final Flashcards
(119 cards)
Aristotle’s triangle(rhetorical triangle) involves
ethos, pathos, logos
Ethos
- A speaker’s character and credibility
- The speakers or writers’ good will, character, and judgement.
- How do speakers present themselves?
- Projection of trustworthiness
- Projection of authority
- Consider the elements: voice, use of language, attire, body language, gestures, etc.
Pathos
- How the speaker/writer makes a connection with the audience; how she connects with and responds to the audiences needs, wants, fears, desires, etc.
- How does do they push emotional button
- Pathos is audience related\There is a need to connect emotionally with them
- So, what are their concerns, beliefs, attitudes
- What emotions is to be generated
- Fear, anger, trust, sympathy, love
Logos
-to appeal to the audiences’ sense of reason or logic
- Concerns the quality and arrangement of the message
- The logical or rational elements of the message
- The organization, structure, and presentation of the message
- The logos must be designed to complete the pathos target and project the ethos
What are the different ways communication is defined?
accidental, expressive, and rhetorical communication
What is McCroskey’s definition of communication?
the process of one person stimulating meaning in the mind of another by means of a message
accidental communication
- Occurs when speaker/writer sends a message that he didn’t intend to send, and doesn’t realise he has sent
- “People communicate their interests, their needs, their backgrounds, and sometimes their weaknesses without having the slightest desire to do so, and often in spite of a definite desire not to communicate these things
Expressive communication
- Focuses on speaker or writer’s needs – is “source centred” not audience centred
- Purpose is to express what the speaker/writer NEEDS to say, rather than what the audience needs to hear
- Performs as emotional venting in many cases
- Relies on impulse rather than rational choice
- Does not recognize the needs, expectations or values of an audience
- Is not interested in benefiting audience
- Often results in damaging professional relationships and discrediting speaker/writer
Rhetorical Communication
- Is purposeful
o Is goal-oriented
o Seeks to achieve change in the world
o Is intentional - Connects speaker’s purpose to audience’s needs
- Teaches that speaker must focus on making conscious and conscientious choices when addressing an audience
- Depends on speaker’s understanding of adapting message to audience
- Relies on speaker’s skill at being able to understand an audience’s values, expectations and beliefs
- Relies on speaker’s respect for audience, belief in message and purpose, and sincerity
- Stresses the ethical relationship amongst speaker, audience, and message
Bitzer’s definition of rhetoric
“a work of rhetoric pragmatic”
- it comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself
- it functions ultimately to produce action or change in the world
- it performs some task
Bitzer’s quote on rhetoric
rhetoric is a mode of altering reality
- not by the direct application of energy to objects,
- but by the creation of communication which changes reality through the argument of thought and action
in sense what is rhetoric
persuasive
Bitzer’s definition of a rhetorical situation
“a complex of persons, events, objects, ad relations presenting an actual or potential exigence
- which can be completely or partially removed if discourse introduces into the situation
- can so constrain human decision or action
- as to bring about the significant modification of exigence
three constituents(parts) of rhetorical situation
exigence
audience
contraints
what is exigence
“an imperfection marked by urgency
- it is an obstacle
-something waiting to be done
- a thing which is other than it should be
exigence vs. rhetorical exigence
exigence is rhetorical
the event or occurrence that prompts rhetorical discourse;
audience
rhetoric always requires an audience
audience vs rhetorical audience
a rhetorical audience consists only of
- those persons who are capable of being influence by discourse
and
those capable “ of being mediators of change”( able to take action, make changes in the situation)
contraints
“parts of the situation” that “have the power of constrain”[limit, restrict, enable] the decision and the action needed to modify the exigence[to fix the problem]”
(Bitzer’s list)”beliefs, attitudes, documents, facts, traditions, images, interests, motives, and the like”
axioms
-In classical philosophy an axiom is a self-evident truth or an assumed starting point for logical extensions.
-MacLennan is using the term axiom to mean a fundamental truth of communication.
-Axioms apply all the time, in every communicative situation [even if you are unaware of them].
-But knowing the axioms helps you craft appropriate responses.
what are the 9 axioms
- interaction
- relation as well as content.
- context
- credibility.
- influence.
- risk.
- ambiguous: what is unsaid can be as important as what is said.
- audience-centered, not self-centered.
- pervasive: you can not communicate
Why is the Shannon-Weaver (or “bullet”) model not fully adequate for conceptualizing professional communication?
it provides an incomplete
understanding of what actually takes place when two people communicate, whether they
do so professionally, socially, or personally.
- it tends obscure the human dimensions of
interaction by reducing people to ‘senders’ and ‘receivers’ of information, it can’t satisfactorily account for all the complexities that come into play when people communicate.
Why is the rhetorical triangle a more appropriate model for professional communication?
you’re better able to position your points in a way that your reader (or listener) can understand and get on board with
What are the three specific qualities of ethos?
- good will
- good judgement
- good character