Fear Appeal And The Rise Of Persuasion

The persuasive technique of appeal to fear is prominent in the anti-meth commercials due to the fact that these commercials focus primarily on frightening situations to try and persuade the targeted audience not to try meth even once. According to Logical Self Defense, appealing to fear is used in an “attempt to induce belief or action” (9), and an example of this would be “I have a gun! Gimme the money!” (9).

2. What – Discuss the Characteristics of the Message: What attributes are inherent in persuasive messages? How are we influenced by the emotion, framing, narratives, and rational appeals in the messaging we receive? What is the significance of the sleeper effect?

Storytelling is used in persuasive contexts in a way similar to personal testimony, in that uses memorable descriptions to persuade. However, unlike testimony, storytelling contains a plot, characters, and conflict. The advertisement is considered effective if the persuasive goal is the moral of the story (Mullin, 2017, February 21). The Sandy Hook Promise’s persuasive goal can be assumed for viewers to learn the signs by going to a website. However, the moral of the story is that gun violence is preventable if individuals are aware of the behaviors that are signs of gun violence. This is because in the advertisement, the attacker’s behavior indicates an interest in guns and inflicting harm. However, viewers are not looking for those signs, which is why they are most likely to be surprised to see him open the gymnasium door holding a gun. The advertisement’s use of storytelling is fairly effective, because despite the fact that the persuasive goal is not perfectly synchronous with the moral of the story, the two are similar enough that the viewer can understand the issue and feel compelled to take action. The effectiveness of the advertisement’s use of storytelling is also seen in the fact that the story is not related to the message. This can be a drawback in regards to effectiveness, because people could get too drawn into the story to see the message. This can cause the audience to only remember the

Gerard A. Hauser covers a plethora of details on how to create a well-made persuasive argument in his book, an Introduction to Rhetorical Theory; however, he covered three specific essentials that are necessary for persuasion: the components logos, pathos and ethos; purposive discourse and rhetorical competence; identification. I will argue for each constituent, respectively, to prove that persuasion cannot thrive without the aforementioned essentials.

In chapter 24 “The Fear Appeal” they begin talking about the similarities that Jonathon Edward and Adolf Hitler had with the words they spoke, when talking to both of their audiences and how both compelled their audiences by propagandizing fear and the threats if an action was not followed. The chapter then goes on to talk about those who also play on fear/anxieties to get what they need from others like for instants life insurance agents, Parents, Physicians, and The nightly news, and political party. All these are used to instill in power over others and the way they think. The chapter continues to discuss the difference of fear appeals and illegitimate fears, how fear appeals can be powerful also “They channel our thoughts away from careful consideration of the issue at hand and toward plans for ridding ourselves of the fear” and as for illegitimate fears that can “Promote deception- not mention the cruelty of the fear itself.” but with all this being said so far, this doesn’t mean that all fear appeals is successful every time it's used. For example, the chapter uses public service announcements to alert viewers about the danger of drug abuse and how users can possibly contract AIDS, by saying that the

The Elaboration Likelihood Model has been hailed by some as “unquestionably the most influential recent theoretical development in persuasion research” (O’Keefe, 2002). Even if this is the case, it is by no means a perfect theory. One of the most commonly cited criticisms of the elaboration likelihood model is the vacuous nature of the “argument strength” component. Although this criticism is useful for pointing out an area of the model that can be fine-tuned, any perceived shortcomings due to the argument strength concept can be mitigated through a creative application of other areas of the model.

Persuasion, like painting which requires sundry techniques in brushstroke and application, is a skill involving numerous methods, including emotional appeals, logical appeals, or a mixture of both. However, as thinking necessitates more work than feeling, many devices of persuasion manipulate their primary selling points to appeal to one’s emotions. Yet, these emotional appeals may or may not qualify as a legitimate form of persuasion. With the object of persuasion being to convince another, it is reasonable to use appeals to emotion to convince one’s audience; a robust argument contains complementary elements of reason and emotion. However, emotional appeals reach a point of illegitimacy when harm is intentionally caused and reality is

* Dr. Cialdini explained that commitments are more powerful when they are active; public; effortful; and viewed as internally motivated. The statement of the commentator is accurate because the motorcycle owners had made their commitment public by tattooing their commitment on their

Anti-smoking campaigns aim to induce attitude changes that will cause a behavioural change of not smoking, by employing techniques that target the central or peripheral route processing. The central route prompts reasoning and analysis of arguments, persuading the audience through the message’s content. The peripheral route uses visual cues to appeal to emotions. Each route stimulates differing depths of understanding about the consequences of smoking, and thus, varying levels of commitment to not smoking. This investigation will focus on how effective these campaigns are in inducing higher levels of understanding and commitment to not smoking. Subjective quantitative data will be collected via self-reports. A Visual Analogue

With the above-listed information, I strongly believe that I would have adequate material facts to form a theory, opinion, and make a constructive recommendation without hesitance. Nevertheless, I must prepare to be flexible and courage to take alternative approaches to fit the unknown circumstances or unpredictable causes beyond my cautious estimation and control. As a person known to be a pioneer in visionary thinking and decisive in action, I must ultimately be courageous to bear responsibility concerning my recommendation.

The main fallacy that I should be talking is “Appeal to Fear” as every factions excerpt the moderate use against each other. The Linceans fear that is prey on Church’s ability to interpret the Bible as it an important source of power for the Church. The Church attacks the Linceans as Galileo could not give solid proof or explanation beside his observations to his claim that the Sun is the center of universe and not earth. Appeal to Fear is a emotion fallacy that plays on the fear of the opponent and audience. it used rhetoric, threat, and lies rather than relies on solid evidence to reach a certain conclusion.

In the article, Protect Our Bats, Rodrigo A. Medellin, Don J. Melnick, and Mary C. Pearl use logical and emotional appeals to add emphasis on their ideas. The logical appeal is used through statistics such as year, and specific numbers. Similarly, the emotional appeal is expressed through diction. Logical and emotional appeals are tactics that persuade the audience.

There are so many ways to portray messages of fear, and that’s why it’s used in so many diverse industries to sell both products and services. For example, the sunscreen industry shifted its messaging from helping people get the darkest possible tans, to helping people avoid getting skin cancer. By using a message that elicits feelings of fear in consumers’ minds, sunscreen brands turned what could have been a brand disaster into a brand opportunity. “Cutting your

McGuire and Papageogis proposed forewarning targets of the persuasive intent of a message might produce inhibition of persuasion through counter arguments (1962p127AAC). Hass and Gracly, found that this is only particularly effective if there is a time delay between warning and message which allows for cognitive processes to actively generate a counter-argument (1975). Thus, if the target were perhaps familiar with the door-in-the-face technique or simply inferred a second request may be likely, and there was a delay between the unrealistic and realist request, the persuasion attempt is likely to be inhibited.

Verbal persuasion is the third way of influencing individual’s beliefs whether their capabilities can enable them to finish a task successfully or not (Bandura, 1997, p.101). Verbal persuasion is other people’s word and talk about one’s ability to accomplish certain tasks (Labone, 2004, p. 343). When individuals are persuaded that they can master specific activities, their self-efficacy beliefs will be enhanced, then they will put in a great deal of effort to achieve their goals and they will also be quite determined when facing difficulties (Bandura, 1995, p. 4). Conversely, individuals receive negative evaluation are likely to doubt their capabilities. Therefore, persuasive efficacy will have strongest impact on people who believe they can