Ethos Pathos And Persuasion

Persuasion began in greece under the writings of Aristotle. He used the concepts of ethos (author), logos (text), pathos (audience), kairos (setting), and telos (purpose) to help explain how rhetoric functions (Purdue OWL, 2018). Rhetoric is defined as the the art of speaking or writing effectively through the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication and persuasion (Webster, 2018). Aristotle argued these five basic components are something all rhetorical situations have. For example, think about a presidential campaign and how they persuade an audience. The author, whether that be the speech writer or the presidential candidate themselves, must have a specific purpose in mind when writing the speech (ie. vote for me) so they

In current day understandings, ethos refers to the author’s character, ethics, and believability as an author (Higgins and Walker, 2012). It is also used to show the audience that the author is worth listening to, in this case, it would be beneficial for a author who is trying to convey ethos to introduce their specific expertise in the field that allows them to convey information about this topic. Ethos can be strategically developed by choosing specific language and vocabulary that is appropriate for the type of audience and topic the author is choosing to write about, as well as sounding fair and unbiased about the topic (Smith, 2004). When using ethos, it is important for the person to sound like an expert in the field, therefore proper grammar and syntax is recommended. An example of persuasion through the manipulation of ethos is when a political candidate speaks about foreign affairs and war after introducing himself as a veteran. The audience would take this information and be more understanding that as a veteran, this leader would not act without cause because they had been in that situation before, therefore the audience finds trust in the speaker’s expertise in the

Authors primarily use pathos to invoke feelings of sympathy or pity from an audience, or primarily make the audience feel what the author wants them to feel. Pathos can be used to provoke any type of emotional response from an audience, an example of another emotion targeted by authors/ speakers is anger. Anger is targeted in many types or persuasive climates, but a good example of when anger is used is during a political speech or even protest. During these events, speakers often will yell information to the audience and show how displeased they are, so change should be made! Seeing a leader with these feelings allows the audience to also have this feeling, which leads to persuasion through emotions. Overall, pathos can be strategically developed through the use of meaningful language, a proper emotional tone, and stories that evoke an emotional