The Three Appeals
In the highly competitive world of social media, whether you're a user of LinkedIn, Twitter and/or other social sites, it is imperative that you develop a persona that your readers and listeners will instinctively trust.
How do you do that? By developing three aspects of yourself that will make an audience stop and look when your posts, podcasts and Skype calls appear on their screen.
Ethos, pathos and logos
are modes of persuasion used to convince audiences. Aristotle coined these
terms and they’re all represented by Greek words. They’re known as the Three
Appeals, because they each appeal to different aspects of the human
sensibilities.
So, what are the functions of these three very different modes of communicating? It
is useful to know, in this era of social online presences, blogs, promotions
and articles. Practising these will most definitely help YOU.
Let’s start with ethos, or
the ethical appeal, which means to convince viewers of your credibility.
Authors – or speakers – would use ethos to show to
their audiences that they are credible sources and are worth paying attention
to. Ethos is the Greek word for “character” and, in fact, the word “ethics”
is derived from ethos. Ethos can be developed by
- choosing appropriate language regarding your topic
- being fair
- introducing your expertise
- behaving in a consist manner
Choice of words can confirm ethos with listeners
and readers. So can behaviour.
An
example is the musician/activist Bob Geldof who, in the mid-1980s, initiated Band
Aid. This was a group of singers and musicians who also later performed in the
charity concert Live Aid, raising millions to help alleviate suffering in
Africa. In November 2014, Mr Geldoff was back in the news after having arranged
Band Aid 30 to re-issue the best-selling song “Do They Know It’s Christmas”
thirty years after its original release – again to raise money for Africa.
To me, Bob Geldof is a perfect example of someone
who has ethos. His appeals for
charity for the last three decades, his philanthropy and his passionate
speeches have all contributed to raising funding for medical aid, food and other
supplies for starving and sick people in Ethiopia and other African countries.
We can all show our passion and earnestness in our work and in our interests. That's all it takes - true passion, in our corner of the world, for our activities.
Next is pathos, or
the emotional appeal, which means to persuade readers and listeners by
appealing to their feelings.
Whether in the written word or in a speech, using
pathos invokes sympathy and gets the audience to feel what the author or speaker wants
them to feel.
A common use of pathos would be to
- draw on an audience’s pity
- inspire anger, perhaps in order to prompt action such as writing to our local politician
Pathos is the Greek word for both “suffering” and
“experience.” The words empathy and pathetic are derived from pathos. Pathos can be developed by using meaningful words,
emotional pacing and tone, and stories of poignant events.
An example of
someone using pathos is Al Gore in his film An
Inconvenient Truth in which he describes in detail various aspects of
environmental issues, pollution effects and global warming, in a way that can emote
the listener with feelings of concern for the planet, sadness at the extinction
of various species and desire to support change for the future good.
Mr Gore was campaigning on these issues long before
he became the Vice President of America in 1993. In fact, he has been involved
in environmentalism since the mid-1970s when, as a young congressman, he helped
arrange the first congressional hearings on climate change and toxic waste;
therefore, he has tirelessly worked to raise awareness for the last forty
years. Mr Gore is a master of pathos, as many who have heard him speak will
acknowledge…and pathos seems to be what’s needed to get people to listen, on
this important topic.
Last but not least is logos, meaning
to convince an audience by use of logic or reason.
To use logos would be to
- quote facts and statistics (essential)
- use historical anecdotes that have a conclusion
- cite established authorities on a subject
Logos is Greek for “word,” however the meaning goes
much deeper than that: better described as “the inner thought’s expression.” The
word “logic” is derived from logos.
Try to find Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography for a
perfect example of logos. Written in
older age, he never finished it, so it’s his life from birth to approximately 30
years of age. Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States,
and in his text one can see that this was an individual who was a logical thinker
from a very young age. He changed his life and his country. From printmaker to
president, everything he did was via a reasoning and brilliant mind.
So, I believe my points
about YOUR audience will now be clear. You actually know all about ethos,
pathos and logos, when you think about it…but likely just don’t consider these
Three Appeals on a conscious level very often. In referring back to my opening
paragraph, you’ll now understand how, in order to persuade your readers or
listeners, whether it’s to your point of view, to buy your product or to have
faith in your service, these three elements can be extremely powerful.
Think of my above examples this way
- Bob Geldoff doesn’t only have ethos, he also has the ability to bring out empathy in the public and explain how plight can be alleviated.
- Al Gore is not only good at eliciting pathos, he is a good example of credibility with a history of environmental work, and vast knowledge in the subject.
- Benjamin Franklin didn’t become the President of Pennsylvania (amongst other things) just because he was a natural in the art of logos – he was also great with people and won them over with his impeccable character and speaking abilities.
In other words, these three individuals can lay claim to all three appeals: ethos, pathos and logos.
If these (and so many other) people can appeal to their audiences via their credibility, passion and logic, then so can you.
