Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

Ethos, logos, and pathos were Aristotle’s three forms of rhetorical proof, meaning they were primary to his theories of persuasion.

Ethos refers to the credibility of a speaker and includes three dimensions: competence, trustworthiness, and dynamism. What is credibility? Credibility is defined as the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message. Credibility is both objective, or based on facts and evidence, and subjective, based on opinions and feelings. This quality encompasses everything from your college degree or professional certification to the immediate “gut feeling” people get when they walk into the room.

The two most researched dimensions of credibility are competence and trustworthiness (Stiff & Mongeau, 2003). Competence refers to the perception of a speaker’s expertise about the topic being discussed. A speaker can enhance their perceived competence by presenting a speech based on solid research that is well organized and practiced. Competent speakers must know the content of their speech and be able to effectively deliver that content. Trustworthiness refers to the degree that audience members perceive a speaker to be presenting accurate, credible information in a nonmanipulative way. Perceptions of trustworthiness come from the content of the speech and the personality of the speaker. In terms of content, trustworthy speakers consider the audience throughout the speech-making process, present information in a balanced way, do not coerce the audience, cite credible sources, and follow the general principles of communication ethics. Regarding personality, trustworthy speakers are also friendly and warm (Stiff & Mongeau, 2003).

Dynamism refers to the degree to which audience members perceive a speaker to be outgoing and animated (Stiff & Mongeau, 2003). Two components of dynamism are charisma and energy. Charisma is a mixture of abstract and concrete qualities that make a speaker attractive to an audience. Charismatic people usually know they are charismatic because they’ve been told that in their lives, and people have been attracted to them.

Unfortunately, charisma is difficult to intentionally develop, and some people seem to have a naturally charismatic personality while others do not. Even though everyone can’t embody the charismatic aspect of dynamism, the other component of dynamism, energy, is something everyone can tap into. Communicating enthusiasm for your topic and audience by presenting relevant content and using engaging delivery strategies such as vocal variety and eye contact can increase your dynamism.

Logos refers to the reasoning or logic of an argument. The presence of fallacies would obviously undermine a speaker’s appeal to logos. Speakers employ logos by presenting credible information as supporting material and verbally citing their sources during their speech. Using the guidelines from our earlier discussion of reasoning will also help a speaker create a rational appeal. Research shows that messages are more persuasive when arguments and their warrants are made explicit (Stiff & Mongeau, 2003). Carefully choosing supporting material that is verifiable, specific, and unbiased can help a speaker appeal to logos. Speakers can also appeal to logos by citing personal experience and providing the credentials and/or qualifications of sources of information (Cooper & Nothstine, 1996). Presenting a rational and logical argument is important, but speakers can be more effective persuaders if they bring in and refute counterarguments. The most effective persuasive messages are those that present two sides of an argument and refute the opposing side, followed by single argument messages, followed by messages that present counterarguments but do not refute them (Stiff & Mongeau, 2003). In short, by clearly showing an audience why one position is superior to another, speakers do not leave an audience to fill in the blanks of an argument, which could diminish the persuasive opportunity.

Pathos refers to emotional appeals. Aristotle was suspicious of too much emotional appeal, yet this appears to have become more acceptable in public speaking. Stirring emotions in an audience is a way to get them involved in the speech, and involvement can create more opportunities for persuasion and action. Reading in the paper that a house was burglarized may get your attention, but think about how different your reaction would be if you found out it was your own home. Intentionally stirring someone’s emotions to get them involved in a message that has little substance would be unethical. Yet such spellbinding speakers have taken advantage of people’s emotions to get them to support causes, buy products, or engage in behaviors that they might not otherwise, if given the chance to see the faulty logic of a message.

Effective speakers should use emotional appeals that are also logically convincing, since audiences may be suspicious of a speech that is solely based on emotion. Emotional appeals are effective when you are trying to influence a behavior or you want your audience to take immediate action (Stiff & Mongeau, 2003). Emotions lose their persuasive effect more quickly than other types of persuasive appeals. Since emotions are often reactionary, they fade relatively quickly when a person is removed from the provoking situation (Fletcher, 2001).

Emotional appeals are also difficult for some because they require honed delivery skills and the ability to use words powerfully and dramatically. The ability to use vocal variety, cadence, and repetition to rouse an audience’s emotion is not easily attained. Think of how stirring Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was due to his ability to evoke the emotions of the audience. Dr. King used powerful and creative language in conjunction with his vocalics to deliver one of the most famous speeches in our history. Using concrete and descriptive examples can paint a picture in your audience member’s minds. Speakers can also use literal images, displayed using visual aids, to appeal to pathos.

Speakers should strive to appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos within a speech. A speech built primarily on ethos might lead an audience to think that a speaker is full of himself or herself. A speech full of facts and statistics appealing to logos would result in information overload. Speakers who rely primarily on appeals to pathos may be seen as overly passionate, biased, or unable to see other viewpoints.

Review of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

1. Ethos relates to the credibility of a speaker. Speakers develop ethos by
   • appearing competent, trustworthy, and dynamic;
   • dressing for the occasion;
   • sharing their credentials and/or relevant personal experience;
   • presenting a balanced and noncoercive argument;
   • citing credible sources;
   • using appropriate language and grammar;
   • being perceived as likable; and
   • appearing engaged with the topic and audience through effective delivery.
2. Logos relates to the reasoning and logic of an argument. Speakers appeal to logos by
   • presenting factual, objective information that serves as reasons to support the argument;
   • presenting a sufficient amount of relevant examples to support a proposition;
   • deriving conclusions from known information; and
   • using credible supporting material like expert testimony, definitions, statistics, and literal or historical analogies.
3. Pathos relates to the arousal of emotion through speech. Speakers appeal to pathos by
   • using vivid language to paint word pictures for audience members;
   • providing lay testimony (personal stories from self or others);
   • using figurative language such as metaphor, similes, and personification; and
   • using vocal variety, cadence, and repetition.

The following video provides more information about logos, pathos, and ethos.

Positive and negative motivation are common persuasive strategies used by teachers, parents, and public speakers. Rewards can be used for positive motivation, and the threat of punishment or negative consequences can be used for negative motivation. We’ve already learned the importance of motivating an audience to listen to your message by making your content relevant and showing how it relates to their lives. We also learned an organizational pattern based on theories of motivation: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence. When using positive motivation, speakers implicitly or explicitly convey to the audience that listening to their message or following their advice will lead to positive results. Conversely, negative motivation implies that failure to follow a speaker’s advice will result in negative consequences. Positive and negative motivation as persuasive strategies can be used in the visualization stage of Monroe’s hierarchy of needs to emotionally persuade the audience to do what you ask of them.