This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Amplify Your Influence" by René Rodriguez. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What are Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals? How can you use these appeals to successfully persuade an audience?
Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals are pathos, logos, ethos, and kairos. According to René Rodriguez in Amplify Your Influence, using all of these in a presentation is a surefire way to keep your audience engaged with your ideas.
Let’s look at how you can use these techniques to be the most persuasive speaker around.
The Basics of Persuasion
Rodriguez argues that successful communicators engage and inspire their audience (whoever they’re attempting to guide or persuade). As a communicator, your goal should be to convince your audience to change their behavior or take positive action. We’ll discuss Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals and how you can employ them to make your communication more effective, whether you’re conversing with loved ones, making sales pitches, or speaking in front of large audiences.
(Shortform note: Some communication experts state that one of the best ways to engage and inspire audiences is to present your ideas in an original way. Your audience is more likely to act on your ideas if your presentation departs from the formats typically used to communicate ideas in your field. For example, if you need an alternative to PowerPoint presentations (a commonly used format), consider drawing any visuals you need while you’re presenting. Watching you create something in real time might secure the audience’s attention.)
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Appeals
According to Rodriguez, you can engage and guide an audience successfully using four of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals (qualities of an argument that make it persuasive). For thousands of years, people have used these appeals to sway their audiences. Understanding and applying all four can help you build trust, interest, and rapport with an audience.
(Shortform note: Successfully persuading an audience isn’t the only benefit of understanding Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals—in Thank You for Arguing, Jay Heinrichs states that this knowledge is also helpful when someone is trying to persuade you of something. When you understand rhetoric, you can quickly identify when others are using persuasive tactics, deflect these tactics if necessary, and discern what arguments are really about.)
Appeal #1: Pathos
Pathos is the appeal to emotion, and it allows you to connect with your audience on a personal level. When you successfully engage your audience using pathos, they can empathize with and relate to you. Additionally, Rodriguez argues, pathos is necessary when trying to persuade people to take action or change their behavior—people typically make decisions based on emotions, not logic.
For example, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals uses pathos to secure donations through TV commercials. They combine sad music and images of scared, abused animals to appeal to your empathy, making it more likely you’ll take action and offer money to help the animals.
(Shortform note: According to some psychologists, emotions (and thus, the pathos appeal) are strong motivators for decision-making and action because of how we evolved. Many emotions come from the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes fearful and threatening stimuli. When we perceive something as dangerous—like an aggressive animal, for example—emotions like fear motivate us to take swift action to increase our chance of survival.)
You can use pathos and appeal to your audience’s empathy through storytelling. When people are engaged in a story, they feel the emotions of the narrative as if they’re experiencing the events themselves.
(Shortform note: Studies suggest that reading or listening to a story activates parts of the brain involved in determining other people’s motivations and predicting future behavior, meaning stories may help us see situations through someone else’s perspective. When we do this, we can empathize with the other person, as Rodriguez suggests. Additionally, storytelling can be a great way to move people to action—we’re more likely to change our behavior if a character we relate to in a story makes a similar change.)
Appeal #2: Ethos
Your ethos represents your credibility—it’s whatever allows you to speak with authority about a given topic and have people trust what you’re saying. Rodriguez argues that ethos includes whatever associations and brand people attach to you. The greater your ethos, the more people will listen to you. You can increase your ethos in many different ways—for example, publishing books and articles can build your credibility in your chosen topic or field.
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Here's what you'll find in our full Amplify Your Influence summary:
- How you can help others reach their goals and improve their behavior
- How to use Aristotle's four rhetoric appeals to connect with an audience
- Tips on what to do before, during, and after a presentation
