Speech Quiz #4

Understanding

Listening for understanding will improve with practice -Our understanding of a message is contingent on our understanding of the vocabulary of the message

Critical Thinkers

Evaluate the quality of evidence and reasoning used to draw conclusions -The ability to make quality decisions or to produce quality messages -Critical thinking is used in every phase of the speech preparation process

Ad Hominem

"against the person" -This fallacy occurs when a speaker attack the character of a person making an argument rather than the argument itself -It is only acceptable to question an individual source if the person's character has a direct bearing on the truth or falsity on the claim being made

Policy Claim Continued

-Third the speaker must establish that his or her recommendation course of action will solve the problem -You audience is not likely to accept you policy recommendations unless they perceive that such recommendations are likely to solve the problem -An action statement indicates what you want your audience to believe or do ... then you provide you audience with the means of information they would need to do so

Qualifiers

As a persuasive speaker you should avoid using terms like "always" or "never" -Qualifiers admit exceptions and demonstrate that argumentation is not an exact science -Acknowledging your degree of certainty safeguards you against the appearance that you are taking an unreasonable position on the topic

Passive Agreement

-Your objective is to persuade the audience to adopt a new attitude without asking them to engage in a specific behavior -Speeches that seek passive agreement include a solution to a problem; however, in contrast with immediate action, the speaker doesn't call the audience to action -For example, one might persuade that audience that the US needs a national system of health care and provide a solution for implementing such a system without even asking your audience to do anything more than agree with your position

Six Step to Reflective Thinking

1. Identifying the problem 2. Analyzing the topic 3. Guidelines for evaluating solutions 4. Generating Solutions 5. Selecting the Best solution 6. Evaluating the solution

Claims

A claim represents the assertion or point that a speaker advocates -A claim by itself is hardly persuasive ... your audience will expect you to provide reliable evidence in order to support your claims

Fallacy

A fallacy occurs when an argument is based on unsound reasoning or evidence -You should draw upon your critical thinking as well as information and media literacy skills as you produce and consume messages -hasty generalization, false cause, and invalid analogy

Hasty Generalization

A fallacy of reasoning that occurs when the conclusion offered is based on insufficient evidence

Syllogism

A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion

Group

A gathering of people who interact with one another for a common purpose -A group must have at least three people

Purpose

A group must have a common goal or purpose -Groups must meet to a accomplish some task

Size

A group should be limited to about 10 people because this will make it possible for all participants to interact with each other -5-7 people is truly the best size for interaction

Criterion

A standard by which the value judgement is to be made

Conflict

A way of avoiding groupthink -Due to different frames of reference conflict will be natural -Conflict will be desirable in the early stages of decision-making -Conflict may arise due to lack or resources or misunderstanding between group members -Other conflicts may be the result of different personalities -Conflict will hurt the group when it is based on personal issues and egos

Status Quo

All of the laws, regulations, and attitudes that currently exist -If you are advocating for change as a persuasive speaker, you must recognize and develop strategies to overcome the status quo bias

Factual Distractions

Another internal source of interference -Occurs when we concentrate so hard on a speaker's message that we miss the main point -This may not be entirely your fault... the speaker could be providing too many details and you miss the main point -You may become so overwhelmed with the details of the message that you overlook the underlying purpose and importance of it

Persuasive Communication

Any message that is intended to shape, reinforce, or change the responses of another or others -The speaker's goal will be to influence that audience's attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors

False Dilemma

Asserts that a complicated question only has two answers when more actually exist -One way to find these is to listen for words like "either" or "or" -These are problematic because they are designed to prevent the receiver from considering other, perhaps better, alternatives

Casual Reasoning

Asserts that one condition or event (cause) brings about another condition of event (effect) -The speaker must also demonstrate that the preceding event caused the effect -The key to warrant casual reasoning is to produce enough reasons to warrant the link between the cause and effect -The reality is that most events have multiple causes -Just because an event occurs does not mean that one thing caused it (false fallacy)

Formal Roles

Assigned to all group members

Managing Conflict

Avoidance- hands off approach Accommodation- one person gives in to the other person in the conflict Compromise- Willingness to negotiate a strategy Competing- Winner will take all Collaboration- analysis of the problems and the best possible solution "win-win"

Deductive Reasoning

Begins with a generalization and then moves logically to an application in a specific case

Critical Listening and Critical Thinking

Both are integrally connected -We listen critically while consuming messages; we think critically while both consuming and producing them -When writing and researching your own speeches, you will engage in critical thinking as you evaluate evidence from your sources and decide how the information will be useful to your speech -Critical thinking is the ability to make reasonable decisions about what to believe or do based on careful evaluation of available evidence and arguments -At a very basic level critical thinking is skeptical thinking ... it occurs when you say "Hey, wait a minute... that doesn't make sense!" -In other words critical thinking happens when you don't accept or reject things automatically, rather, you question the information with an inquiring mind

Evidence Credibility Statement

Brief statements that establish the quality of the information you are using to support your ideas -Research indicates that evidence is more likely to change attitudes if it is of high quality, plausible, and is novel rather than something the audience members have already heard several times before -The evidence that you use should meet all tests that were discussed in chapter 7

Argument Model (Toulmin model)

Claims, evidence, evidence credibility, statements, warrants, qualifiers, and rebuttals

Policy Claim

Concerned with what should be done, what law should be changed, or what policy should be followed -Policy clades can be easily identified by the word "should" as well as the existence of an agent of action -ex. "The university (agent of action) should lower tuition." -The speaker must be able to prove that some problem exists ... a speaker might argue that immigration controls are so lax currently that we are at significant risk of future terrorist attacks -The speaker must also present a inherent barrier that is preventing the status quo from acting to solve the problem (Why would a legislator vote for a law advocating stricter control on immigration is such a policy already existed?)... This means that policy advocates must do their research to know what laws and regulations are already in effect

Terminal Credibility

Credibility given to a speaker at the end of the speech

Ethos

Credibility is a perception in the mind of the receiver or listener -Therefore, speakers are only as credible as their listeners perceive them to be -Competence refers to the audience's perception of the speaker's intelligence, expertise, and overall knowledge on the topic -Character refers to the audience's perception of the speaker's trustworthiness -Goodwill reflects the extent to which an audience perceives that the speaker is concerned about them -These perceptions fo figure into the decision-making process -It will be important to recognize that beyond establishing your own credibility as a source on your topic you must also establish the credibility of the information sources you are using to support your ideas

Critical Listening

Critical listening involves making judgements about the information that we receive -We use critical listening while listening to speeches -We also engage in critical listening as we are presented with messages in the media ... do you need to buy that product?

Explicit Rules

Directly communicated to and agreed upon by all group members -When you first sit down to accomplish a task, you should consider what explicit rules will apply to that group

Empathetic Listening

Empathy is the ability to feel for another person and put ourselves in their shoes -This type of listening occurs when we want to support someone ... our sole purpose is to listen and not talk -Perhaps your friend needs to call you to vent about a problem

One member

Everything that one member does will influence the entire group (can have positive or negative effects)

Moroe's Motivated Sequence

Five step approach to organizing your main points -The objective of this pattern is to gain immediate action by identifying the problem and solution as well as the consequences of implementing your plan 1. Attention 2. Need (serious problem that must be addressed) 3. Satisfaction (your offer a plan for solving the problem) 4. Visualization (you attempt to help the listeners visualize the advantages of adopting your plan or the disadvantages of not adopting your plan) 5. Action (you tell the listeners exactly what they should do and how they can do it)

Groupthink

Groupthink occurs when members of the group are more concerned with getting the task done as opposed to getting it done right -Sometimes a looming deadline can lead to groupthink

Comparative Advantages Order

If the audience already agrees that a problem exists in the status quo, you can choose to organize your speech around the advantages and disadvantages of two competing solutions -If you use this format you will present arguments throughout and explain why your solution is better than other solutions

Problem Solution Order (policy)

If you are advocating for a change in policy, consider using the problem-solution format -In this format the first main point is devoted to establishing the problem, the next point you introduce the specific plan and explain how to solve the problem

Problem-Cause-Solution Order

If you want to focus on a specific causes associated with a problem, you should consider the problem-cause-solution format

Audience

If your audience is neutral about your position you will try to shape their response in a way that is consistent with your advocacy -If your audience agrees with you advocacy, try to reinforce their position on the topic -If your audience opposes your advocacy, your goal will be to change their position

Appreciative Listening

Individual process because it involves personal enjoyment -Listening to music is a good example -Sometimes you listen to music to understand a message or learn how to hit a particular note -Sometimes you may want to dance, and sometimes just be quiet and reflect

Semantic Distractions

Internal sources of interference that occur when we have an emotional response to particular words or concepts when the speaker is presenting -It may be that the word is offensive of causes us to remember a traumatic event of our past -The emotional reaction does not have to be negative -The speaker could say something that causes us to recall positive experiences as well

Interpreting

Interpreting messages involves the ability to see a situation from another person's perscpetive -In addition interpreting requires that you pay attention to the meaning and context of the message -The context will cause you to interpret the meaning of the message differently

Cultural Relativism

Judging ones culture by its own values and beliefs

Leader

Leader could be someone that has strong organizational skills -Or someone that has a particular expertise with the topic of task at hand -A good leader is defined by the ability to direct and influence others -An effective leader will be able to identify unique qualities of all members and assign them various tasks -effective direction involves the ability to organize and guide the group's activities -An effective leader will also gain the respect of other group members, which will affect his or her ability to influence them -In other words, an effective leader will take on many of the tasks and relationship roles mentioned earlier

Enthymeme

Logical reasoning with one premise left unstated -Relying on enthymemes may work well when you and your audience share similar knowledge, values, and experiences related to the topic that is under discussion; however, such a strategy may not work at all if you don't share common ground with your audeince

Culture

Made up of values and beliefs learned by a group of people who share the same social heritage or traditions -You will experience some form of language, space, time, art, family, food, and finances

Target Audience

Majority viewpoint -Will become the focus of your persuasive efforts as they represent the portion of the whole audience that you most want to influence

Evidence

May take several forms, including statistics, analogies, facts, examples, and testimony -Evidence has relatively little impact when it is included in a speech that is delivered poorly, when the audience is familiar with the topic, or with the data presented is inconsistent with individual's initial attitudes -You can heighten the effectiveness of your evidence by providing the audience with a brief evidence credibility statement

Mental Distractions

Mental distractions are the first of three sources of internal interference -You are supposed to be listening to the teacher but instead you are concerned about your exam in your next class -Or perhaps you are listening to a speaker and prejudge him based on appearance or the fact that you don't like his topic -Mental distractions occur when our mind gets in the way of our ability to concentrate and listen

Implicit

Norms are not directly stated but indirectly observed -For example one group member shows up late and another member decides that it would be okay if they were also to show up late

Disadvantages

Not all group members complete their share of the workload -Members must take time to report and communicate with one another about their progress and plan their presentation -Scheduling can also create problems -Also it can be difficult to reach decisions which can lead to conflict -While conflict seems negative sometimes it can be positive in a group -Poor decisions can be made when not considering all possible alternatives

Informal Roles

Occur spontaneously through interactions that people have within the group

Comprehensive Listening

Occurs when we are attempting to understand a message for a particular reason- to gain knowledge and complete a task -We are still able to discriminate between verbal and nonverbal messsages, but with comprehension -You not only need to understand the message but retain the information for further use -An example is listening to a lecture in order to best prepare for an exam

Responding

Once we have listened to a message, we must decide how we will respond to it -What will we do with the information? -Will we use it to form new information? -Or will we reject it because it is not consistent with what we already know?

Rebuttals

One-sided messages give arguments in favor of the speaker's position on the issues -Multisided messages present the multiple perspectives of the controversial issue -A rebuttal not only states the counterarguments but attacks them -By addressing the objections of the audience, the speaker demonstrates that she or he is aware of the opposing information, has taken it into account, and still finds the weight of the evidence favors her of his position -It will be essential to refute these counterarguements

Physical Distractions

Physical distractions are an external source of interference -These include distractions from the environment that keep us from focusing on the speaker and the messages -Examples include time of day, temperature in the room, and noises both in and out of the room

Ethnocentric

Placing value judgments on people because they are different form us

Red Herring

Prior to a hunt, farmers often dragged a herring (stinky fish) around the fields to mask the sent of the fox and throw the dogs off its trail -Speakers commit the red herring fallacy when they introduce irrelevant information into an argument in attempt to mask the real issue that is under discussion

Warrant

Provides the justification and reasoning to connect the evidence with you claim -A warrant explains how the evidence substantiates your point and demonstrates that making the mental leap from on to the other is rational -The warrant shows your audience that your evidence supports your claim -Rather then relying on your audience to make the link, we encourage our students to state their warrants explicitly -Constructing arguments using Toulmin's model makes it easy to identify potential problems with the relationships between the claims you are advancing and the evidence you are using to support these claims

Receiving

Receiving involves paying attention to the auditory and visual messages that are presented to you -We also receive messages through eye contact, body language, and facial expressions -In fact, visual messages may have more of an impact than auditory messages because we are more likely to believe what we see than what we hear

Pathos

Refers to appeals of emotion -For an emotional appeal to be effect, the speaker must recreate the event that would provoke an emotional repines from the audience in "real life" -In other words one of the goals in using pathos is to stimulate the audience to relate to your speech on a personal level -Your sincerity and conviction will be evident to the audience in all of your verbal and nonverbal actions -It should be addressed that some scholars have suggested that over-reliance on emotion neglects the role of logical reasoning in arguemtnation

Initial Credibility

Refers to the credibility you have prior to giving the speech

Argument

Refers to the process of advancing claims supported by evidence and reasoning

Remembering

Remembering is essential if you intend to apply what you have heard in future situations -Remembering will require a conscious effort on the part of the listener -Try remembering information that an individual told you and bring it up in a later conversation... the person that told you that information will appreciate it

Improving your listening

Remove any physical barriers to listening -Focus on the speaker's main idea -Listen for intent, as well as the context, of the message -Give the other person a full hearing (do not begin evaluation until you have listened to the entire message) -Remember the saying that meanings are in people, not in words (try to overcome your emotional reactions to words) -Concentrate on the other person as a communicator and as a human being

Importance of Listening

Research indicates that effective listening skills are essential to our success because it allows us to make decisions about what it important and it necessary for effective note taking -It is also a top skill in the business community -Listening helps you to accomplish tasks through understanding, recall, feedback, decision-making -Additionally, listening promotes relationships by attending to emotions, understanding needs, self-disclosure, enhancing authentic trust, and valuing diversity and respect for others -By nature we are attracted to and more comfortable around people that listen to us

Appeal to Authority

Resets the assumption that just because an authority figure says something it must be true -Such statements go bad when the appeal is based on a stamens made by a person who is actually not an authority figure or when the person is situated in some circumstance that undermines her or his credibility

Advantages

Sharing of the workload and pooling resources, bouncing ideas off each other, and enjoying and gaining motivation from working with others -There is a word that describes a positive result of group collaboration: synergy -Group synergy will occur when the whole group is more successful that each member within it

Process of Listening

Six skills associated with listening- receiving, understanding, remembering, interpreting, evaluating, and responding

Slippery Slope

Speaker asserts that some event must inevitably follow form another down a steep slide toward disaster -You should carefully analyze the proof offered and reflect on whether the proposed chain of events is really leading inevitable toward disaster

Value Claims

Such questions should go beyond a debate about the facts involved to a judgement about values -A claim of values considers what you might consider to be right or wrong, moral or immoral, just or unjust, good or bad -"Capital punishment is justified." -Speeches that focus on claims of value don't advocate any specific action or policy -Once you move from setting a standard into the realm of questioning what should be done, you move from a value claim to a policy claim

Bandwagon

Suggest that something is true being many other people agree with it -Take the time to critically evaluate the evidence and reasoning offered for the proposed action -Also ask yourself whether accepting the idea serves your interests

Derived Credibility

The credibility a speaker develops during the speech -As your persuasive speech progresses, you can continue to enhance your credibility by citing sources, developing quality arguments and sharing your own personal experience on the topic -You can also work to share common ground with your audience by highlighting similarities between you and them -We like people who we perceive to be similar to us, and researchers have found that we are often motivated to comply with the wishes of others based off simply off of the fact that we like them

Discriminative Listening

The most basic type of listening where we distinguish between verbal and nonverbal messages -You may hear a friend tell you that he is fine but his actions say otherwise

"Burden of Proof"

The obligation a persuasive speaker faces to provide sufficient reasons for changing what already exists and is accepted in the status quo -It will be essential that the speaker clearly defines key terms -ex. "There is life on mars." ... in this case life deserves clarification (factual) -ex. "The right to a dignified death is morally justified." ... however the audience might have a vastly different interpretation of the term "dignified death"... in this case the speaker must clearly define what constitutes a dignified death (value) -"The United States federal government should establish stricter controls of immigration." ... the speaker must define which arm of the federal government and must also define what is meant by stricter controls of immigration

Persuasive Speaking

The speaker will be an advocate for the position, policy, or way of viewing the world

Logos

The term refers to the rational proof you use to support the arguments that you make in the persuasive speech -There are several types of rational proofs, including those based on inductive, deductive, casual, and analogical reasoning

Norms

There are expectations for how each member participates within a group

Disruptive Roles

These occur when invidious group members put their needs above the group needs (will hinder the group progress) Blocker- opposes ideas but seeks not solution Avoider- refuses to participate Credit Seeker- tries to take credit for other group member ideas or the workload of the whole group Distractor- tries to get the group off track by acting silly or talking off subject Dominator- monopolizes the discussion and prevents others from expressing their ideas and wants to do all of the work to make sure it is done "right"

Relationship Roles

These provide for the social needs of the group and serve to foster teamwork and collaboration Gatekeeper- sees that everyone is involved in an open discussion, encourages participation among all members, and helps to control the flow of conversations Harmonizer- helps to settle conflicts between members by maintaining peace within the group Tension Reliever- Uses humor to relieve tension when conflict or deadlines loom Supporter- encourages positive feelings, consoles, and counsel other members

Task Roles

These roles help the group accomplish its goal or purpose Initiator- helps the group by proposing ideas Information seeker- asks for ideas from others and shares opinions Organizer- keeps the group on task and organizes meetings and agendas Clarifier- Asks questions to make sure everyone in the group understands Elaborator- expands on the ideas of others Evaluator- positively, yet critically, reflects on and offers value judgments on suggestions

Evaluating

We evaluate messages through our past experiences, attitudes, and values -Based on predispositions we evaluate the messages that we receive -Are they consistent with your beliefs? -Will we accept or reject the message?

Factual Claims

When a speaker addresses a claim they are concerned with what is true and what is not true -Past fact: whether something did or didn't happen -Present fact: whether something is true or not -Future fact: whether something will be true or not in the future (speakers cannot know whether something will be true in the future so they must present evidence regarding the likelihood of event occurring in the future)

Persuasion is not a bad thing

When presented with high-quality evidence and sound reasoning, ethical communicators change their minds and accept the conclusions and recommendations of the persuasive speaker

Premises

When the premises are true and the conclusions can logically be derived from the premises, the syllogism is highly persuasive

Inductive Reasoning

You begin with specific instances and formulate a reasonable generalization or conclusion from then -Moves from particular to general -It will be important to avoid jumping to conclusions based on a small number of examples

Analogical Reasoning

You can use analogies to help clarify complex situations by comparing them with situations that are more familiar to the audience -Literal analogies compare the similarities in things that are alike -Literal analogies may be especially useful in building a case for the adoption of policies -Figurative Analogies draw upon metaphors to identify similarities between two things that are not alike but share some identifiable characteristics -An invalid analogy will occur when the items that are being compared are not sufficiently similar

Why should I study Persuasion?

You will continue to be bombarded with attempts to influence you for the rest of your life -One benefit to understanding a persuasive message is that you will become a more informed and critical consumer of persuasive messages -You cannot rely strictly on experience in order to persuade someone

Immediate Action

Your goal should be to motivate the audience to engage in a specific behavior or take a specific action -Your action statement should be as specific as possible and reasonable -If you have been successful your audience will be motivated by your message to make a difference -However, they are unlikely to act is you present them with only a vague plan of action