidence,” in Communication Yearbook 7, ed.
thing labeled fallacious with suspicion. As Rodney A. Reyn- Robert N. Bostrom (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1983), 88.
olds and Michael Burgoon point out, “Logical explanations 2 John C. Reinard, Foundation of Argument: Effective Communica-
are typically rewarded and contradictions or absurdities tion for Critical Thinking (Dubuque, Iowa: W. C. Brown, 1991), 171

Of course, the importance of evidence and reasoning can vary from culture
to culture. As the box “Considering Diversity: Culture and Persuasion” points
out, Western culture puts a premium on rationality.

Tips and Tactics
Using Evidence

• Use credible evidence to support your position.
• Be sure to tell your audience who your sources are and what makes them
qualifi ed to speak on the topic.
• Statistics are most effective when preceded by specifi c vivid examples.
• Visuals help your audience to process statistics.
• If you are not perceived as highly credible by an audience, the use of high-
quality evidence can enhance their perception of your credibility.
• Emphasize your personal experiences if they are relevant to your topic and
persuasive purpose. Audiences relate to personal stories, so fi rst-order data
can be powerful evidence.
• When using second-order data, use experts with name recognition for your
audience.
• Strive to balance fi rst-, second-, and third-order data throughout your speech.
• Finally, use evidence your audience is likely to fi nd memorable, particularly
at the beginning and end of your speech.

Emotional Appeals and Persuasion

Much as we would like to think that persuasion is a completely rational pro-
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cess where speakers present sound evidence to support their claims and audi-
ences respond accordingly, we know otherwise. Public speakers sometimes use