Page 419 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

386 Part 4 Contexts for Public Speaking

emotionally charged appeals to make their case. Audiences can also let their
emotions get in the way of their powers of reasoning.
Yet emotion is not always outside the bounds of legitimate persuasive dis-
course. In spite of his emphasis on rationality, for example, Aristotle recognized
the role of emotions in the process of persuasion. He reasoned what modern re-
searchers have demonstrated again and again: People are persuaded not simply
by cold logic but also by emotional appeals. Pathos refers to the emotional states
pathos
in an audience that a speaker can arouse and use to achieve persuasive goals.
The emotional states
Aristotle catalogued the many emotions a speaker can evoke in the attempt
in an audience that a
to persuade people. Specific emotions he mentions in his writings about persua-

speaker can arouse and
use to achieve persua- sion include anger, fear, kindness, shame, pity, calmness, confi dence, unkind-
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sive goals. ness, friendship, enmity, shamelessness, and envy. Sometimes the speaker may
choose to appeal to the audience members’ emotions or primitive beliefs. Be-
cause of social conditioning from the earliest years of childhood, people respond
to some messages in specifi c, predictable ways. Whereas logical proofs are de-
signed to induce critical thinking on the part of the audience, emotional appeals
are designed to provoke audience members to respond without much critical
thought.

Animal-rights groups often base their persuasive messages on strong appeals to their audience’s emotions.