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GE2248 Understanding
Persuasion in Everyday Life
Lecture 3
Theories of Persuasion (Aristotle's Theory,
Elaboration Likelihood Model)
Successful Persuasion – Ethos, Pathos,
Logos
• Aristotle identified three modes of persuasion used to
convince audiences
▫ Ethos, Pathos, and Logos (Greek words)

Ethos
(Trust,
Authority)

Persuasion
Effectiveness
Logos
Pathos
(Logic,
Reasoning) (Emotion,
Beliefs)

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Successful Persuasion – Ethos, Pathos,
Logos
• Logos
▫ Persuading the audience by using reason to justify the speaker’s
argument

▫ E.g. Polythene bags should be banned  give reasons as to

“why” like “polythene bags do not biodegrade and continue to
pollute the environment” or “facts” like “thousands of bags are
produced every week and are dumped somewhere after use”.

▫ Apply better structures, evidence, and logics to support

your arguments in order to make the persuasion strong
 Be mindful of the logical fallacy, which can be challenged by the
audiences

http://www.pathosethoslogos.com/ 3
Successful Persuasion – Ethos, Pathos,
Logos
• Pathos
▫ Persuading the audience by appealing to their emotions
▫ When facts are well proved, people may not be able to reject it,
BUT they ignore it.
▫ 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.

▫ Especially important when the audiences have no

immediate or obvious pain/benefit, or it is not a must for
them to take any actions in the discussed topic
▫ E.g. Convince people to be a vegetarian
▫ E.g. Convince people not to register for the organ donation
http://www.pathosethoslogos.com/ 4
Successful Persuasion – Ethos, Pathos,
Logos
• Ethos
• Persuading the audience by using the character/credibility of the
speaker
• Word power can be so different when it is given by different
people

• Make use of the sender’s identity/reputation/trustworthiness

to enhance the persuasive power
 Health topics  doctors; Investments  finance analyst; Products 
users

http://www.pathosethoslogos.com/ 5
Successful Persuasion – Ethos, Pathos,
Logos
• Put in Practice! You receive a bill from your mobility
service provider and you find that the company
overcharges you. You want to money back.
• No persuasion technique: “Give me my money back!!”
• Applying the techniques of logos, ethos and pathos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc1TrKIzAJM

Logos Phone log shows I didn’t use it that much

Pathos I need the money to help my sick mom

Ethos I have paid my bill on time for years

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Successful Persuasion – Ethos, Pathos,
Logos
• Suppose you want to buy a new Apple notebook, you
are going to persuade your mother to sponsor you in
the purchase.
• No persuasion technique: “I want to buy an Apple notebook.
Please sponsor me, mum.”
• Applying the techniques of logos, ethos and pathos

Logos

Pathos

Ethos

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Successful Persuasion – Ethos, Pathos,
Logos
Points to remember

• Speakers should strive to appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos

within a speech

• In order to persuade your audiences, proper use of ethos, pathos

and logos is necessary, but do they carry the same weights in a
successful persuasion?

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 Successful Persuasion
You plan to buy a house in the city. How do you choose the house?
How do you make the decision?

Take the advices from the real estate agent directly?

Think about the agent’s arguments carefully, and even conduct a comprehensive
research on the property market in addition to the information received?

Pictures from: https://activerain.com/blogsview/2112395/real-estate-humor 9

 Successful Persuasion
You are going to buy a lunch. Which restaurant do you select? How do
you make the decision?

Take the advices from your Think about your friend’s arguments carefully,
friend directly study and compare the restaurant’s menu and
background information carefully

Pictures from: http://www.clipartbest.com/clipart-dT8nxKGTe; https://www.pinterest.com/pin/46161964916308714 10

 Successful Persuasion
You plan to do some investment in the stock market. How do you invest
your money? How do you make the decision?

Take the advices from the expert? Think about the advices carefully and search
more up-to-day market information?

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Pictures from: https://pixabay.com/photos/laptop-office-hand-writing-3196481/; https://pixabay.com/photos/chart-graph-finance-financial-data-2785979/
Successful Persuasion
• What is your conclusion?

• It depends on the situation

▫ High involvement (important) decision
vs. Low involvement (unimportant) decision

▫ High involvement situation  high motivation to think about the messages

and topics  want to ensure a right decision is made
 Do you have the ability to understand/comprehend the messages and topics?
 If yes  Message quality is the key
 If no  Sender quality is the key

▫ Low involvement situation  low motivation to think about the messages and
topics (no matter you have the ability to understand/comprehend the
messages and topics)
 Sender quality is the key
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Persuasion Theory:
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
“Two Routes” to Persuasion
 Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
• Authors: Richard Petty and John Cacioppo (1986)

• ELM
▫ Demonstrates that different types of persuasive messages are
processed through either the central or peripheral route and
explains how each route produces different strengths of
persuasion.

▫ Focuses attention on the number of thoughts

Central processing Peripheral processing

Many thoughts Few thoughts
 Recap from the 2nd Lecture: Understanding your Audiences
Motivation + Ability

When the listener has both

Motivation (willingness) to
process a message
Ability to process (understand)
a message

The Central route to

persuasion

Pictures from: http://annie-lady.blogspot.com/2013/04/elaboration-likelihood-model-vs.html 15

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
• The Central route to persuasion
▫ Thoughtful consideration of the arguments (ideas, content) in the
message

▫ Persuasion effectiveness will largely be determined by how

much sense the argument make to the audiences and whether or
not they think that it is a good idea
 Audiences look at the facts and critically analyzed what the persuader
said.

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 Recap from the 2nd Lecture: Understanding your Audiences
Motivation + Ability

When the listener lacks the ability or

motivation (or both) to engage in the
thought on the message

The Peripheral route to

persuasion

Pictures from: http://annie-lady.blogspot.com/2013/04/elaboration-likelihood-model-vs.html 17

 Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
• The Peripheral route to persuasion
▫ The receiver does not expend the effort to think carefully about the
ideas in a message

▫ Decides whether to agree with the proposal on the basis of other

cues, such as the source credibility or attractiveness, the number
of arguments in the message, the prevailing view of a group (group
think / norms)

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Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
Motivation Ability Route E.g.

high high Central • Travel

• Wedding banquet
high low Peripheral • Bet on horse
racing
• Medical
treatments
low high Peripheral • Buy stationeries

low low Peripheral • ____________

____________
____________

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Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
Attention: The attitude changed under different routes to persuasion is
different

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In Practice…

What if the audience uses the central route to process

information, but you do not have high quality arguments?

Time is a factor to influence the listener’s

response

If your arguments are not very logical/strong, then you need to find
ways to shorten the audience’s time in making decisions

 Create an environment that make people feel pressures and in

rush  Law of Scarcity

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 Law of Scarcity

Law of Scarcity
The more the scarcity of an item increases, the more the item increases in
value, the greater the urge to own it because people don’t want to miss out on
anything they could have had.

Limited supply,
competition Potential loss
Limited time, deadline (Property agent always tell (The property price keeps
(No more delay) you that there is another rising. Delay in a purchase
potential buyer decision may cause to a
considering the house you higher cost of purchase)
just visited)

https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/laws_persuasion/chap7.html
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Online Scam Review
Ethos
Impress profiles: Pretending to
be the senior management of a
company or a representative of
an official organization
All the scam cases are
playing around with
ethos, logos and pathos.
More importantly, it
Logos creates urgency!
Self-investment statements
and records, explanations
about how the investment
run, analysis reports,
investment website, etc.
Pathos
Sympathy and Pity: Scammers often
tell heartbreaking stories about their
past (e.g., being widowed or having lost
a child) to elicit sympathy and
emotional attachment.
Romantic and Loving Messages:
Scammers use sweet words,
compliments, and promises of a future
together to stir strong romantic
feelings.
Shared Dreams and Values: the same
dreams, values, or interests as the
victim to create a deep emotional
connection.
Create inner tension: Addressing the
friendship and love. How bad it will be
if the victim doesn’t trust or help;
Fear and Urgency: Scammers create a
sense of urgency about their financial
troubles or other emergencies (losing
earning opportunities) to evoke fear
and prompt immediate action.
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