Describe the four traditional appeals (including the three traits identified by Aristotle relating to credibility) and the four modern appeals a persuasive speaker can use

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Sample student response:

Traditional appeals—
Appeal to pathos—is an appeal to listener's emotions. It plays on their sympathy and uses emotive language and vivid descriptions to affect their attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors.

Appeal to ethos—is an appeal to the credibility evoked by a speaker. Aristotle claimed that the speaker's credibility evolved from competency and character. In modern times, a third trait, charisma, has been recognized.

Appeal to mythos—is an appeal that relates to a sense of one's history in the larger culture and the need to be a member of that culture. It's often fueled by emotion and not always viewed as a noteworthy appeal.

Appeal to logos—is an appeal to logic—a listener's ability to reason through statistics, facts, and expert testimony to reach a conclusion.

Modern appeals—
Appeal to need—is an appeal recognizing that listeners have needs they see as necessary and important to fulfill.

Appeal to harmony—is an appeal emphasizing that humans need to be in a state of harmony, or free of conflicting attitudes, beliefs, values, ideas, and behaviors.

Appeal to gain—is an appeal recognizing that most people weigh or evaluate their actions based on the outcome, or what they will gain or lose by making the decision.

Appeal to commitment—is an appeal that seeks to understand how listeners might interpret a message depending on their commitment to critical thinking and involvement. The challenge of using this appeal is that you need to know your audience and whether they will be motivated to listen and think critically about your message.