Mastering Pathos: The Art of Emotional Persuasion in English | Complete English Course

hello and welcome back to another lesson today we're going to get into the elements of persuasion so last lesson we got into debate and we've got into logic and fallacies and just very very briefly very very simple more to point your attention to some things to pay attention to as you listen and try to comprehend something well today we're going to get into the elements of persuasion now I want you to remember that persuasion is everywhere it comes in the form of marketing it comes in the form of parents trying to get their kids to do something it comes in the form of I mean teachers trying to keep the class together and to get their students to understand and to study properly there's all kinds of ways that persuasion is used but being able to understand three different things is going to really really help you in understanding how to comprehend persuasion exactly so what is persuasion just a brief recap in case you have forgotten persuasion is to convince someone to believe in the truth of something or to do something coercion is the ugly form of persuasion it is to persuade someone to do something by force or Threat all right today we're going to talk about persuasion itself um not so much coercion but I think you'll be able to see how these elements can be used to coer someone so persuasive devices Aristotle way back when uh he broke things down he broke down persuasion into three different categories or devices three different ways to effectively appeal to a person in order to persuade them to something he chose Pathos Logos and Ethos now if you are listening to English speakers you're going to hear things like Pathos Logos and Ethos Pathos Logos ethos that works too but just be aware that English speakers from different countries and different regions and even different cities are going to pronounce these differently it's because they come from Greek and I mean who knows somebody from Greece would probably be much more able to describe these however in the English language we pronounce them differently because well this not from English it's from Greek so we're going to focus on POS in this lesson these next few lessons are going to be shorter than the normal lessons because we are breaking things down and I really want to get into these three things because we are going to be experimenting with seeing them and comprehending something based off of these devices as we identify them in speaking and in writing so pyos appeals to the audience's emotions to convince a person of the truth of something or to do something so persuasion but what they're doing is they're appealing to one's heart and emotion not their head so in POS you're not really going to see statistics you're not going to see facts and science and all of this stuff you're going to see more heartfelt messages you're going to see a lot more flowery language appealing to what you felt in a certain time and how you might want to feel that again commercials will use that all the time men if you want to know what it's like to have a full head of hair again right notice that they're talking about what you feel not referring to any kind of science really the speaker is drawing out your feelings okay feelings about a topic feelings you didn't know you had uh feelings that perhaps you did know you had and it's just striking a nerve now this does not mean the speaker shows lots of emotion themselves they might be out there talking like a robot but something that they say just resonates with your heart it speaks directly to your heart not through your head to your heart not at all not at all really the head or logic they're really really just appealing to you and your feelings as a human being so the speaker is not standing up there crying or ex overcome with joy or anger though they could be but really honestly if you think about it when someone is crying or just overly happy or super angry as they're trying to speak something I just kind of stop listening to whatever it is they're saying in a speech because I'm too distracted by their body language their overwhelming emotions in their body language that it just doesn't work to attach the message to my heart it makes me think with my mind what's wrong with you or what are you saying what are you doing it's less about the message at that point but if the speaker can be controlled if they can appeal to your emotions they can prick your emotions prick your heart touch your heart without putting on too much of a display themselves that is where you just really draw in the listeners and you really get them emotionally invested in what you have to say so the speaker again really focusing on that emotive language and this is perhaps the most persuasive of the three appeals because it is when properly done it is the one that is most consuming because what's really happening in your brain when you have an emotional response is you've got all kinds of hormones that are being triggered whether that's dopamine or serotonin or any of these others you've got a lot going on in your brain and your brain loves this stuff if you think about it all stories and storytelling like all the short stories we've been through before have to do with POS isn't that quite the thing to mention here isn't that quite the the fact because if you think about it we're waiting for the next thing we're on the edge of our seat trying to figure out what's going to happen have you ever just gotten to the climax of a story and stopped reading never figure out what the hero chooses or whether they overcome this difficulty or the antagonist have you ever just gotten to that part of the story and quit no we want to finish it we want to know what's going to happen we want to know what we've been reading this whole time for what is going to happen this is posos that's dopamine hits in your head these hormones that are coming up and it's just really it won't it's got you hooked you're invested now you've got to find out what's going to happen in the final fight or the the last encounter what is going to happen this is Pathos and storytelling uses it all the time in fact elements of posos means using stories you can make your point you can demonstrate your point by using a story by telling a story a story brings the audience into the speaker's World it catches and keeps their attention it's more memorable because of that you remember stories all the time can you remember the facts of your last science test maybe not even if it was a week ago you probably don't remember everything because those are facts however stories stick with us a story means more to a person than statistics and facts Remember The Little Match girl that was a short story we read back in the short story section comprehending fiction section how that little girl who is walking you just feel so pitiful you see the descriptive language you know you just picture in your mind this beautiful little girl walking down the street in the cold not having sold a thing but terrified to go home for fear of what she's going to receive from the wrath of her father wow that and how she died just reaching out to her grandmother and oh my goodness that story really hits you with POS doesn't it doesn't it just evoke all of the emotions you have for human compassion and just anger towards Society in general that such a person could exist and be gone without anyone noticing that story will stick in the minds of anybody who reads it who really understands it because that is posos at work storytelling is a key that so many speakers use and so many writers use in order to catch attention to keep it and to make people feel emotionally invested in whatever they say using a prop is another one the second way to use POS within a speech they visually demonstrate what they're talking about to help you understand whether they paint a picture while telling a story I've seen that in several speeches or whether they're using charts or pictures or maybe they have an act like a skit where they act out a situation A a story maybe they acted out to show you what they mean these things happen all the time as well and this is a very important way to use posos it's very interesting and shows the point rather than just telling you the point now you may be familiar with different types of Learners where you have visual Learners you have kinesthetic Learners that have to do things in order to learn them and then you have AAL Learners oral Learners do well with speeches and traditional lectures however visual people visual Learners they need to see something before they internalize it they have to work really really hard to study orally they have to speak they have to work really really hard to practice canally even though not as hard as they would for just listening but showing that does something that really reaches a lot of people very well I want you to watch this example the invisible woman I want you to watch it and then answer these questions it started to happen gradually I would walk into a room and say something and no one would notice I would say turn the TV down please and nothing would happen so I would get louder turn the TV down please finally I would have to go over and turn the TV down myself and then I started to notice it elsewhere my husband and I had been at a party for about three hours and I was ready to go I looked over and he was talking to a friend from work and I walked over and he kept right on talking he didn't even turn toward me that's when I started to put it together he can't see me I'm invisible I'm invisible then I started to notice it more and more I would walk my son to school and his teacher would say Jake who's that with you and my son would say nobody granted he's just five but nobody one night a group of us gathered and we were celebrating the return of a friend from England Janice had just taken this fabulous trip and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in and I was sitting there looking around at the other women at the table I'd put my makeup on in the car on the way there I had on an old dress because it was the only thing clean and I had my unwashed hair pulled up in a banana clip and I was feeling pretty darn pathetic and then Janice turned to me and she said I brought you this it was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe I didn't understand and then I read her inscription She Wrote with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees you can't name the names of the people who built the Great Cathedrals over and over again looking at these Mammoth works you scan down to find the names and it says Builder unknown unknown unknown they completed things not knowing that anyone would notice there's a story about one of the builders who was carving a tiny bird inside a beam that would be covered over by a roof and someone came up to him and said why are you spending so much time on something no one will ever see and it's reported that the Builder replied because God sees they trusted that God saw everything right so what is the speaker talking about what did she use to demon at her point and what do you think she will say next she's talking about noticing when people stopped acknowledging her presence you remember that some of you probably have personally felt that way uh she talks about turning on the TV or asking for her kids to turn off the TV or walking up next to her husband and he doesn't even noce she's there she feels like she's invisible right and then what she used to demonstrate her point is a book on Cathedrals built by people unknown known these great works of artart that have stood for hundreds of years and nobody knows who built them not everybody not there's some that we know and we can attribute to somebody but not everyone so what do you think she's going to say next what you predict is the trajectory of this speech because this is the beginning of it what do you think she's going to say she's going to say that raising a wonderful family is worth it even if she is not noticed by that family or those around her that's really cool that's a really cool uh point to make and using that book and flipping through it with the cathedrals unknown unknown unknown wow that was a great visual demonstration of what she was trying to say it would not have been near as effective if she just shared the fact to appeal to your mind that by the way most Cathedrals that have been built over the centuries no one knows who built them that did it doesn't do anything for you but her standing there flipping through the pages of that book that does some very powerful another way to use posos is to use descriptive language of course you want to play with words use metaphor and simil remember metaphor is attributing the qualities of something of two things that are nothing alike except for one thing her look was icy whereas simile is going to use like or as her look was like ice adjectives descriptors adverbs I mean you're going to use a lot lot of description and color in your words it's also Vivid emotional language you have to be very very careful with how these words are chosen for example we've already heard a piece of a segment of Martin Luther King's uh speech I Have a Dream early in the course I think it was one of the first couple of lessons well think about how less powerful that would be if he had simply called it I have an idea right something about that I have a dream was way more powerful especially in terms of POS then I have an idea quotes quotes do this all the time great quotes that stand the test of time have just something they're first they're short they tend to be short but they also have a lot of meaning packed in those few words every single word is chosen for a reason for example Theodore Roosevelt's speak softly and carry a big stick What on earth does that mean Americans really love this quote this quote is uh Theodore Roosevelt's reflection on his foreign policy now Theodore Roosevelt the first one not the second one he believed in not being out there in the world too awful much he did not want America to be involved in everybody's stuff and all of these things he was very much a not necessarily isolationist but more inwardly focused so danana Roosevelt later on World War II and all of this that really opened America up he he was much more like this here speak softly and carry a big big stick don't be off the world stage be willing to work with people and take care of them and to be helpful but should anybody push you around have a big stick this quote right here really resonates with American culture and honestly it comes from somebody that everybody really looks up to in terms of American History so quotes have a lot of AOS power to them so what response does POS want all of these words and all of this goal this agenda to really touch one's heart why why touch someone's heart posos is all about touching the heart to get an emotional response and that emotion they want is whatever really they choose whether it's inspiration to do something that's really hard or to unite over a difficult issue and solve the problem or whether it's compassion to help the animals that are being abused across the country or to feed children starving around the world or whatever the compassion for people in more difficult places than we are now or sadness sadness that something exists that really shouldn't or Joy let's celebrate something let's have joy in Christmas spirit is one that really Pops to mind because everybody does this there in the Christmas time or anger some people try to inspire a country to War by an angry by evoking anger using POs to evoke anger anything this speaker wants the audience to feel they can do it by using POS now when people feel something they're ready to act they're ready to believe in whatever they're ready to do whatever you can see this throughout history countless countless times from just about any great leader has used POS somehow so I invite you to check out some more examples of this so watch Patch Adams and this discourse he is giving in court you've been accused of practicing medicine without a license it's a very grave charge son are you aware that it's unlawful to practice medicine without a medical license yes sir I am are you aware that running a medical clinic without the proper licensing can place both you and the public in a great deal of danger is a home a clinic sir if you are admitting patients and treating them physical location is irrelevant yes sir will you define treatment for me yes treatment would be defined as the care of a patient seeking medical attention have you been treating patience Mr Adams well sir I live with several people they come and go as they please I offer them whatever help I can Mr Adams have you or have you not been treating patients at your Ranch everyone who comes to the ranch is a patient yes and every person who comes to the ranch is also a doctor I'm sorry every person who comes to the ranch is in need of some form of physical or mental help they're patients but also every person who comes to the ranch is in charge of taking care of someone else whether it's cooking for them cleaning them or even as simple task as listening that makes them doctors I use that term broadly gentlemen but isn't not a doctor someone who helps someone else when did the term doctor get treated with such reverence as oh write this way Dr Smith or excuse me Dr scholes what wonderful foot pads or pardon me Dr Patterson but your flatulence has no odor at what point in history did a doctor become more than a trusted and learned friend who visited and treated the ill now you ask me if I've been practicing medicine well if this means opening your door to those in need those in pain caring for them listening to them applying a cold cloth until a fever breaks if this is practicing medicine if this is treating a patient then I am guilty as charg Sir did you consider the ramifications of your actions what if one of your patients had died what's wrong with death sir what are we so mortally afraid of why can't we treat death with a certain amount of humanity and dignity and decency and God forbid maybe even humor death is not the enemy gentlemen if we're going to fight a disease let's fight one of the most terrible diseases of all indifference now I've sat in your schools and heard people lecture on transference and professional distance transference is inevitable sir every human being has an impact on another why don't we want that in a patient doctor relationship that's why I've listened to your teachings and I believe they're wrong a doctor's Mission should be not just to prevent death but also to improve the quality of life that's why you treat a disease you win you lose you treat a person I guarantee your your win no matter what the outcome now here today this room is full of medical students don't let them anesthetize you don't let them numb you out to the Miracle of Life always live in awe of the Glorious mechanism of the human body let that be the focus of your studies and not a quest for grades which will give you no idea what kind of doctor you will become Mr Adams please turn and don't wait till you're on the ward to get your Humanity Back start your interviewing skills now start talking to strangers talk to your friends talk to wrong numbers talk to everyone Mr Adams and cultivate friendships with those amazing people standing in the back of the room nurses they can teach you they've been with people every day they Wade Through Blood and they have a wealth of knowledge to share with you and so do the professors you respect the ones who are not dead from the heart up share their compassion let that be con Mr Adams I demand that you turn and address the board sir I I want to be a doctor with all my heart briefly wow wow wow wow what a great great speech that's happening in this movie and really great points being raised notice that there's some levels to this though he's making an intellectual argument but he's using a motion to do so he's using a lot of P here he's telling stories he's talking about evoking G compassion for other human beings why should they have to go to a hospital and pay loads of money to a doctor when they can just come and take care of one another at this Ranch yes I'm going to help no I'm not going to deny help and if you refuse to let me help people then lock me up that's basically what he's saying right so what is why is he defending himself because doctors and law authorities think he's treating people without a medical license he's in medical school with the movie you can see that in the movie but he's being treated as a criminal for helping people because he's not helping people and the established Health Care system like he's supposed to what does patch appeal to he appeals to human compassion for one another he appeals to common sense if somebody needs help we should help them and not charge them for it we should help them there's a familial feeling that bonds people and he talks about how the people at the ranch anybody could come and go as they please they're friends they're colleagues they hang out together so they're bonded they feel like a family and you don't want to break up a family right so he's appealing to many many things as he makes his case but who do you think was actually moved by the speech the doctors and lawmakers they they seem to be somewhat impacted by what he says but not entirely convinced they're not ready to step out of the system they're a part of however the audience around him him the people behind him those people are touched those people have been swayed it's almost like a debate if you think about it because it's formal it's public there's questions and answers happening in court cases you have a lot of debate happening but this debate patch is very obviously trying to persuade he's very obviously trying to not just defend himself in a debate setting but also to persuade to show them that the system is inherently wrong very very moving speech in this movie here's another one this one is Infamous in American culture uh if you have not seen the movie I suggest that you do because it's one that we we all know really so go ahead and watch this president speech in Independence Day and come back for the questions major sir good morning good morning in less than an hour aircraft from here will join others from around the world and you will be launching the largest aial battle in the history of mankind man kind that word should have new meaning for all of us today we can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore we will be United in our common interest perhaps it's fate that today is the 4th of July and you will once again be fighting for our freedom not from tyranny oppression or persecution but from [Music] Annihilation we're fighting for our right to live to exist and should we win the day the 4th of July I will no longer be known as an American holiday but as the day when the world declared in one voice we will not go quietly into the night we will not vanish without a fight we're going to live on we're going to survive today we celebrate our independence day [Applause] what do you think is about to happen why is this speech happening at all definitely seems to be an odd place there's a mixture of people but there are pilots and flight suits there's a battle that is about to happen what is the goal of the speech well what is the goal of any speech in history right before a battle happens he wants to inspire to inspire the Brotherhood and camaraderie that helps people to fight together defend one another with their lives to lay down their lives for one another for the good of humanity that is what the goal of speech is and what kind of language does he use notice he's using lots of uniting despite differences highly PR language proor language it's very inspirational there's idioms being used throughout he uses some simile some metaphor but not very much it's the goal of the speech is to unite these people to speak to these people and honestly after a few hours those same people are not going to be the ones standing in front of them or far fewer of them will be so it's really emotional already to know that as the president speaking to these people you know not all of them are coming back this might be the last words that they hear in terms of a speech that is paos and that inspires so remember about that it appeals to the audien's emotions people will do anything if moved to do so from the heart identify POS devices a story they often use a story they use descriptive language and they may use a prop to demonstrate visually what they're talking about guys this is important for comprehension because you need to be able to identify what's being said and why and honestly now that you know this I want you to try to pick out some POS that you see in marketing or some POS that you see in spe es that you come across before your next lesson keep an eye out you would be surprised by what you hear and how much you recognize that somebody has an agenda to convince you of something because they are trying to strike your heartstrings that is part of implicit comprehension so next we're going to talk about number two we're going to talk about logos so come back in a little bit and we will go over that lesson