{"id":498,"date":"2025-05-26T17:02:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T17:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=498"},"modified":"2025-09-07T16:06:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T16:06:50","slug":"developing-your-persuasive-speech-through-invention-framing-and-refutation","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/chapter\/developing-your-persuasive-speech-through-invention-framing-and-refutation\/","title":{"raw":"Developing Your Persuasive Speech Through Invention, Framing, and Refutation","rendered":"Developing Your Persuasive Speech Through Invention, Framing, and Refutation"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Chapter Objectives<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<p class=\"import-pf\">Students will:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Use the elements of invention to produce persuasive appeals.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Persuasively frame an issue to lead the audience to the desired solution.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Refute counterarguments to a preferred position.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 0pt;\">The previous chapter introduced persuasion as the strategic use of verbal and nonverbal symbols to influence the beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action of an audience. In that chapter, we established persuasion\u2019s importance for civic engagement and identified six steps you should take when developing a persuasive speech. We then explored the first three steps: (1) consider audience analysis and adaptation, (2) select a persuasive goal, and (3) empower your audience to act. Basically, we suggested you start by knowing your audience and then, using that information, determine what you want them to think, believe, or do and give them the means to carry that out.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">This chapter picks up with the next (and last) three steps to prepare your speech: (4) invent the content of your speech, (5) frame your persuasive efforts, and (6) refute counterarguments. Together, these steps will help you develop the speech content that fulfills your speech goal. We will explore each step, beginning with invention and then turning to framing and refutation in turn.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Invention: The Substance of Persuasion<\/h1>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_282\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"375\"]<img class=\"wp-image-282\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image235.png\" alt=\"Person holding a sign that has a lightbulb and the word &quot;idea&quot; on it\" width=\"375\" height=\"249\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/idea-innovation-business-4095184\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by Pete Linforthvia Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Invention, as you learned in chapter 1, is the process of investigation and thought that produces the content of your speech. This designation originated in rhetoric\u2019s ancient past, but we still use the term. It emphasizes that when we speak, we make up or \u201cinvent\u201d arguments intended to persuade. Of course, when done properly\u2014and ethically\u2014your words and arguments will be based on thorough research and credible sources that you credit through citations as described in chapters 8 and 9. Ultimately, though, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">you<\/em><\/span> come up with what you say in your speech.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">How do you stimulate your thinking? How do you overcome writer\u2019s block to construct your speech? This is precisely what the canon of invention is designed for. We will begin by considering how you can use available strategies, or heuristics, of invention to develop ideas. Second, we will guide you through central proofs or means of invention you can adopt to develop the substance of your persuasion.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Heuristics<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Imagine a legal pad or computer file with pages of information and evidence you collected from your research. What can you do with all this information? Thinkers and speakers in the past turned to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">heuristics<\/strong><\/span>: specific strategies for generating new ideas.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 25.1 The Greek Origins of Heuristics<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAlso referred to as topics, loci, and lines of argument, the term \u201cheuristic\u201d comes from the Greek word <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">heuriskein<\/em><\/span>, which means \u201cto discover.\u201d The Greek term <em>topos<\/em>\u00a0means \"place\" and seems to have referred to the spot or place on a scroll wherein a particular common pattern of argument was written. The first formal presentation of heuristic devices occurs in Aristotle\u2019s <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Rhetoric<\/em><\/span>, book 2, under the heading of topics. There he outlines twenty-eight heuristic devices for constructing arguments.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Heuristic devices stimulate your intellectual discovery as you think through your topic, formulate arguments, and structure your speech. Box 25.2 contains a selection of the most commonly used strategies of rhetorical invention, or heuristics.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 25.2 Selected Heuristic Devices<\/strong>\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>Definition: What is it?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What are the parts, and how are they related?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How can the subject and object be reversed or how can the order of ideas be reversed?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does an idea or physical entity compare with another?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does an idea or physical entity contrast with another?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Has something happened or not happened? Will something happen or will it not happen?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Is one item greater or is it smaller than another item?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Is something possible or is it not possible?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What is and what is not?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How big is something and how far does it reach?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>In the past, what was something like?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>In the future, what will something be like?[footnote]Numbers 6\u201312 are based on Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, <em>Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students<\/em> (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999), 82\u201383.[\/footnote]<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_283\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"375\"]<img class=\"wp-image-283\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image236.png\" alt=\"Picture of playdoh and cookie cutters\" width=\"375\" height=\"286\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/play-doh-play-dough-creative-3308878\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by LMoonlight via Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">How do heuristic devices work in developing a speech? In many ways, they are comparable to the stunningly successful\u2014and always enjoyable\u2014original Play-Doh Fun Factory. The device took a blob of Play-Doh and turned it into a spaghetti-type noodle, a star, or a lightning bolt. Somewhat like when using cookie cutters, there were perhaps twenty or thirty different shapes you could mold the Play-Doh into.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Heuristic devices make use of your research in much the same way; they show you various ways to shape that information and those ideas for your audience into a thesis statement, supporting arguments, or even organizational structures (like those discussed in chapter 13). The best thing to do is to try several, see what they generate, and then select from your creations, taking into account your audience, goals, and context.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 25.3 Heuristic Devices in Practice<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn the previous chapter, we introduced you to Priyanka, who decided to advocate for gender equity in women\u2019s sports. As she prepared her speech, she researched positions that have been taken on the subject, relevant court cases and rulings, statistics on college women\u2019s participation in sports and female employees on athletic staffs, and testimonials from administrative bodies like the NCAA. Then she used the following heuristic devices (drawn from box 25.2) to develop arguments:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">#5: Contrast:<\/strong><\/span> The average budget, travel accommodations, and equipment provided to men\u2019s collegiate basketball teams versus women\u2019s teams.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">#4: Compare:<\/strong><\/span> Basketball with other sports teams or compare gender equity in amateur and professional athletics.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Priyanka could use contrast and comparison to establish the broader existence of inequity in sports and argue for specific changes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">#11: How things used to be:<\/strong><\/span> In terms of resources for women\u2019s sports in the United States, she could use this to argue the impressiveness <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">or<\/em><\/span> disappointment of the growth. We know that resources for women\u2019s participation differed before Title IX became law in 1972, for example, but how well has equity been achieved over fifty years later?<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">#1: Definition of \u201cequity\u201d:<\/strong><\/span> What do participants in the conversation mean when they use that word? She might discover the word has different meanings to different people and argue for a particular definition.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Modes of Proof: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Another aspect of invention, also formally presented by Aristotle, includes three artistic modes of proof: ethos, pathos, and logos. By <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">modes of proof<\/em><\/span>, Aristotle simply meant the ways people are persuaded or what they find persuasive. In differentiating the modes, Aristotle explained that<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>ethos is found \u201cin the character of the speaker,\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t<li>pathos relies on \u201cdisposing the hearer a certain way,\u201d and<\/li>\r\n \t<li>logos depends on \u201cthe thing itself which is said, by reason of its proving, or appearing to prove, the point.\u201d[footnote]Aristotle, <em>Rhetoric<\/em>, in <em>Aristotle\u2019s Treatise on Rhetoric<\/em>, trans. Graduate of the University (London: Oxford, 1823), 10.[\/footnote]<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">In each case, the proof is the persuasive appeal you share with your audience. Depending on the goal, audience, subject matter, and occasion, you will vary the proof you use.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Whatever your specific persuasive speaking goal, you should employ <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">all three aspects<\/em><\/span> of invention\u2014namely, logos, ethos, and pathos\u2014to accomplish it. In the previous chapter, we explained that your specific persuasive goal will be to change your audience\u2019s beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action. Some students mistakenly think speeches that target beliefs rely solely on logos while speeches that try to change attitudes only utilize pathos and so on. Such thinking confuses the end goal with the means used to achieve it (i.e., tools of invention). Whatever your end goal is, you can <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">and should<\/em><\/span> make use of all three available modes of proof. Let\u2019s turn briefly to each next.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Logos<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image237.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"125.333333333333px\" height=\"125.333333333333px\" \/>Sound persuasion is based on evidence and valid reasoning. In Aristotle\u2019s words, this is the work of logos. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Logos<\/strong><\/span> is the logical or reasoned basis of an appeal. Thus, for our purposes, logos refers to the argumentative substance of the presentation. Argumentation constitutes a type of proof to convince audiences to accept your message. Because this aspect of public presentations is fundamental, we have made it the focus of the next two chapters. However, argumentation is only one mode of proof.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Ethos<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image238.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"120.866666666667px\" height=\"120.866666666667px\" \/>Persuasion is also a matter of credibility or ethos. As described in chapter 5, ethos is drawn from the audience\u2019s perception of the speaker\u2019s credibility. When an audience perceives you as credible, or \u201cworthy of confidence,\u201d they are more likely to be persuaded by you. In other words, your credibility functions as another form of proof of the validity of your argument.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Notice, however, that your ethos exists only to the degree that your audience <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">perceives<\/em><\/span> you as credible, and their perception is based on how you present yourself in and through your speech. You may have established a public reputation that precedes your speech, but you must further develop, reinforce, and\/or improve your ethos in and through each presentation you make.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">According to Aristotle, speakers can develop their <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">ethos<\/em><\/span> by demonstrating one or more of the following four qualities through their speech:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>competence (expertise, preparation, intelligence)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>trustworthiness (moral standing, integrity)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>goodwill (having an audience\u2019s best interests at heart)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>dynamism (charisma)[footnote]Richard D. Rieke, Malcolm O. Sillars, and Tarla Rae Peterson, <em>Argumentation and Critical Decision Making<\/em>, 7th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2009), 155\u201356.[\/footnote]<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">We are persuaded by advocates and sources that best display these qualities. Consequently, Priyanka, for example, might stress her experience as a lifelong athlete and member of the basketball team (competence) as well as her desire for all student athletes at her college to be treated fairly (goodwill).<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">It\u2019s important you spend time cultivating your ethos because, according to Aristotle, moral character (ethos) offers the most effective means of persuasion.[footnote]Aristotle, <em>Rhetoric<\/em>, 11.[\/footnote] You might consider why and whether you agree with him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Pathos<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image239.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"153.733333333333px\" height=\"153.733333333333px\" \/>Finally, there is the role of emotion or pathos. Recall from chapter 5 that pathos is concerned with the psychological state of the audience and rests upon effective, ethical appeals to their emotions and motivations. Practically speaking, pathos is a measure and reflection of the extent to which we are moved by and feel invested in a topic and a message. Those feelings constitute another form of proof of the validity of the speaker\u2019s case.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Feelings may be appealed to or cultivated in a multitude of ways. Aristotle makes the intuitive argument that we desire emotions that result in <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">pleasure<\/em><\/span> and want to avoid emotions that result in <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">pain<\/em><\/span>. A speaker can use this observation when crafting their message:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Perhaps they associate the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">problem<\/em><\/span> they are targeting with <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">painful<\/em><\/span> emotions. Aristotle listed such <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">painful<\/em><\/span> feelings as anger, fear, shame, shamelessness, contempt, pity, indignation, and envy.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>A speaker can elicit <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">pleasurable<\/em><\/span> feelings in relation to their desired <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">solution<\/em><\/span>. Aristotle named such <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">pleasurable<\/em><\/span> feelings as patience, friendship, confidence, and kindness.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Of course, these are only a sampling of possible emotions you can elicit and ways you can use them in your speech.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 25.4 Pathos in Practice<\/strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_287\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"256\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-287\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image240.png\" alt=\"Muffet McGraw\" width=\"256\" height=\"240\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Muffet_McGraw.JPG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Muffet McGraw<\/a> by Sphilbrick via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe effective use of pathos can be seen in Notre Dame women\u2019s basketball <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId395\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarchMadnessWBB\/status\/1113842633481310212?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1113842633481310212%7Ctwgr%5E42ea2aa661cff300be41a491d07c28f691b49aa1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indystar.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fcollege%2Fnotre-dame%2F2019%2F04%2F04%2Fnotre-dames-muffet-mcgraw-expounds-fearlessly-gender-inequality%2F3363068002%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">coach Muffet McGraw\u2019s April 4, 2019, response<\/span><\/a><\/span> to a reporter\u2019s question.[footnote]<span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-dnmrzs r-1udh08x r-1udbk01 r-3s2u2q r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\" style=\"background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; word-spacing: normal;\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">NCAA March Madness (<\/span><\/span><span style=\"background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; word-spacing: normal;\">@MarchMadnessWBB), \u201cMuffet McGraw: A Voice for Women. A Voice for Women in Sports,\u201d\u00a0Twitter (now X), April 4, 2019,\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; word-spacing: normal;\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MarchMadnessWBB\/status\/1113842633481310212\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/x.com\/MarchMadnessWBB\/status\/1113842633481310212<\/a><span style=\"background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; word-spacing: normal;\">.<\/span>[\/footnote] The question was prompted by an <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId396\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/A95U-L862\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">interview<\/span><\/a><\/span> published earlier in which McGraw critiqued the prominence of men hired as coaches in women\u2019s sports, especially college basketball, and defended her own all-female coaching staff.[footnote]Lindsay Gibbs, \u201cMuffet McGraw Is Done Hiring Men,\u201d <em>Think Progress<\/em>, March 30, 2019, https:\/\/archive.thinkprogress.org\/this-top-womens-college-basketball-coach-is-done-hiring-men-5f3b6d06609b\/, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/A95U-L862\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/A95U-L862<\/a>.[\/footnote] On this occasion, the reporter asked her, \u201cHow seriously do you take being that voice,\u201d referring to being a voice for women.\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">McGraw answered by eliciting <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">indignation<\/strong><\/span> about the current inequity. She explained, \u201cWe\u2019ve had a record number of women running for office and winning and, still, we have 23% of the House and 25% of the Senate. I\u2019m getting tired of the novelty of the first female governor of this state; the first female African American mayor of this city. When is it going to become the norm instead of the exception?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">She then expressed <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">anger<\/strong><\/span> and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">shame<\/strong><\/span> about the state of things: \u201cGirls are socialized to know when they come out, gender roles are already set. Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It\u2019s always the men.\u201d Moving from broader society to sports, McGraw offered <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hope<\/strong><\/span> that athletics could help improve conditions for women: \u201cWhen these girls are coming out, who are they looking up to tell them that that\u2019s not the way it has to be? And where better to do that than in sports?\u2026Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we could teach them to watch how women lead? This is a path for you to take to get to the point where in this country we have 50% of women in power.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Her use of hopefulness was then joined by <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">confidence<\/strong><\/span> in her practice of hiring women and a return to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">anger<\/strong><\/span> about the problem. McGraw\u2019s response exemplifies the range of emotional appeals available to a rhetor when advocating for a policy change and, especially, the effective association of painful emotions with the status quo.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Clearly, appeals to pathos are potentially very powerful. Consequently, it is this dimension of rhetoric\u2014emotional appeal\u2014that has caused some scholars to distrust rhetoric. The concern is that rhetoric can obstruct good decision-making by displacing reason with emotion. We have certainly seen examples of speakers who rely excessively on emotional appeals and frequently on the emotion of fear. For instance, we see scare tactics in accusations of immigrants overrunning our borders and committing crimes or claims that our legal system is persecuting innocent officials and turning a blind eye to guilty leaders. Although emotion can be overused, it is a valuable part of deliberation and a corrective to an idealized, coldly rational perspective.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Because invention regards the core appeals and content of your speech, its methods and results should inform the next several steps in the persuasive process. In other words, use heuristics and modes of proof to help you frame your persuasive efforts and refute counterarguments.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Framing Persuasive Efforts<\/h1>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Recall from chapter 21 that framing is the process by which people use language to present and make sense of their world. We identified three parts to any <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">framing<\/em><\/span> of a civic issue. Every frame identifies or defines<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">problem<\/em><\/span> (i.e., what\u2019s wrong),<\/li>\r\n \t<li>its <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">cause<\/em><\/span> (i.e., who\u2019s to blame), and<\/li>\r\n \t<li>the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">solution<\/em><\/span> (i.e., what should be done).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">We also discussed how to use deliberative framing to set up a deliberative presentation. We concluded that since such presentations are educational, a speaker must frame the problem and possible solutions as clearly and fairly as possible.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You will now be involved with advocacy, however, whereby you will try to influence your direct audience\u2019s beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action. Therefore, you should employ <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">persuasive framing<\/em><\/span> in your speech. As we explained in chapter 21, persuasive framing occurs when a speaker strategically names or defines a problem (and its cause) in a way that <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">sets up their desired solution as effective and reasonable<\/em><\/span>. Indeed, you will need to frame the civic issue you are addressing as worthy of the audience\u2019s attention and your solution as a reasonable and superior response to the problem.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Demonstrate the Issue as Worthy of Attention<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Unless you can convince your audience of the issue\u2019s seriousness, they won\u2019t have reason to change their beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action. You can demonstrate seriousness in a few ways: Characterize the problem as a violation of the audience\u2019s shared values, narrow your focus, offer compelling evidence of the issue\u2019s existence, and illustrate how the problem affects your audience\u2019s lives.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Violation of Values<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">First, it is often effective to depict the problem as a violation of the audience\u2019s shared <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">values<\/em><\/span> or commitments. In chapter 21, we defined a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">value<\/em><\/span> as a principle or quality that human beings are committed to and upon which they base their thinking and decisions for important issues. You can employ the power of values in persuasion by explaining how the problem is violating your audience\u2019s values and commitments. This strategy is effective whether your specific goal is to influence the audience\u2019s beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 25.5 Framing the Issue as a Violation of Values: Sample Argument<\/strong>\r\n\r\nA good example of persuasive framing can be found in the rhetoric we considered earlier by McGraw. Recall she had said earlier that as head coach for Notre Dame\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team, she only hired female coaches. That statement stirred controversy, resulting in her being asked more about her policy.\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">When prompted by a reporter, McGraw could have presented her argument in terms of its effectiveness (her team was headed to the Final Four) or the disproportionate amount of male staff in college sports.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_288\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"400\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-288\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image241.png\" alt=\"Protesters hold a large sign that says, &quot;ERA&quot;\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ruggless\/50094933831\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) banner<\/a> Susan Ruggles via Flickr, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Instead, she <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">framed her case in light of national gender inequity<\/strong><\/span>. She opened by referring to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">US government\u2019s failure<\/em><\/span> to pass the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId397\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/759U-TN6D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)<\/span><\/a><\/span>. As she reminded the audience, the ERA was introduced in 1967 to make sex discrimination unconstitutional, but it failed to gain sufficient state support to pass.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">She then turned to congressional and local leadership by noting how <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">few women<\/em><\/span> are in the House of Representatives or Senate or are even governors or mayors. At that point she asked, \u201cHow are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don\u2019t have enough female role models. We don\u2019t have enough visible women leaders. We don\u2019t have enough women in power.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">McGraw <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">established <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">the<\/strong> <strong class=\"import-b\">problem <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">as a vast breach in <\/strong><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>fairness<\/em><\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\"> and gender <\/strong><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>equity<\/em><\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">nationally and locally<\/strong><\/span>. By establishing the disparity in female leadership as a national and enduring <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">violation of shared values<\/strong><\/span>, McGraw\u2019s practice of hiring female staff for women\u2019s sports teams seemed both reasonable and practical\u2014a small place to start, so to speak. Notice, too, that framing her hiring practice as helping alleviate the problem depicted McGraw as a kind of innovative problem-solver and encouraged the audience to identify with her desire for equality and fairness.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Narrow Focus<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Second, narrow your focus <img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image242.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"153.733333333333px\" height=\"153.733333333333px\" \/>so your audience perceives themselves as capable of making a change. Avoid making an issue seem so immense or difficult that you give the impression that nothing can be done. For instance, it would be a tall order to convince your audience in ten minutes that all women\u2019s sports should be funded equally to men\u2019s sports. It would be more realistic to whittle the problem of gender inequity in sports down to a topic like pressures on girls to quit sports in larger numbers than boys or on the relative lack of media attention to women\u2019s sports compared to men\u2019s.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Compelling Evidence<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Third, further demonstrate the issue as worthy of your audience\u2019s attention by offering high-quality, tangible evidence of the problem or community concern, whether that be through a reliance on<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>logos, which demonstrates the scope of a problem through <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">statistics<\/em><\/span>;<\/li>\r\n \t<li>pathos, which appeals to the emotional and human toll of an issue and highlights specific <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">examples<\/em><\/span>; or<\/li>\r\n \t<li>ethos, which is generated when a subject is explained through credible sources and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">testimony<\/em><\/span>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">Ideally, a combination of all three types of appeals and evidence forms the strongest presentation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Direct Effects<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Finally, relate the issue directly to your audience by showing how and where it is evident <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">in their lives and communities<\/em><\/span>. Such an approach will not only create audience understanding but also heighten audience identification with the issue.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Emphasize the Superiority of Your Response<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Another element of framing is to present a good way to respond to the problem. It isn\u2019t enough to demonstrate that the issue is worthy of the audience\u2019s attention. You must persuade them of the change in belief, attitude, or course of action you want them to adopt in response. Here you clearly restate your thesis and emphasize the superiority of this response to the issue.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Spend time <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">explaining how<\/em><\/span> the desired belief, attitude, or course of action would address the problem. What will it improve, solve, or help? How might recognizing the reality of internet addiction enable sufferers to get help? How would eating locally grown produce improve the city\u2019s economy and possibly the health of its residents?<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">As you explain, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">support<\/em><\/span> your explanation of how the desired outcome will improve the problem with evidence derived from examples, statistics, and testimony. Don\u2019t make the audience take your word for it. Use the research methods we discussed in chapters 8 and 9 and employ the argumentation skills we will provide in chapters 26 and 27 to strengthen your case.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Also, ensure that the solution aligns logically with your presentation of the problem. Somewhat like the relationship between a question and an answer, you must frame the issue so that the problem (and its cause) sets up your solution as effective and reasonable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">The Ethics of Framing<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">You might read our instructions to persuasively frame your topic and wonder, Is this ethical? Is it morally acceptable to strategically present a topic so the audience is more likely to accept my solution? Let\u2019s address these important concerns.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Framing as Necessary and Helpful<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">On one hand, framing is ethical, because it is necessary and helpful for audiences. Frames <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">help<\/em><\/span> people absorb and make sense of facts and information. A more typical use of the word \u201cframing\u201d may clarify this point.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Think of the wood frame constructed to build a house. That frame is built directly on top of the foundation, and it creates the solid structure upon which the rest of the housing materials (drywall, roofing tiles, window panes, etc.) hang.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Similarly, persuasive frames form the basis or context on which we hang or make sense of information. Facts and statistics alone are meaningless to us without a frame or context to give them significance, somewhat like drywall is useless without a wood frame on which to hang it.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In other words, framing in and of itself is not unethical; it is simply the way our minds and human language work. By thoughtfully framing public issues, speakers enable community members to make sense of otherwise meaningless facts or to make order out of seemingly incoherent information.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 25.6 Using Framing to Help Your Audience Make Sense of Information<\/strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_290\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\"]<img class=\"wp-image-290 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image243.png\" alt=\"US Customs and Border Protection patch\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/garystockbridge617.getarchive.net\/media\/patch-of-the-united-states-border-patrol-right-sleeve-c34998\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Patch of the United States Border Patrol<\/a> by United States Department of Homeland Security via GetArchive <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/public-domain\/pdm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Public Domain<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIf you tell your audience that US Customs and Border Protection had 2.47 million encounters with people illegally crossing the southwest border in fiscal year 2023, they probably wouldn\u2019t know what to conclude from that statistic. If, instead, you <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">frame these crossings as illustrating a \u201cborder crisis\u201d<\/strong><\/span> and explain that the number is 40% higher than fiscal year 2021\u2014<span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId401\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/Q7KM-YZWM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">as the US House Committee on Homeland Security did<\/span><\/a>[footnote]U.S. Congress, House, 118th Cong., 1st sess., Committee on Homeland Security, <em>Border Crisis Startling Stats (<\/em>Washington, DC: Government Publishing Office, October 26, 2023), https:\/\/homeland.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/September-Startling-Stats.pdf, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/Q7KM-YZWM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/Q7KM-YZWM<\/a>.[\/footnote]<\/span>\u2014that would invite the audience to conclude that illegal immigration is a problem and that border policies are inadequately addressing it.\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Of course, you can prompt a different conclusion with the same statistic if you <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">frame the crossings differently<\/strong><\/span>. Bloomberg opinion analyst Jeff Fox, for instance, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId402\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/3AE9-LH3A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">argued<\/span><\/a><\/span> the number is actually <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">evidence of more successful border measures<\/strong><\/span> that catch most people crossing or prompt migrants to turn themselves in (to apply for asylum), unlike previous years.[footnote]Justin Fox, \u201cIllegal US Border Crossings Aren\u2019t Really Breaking Records,\u201d <em>Bloomberg<\/em>, March 20, 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2024-03-20\/illegal-us-border-crossings-aren-t-really-breaking-records\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2024-03-20\/illegal-us-border-crossings-aren-t-really-breaking-records<\/a>.[\/footnote] If you framed the statistic accordingly, the audience would be encouraged to view illegal immigration as an issue that is being successfully addressed by border policies at the time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Honest Versus Dishonest Framing Efforts<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">On the other hand, we can borrow Will Friedman\u2019s work to distinguish honest from dishonest ways of \u201cframing to persuade.\u201d Friedman defines <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">honest framing<\/strong><\/span> efforts as \u201csincere rhetorical advocacy\u201d in which the speaker says, \u201c\u2018I believe this because\u2019 and\u2026means it.\u201d Such framing efforts attempt to persuade the audience in an ethical, open, and trustworthy manner with the public good in mind.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_291\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\"]<img class=\"wp-image-291\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image244.png\" alt=\"A person with their fingers crossed behind their back\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/lying-promises-deception-dishonesty-1562272\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by tswedensky via Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In contrast, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">dishonest framing<\/strong><\/span> efforts manipulate facts and promote disinformation. Motivated almost solely by a desire to win the argument by any means necessary, dishonest persuasive framing prioritizes personal gain over the public good.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We have all seen, for example, how attack ads during an election season can take the statements of an opponent (an implied audience or person represented in a speech) out of context, feature unflattering pictures, and publicize rumor as if it\u2019s truth. Such framing harms public debate and fosters the vices of unproductive public discourse discussed in chapter 2.[footnote]Will Friedman, \u201cReframing \u2018Framing,\u2019\" <em>Occasional Paper<\/em>, no. 1 (Center for Advances in Public Engagement), accessed May 13, 2024, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.communicationcache.com\/uploads\/1\/0\/8\/8\/10887248\/reframing_framing.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.communicationcache.com\/uploads\/1\/0\/8\/8\/10887248\/reframing_framing.pdf<\/a>.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We invite and strongly encourage you, then, to advocate a position as skillfully and passionately as possible. Use persuasive framing strategically to make your solution look attractive but do so with honesty and integrity for the benefit of the public good. Maintain such ethical standards as you identify and rebut arguments opposed to your thesis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Refute Counterarguments<\/h1>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">By its very nature, a persuasive presentation will encounter resistance. You are attempting to persuade people to think or act in a way that is counter to what they are presently doing. Listeners generally have reasons they disagree with your perspective\u2014some good, some bad.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">To persuade an audience to change its mind, you must address their reasons. If you ignore common <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">counterarguments<\/strong><\/span>, or claims and reasoning that oppose your own, the audience is more apt to ignore you. They will feel like you haven\u2019t challenged their perspective and may think you are uninformed about the topic. As a result, an important component of nearly every persuasive speech is attention to counterarguments.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">One option available is to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">explicitly acknowledge a counterargument<\/em><\/span> by stating it and then refuting it\u2014that is, giving the reasons why you think it is invalid or weak. You might even devote a main point of your speech to refuting one or more counterarguments. This occurs when you discuss alternative solutions to a problem, such as in the problem-alternatives-solution or the refutative patterns of organization discussed in chapter 13.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The benefits of acknowledging counterarguments are many: It makes your argument more persuasive to those with opposing views, it shows you are prepared and thoughtful, and it demonstrates you are willing to confront difficult choices.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">However, acknowledging counterarguments can <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">backfire<\/em><\/span> if you commit two common mistakes:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>First, while you have a responsibility to refute counterarguments, don\u2019t feel obliged to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">make<\/em><\/span> the counterargument. That is, don\u2019t provide evidence that proves the opposing position. Too often this reinforces the opposing view held by those in your audience. This is an additional way persuasion differs from deliberation.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Second, avoid adopting the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">language or phrases<\/em><\/span> used by people who argue against your position. Otherwise, you will unwittingly reinforce the counterargument. For example, if you argue on behalf of undocumented workers but refer to them as \u201cillegal aliens,\u201d it will be difficult for your audience to think of them as anything other than violators of the law who deserve to be punished. Once you adopt the words of a counter perspective, you are arguing at a disadvantage. Instead, find a different language to express the counterargument and your refutation.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Between this and the previous chapter, we have outlined six steps in the process of developing a persuasive speech. While the steps by no means compose a comprehensive template, they do cover the basics of the persuasive process as you move from analyzing your listeners to refuting popular counterarguments.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">This chapter covered the last three (of six total) steps in the persuasive process:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The fourth step is the invention of effective persuasive appeals and arguments. In the process of invention, speakers can draw on heuristic devices as well as the three primary modes of proof\u2014logos, pathos, and ethos\u2014to generate ideas and specific arguments.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The fifth step of the persuasive process involves framing your persuasive efforts. Speakers should use framing in honest and ethical ways to demonstrate their issue as worthy of attention and to emphasize the superiority of their desired response.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The final step is refuting counterarguments. To strengthen advocacy, speakers should acknowledge and refute one or more counterarguments to their proposal.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Terms<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\ncounterargument\r\ndishonest framing\r\nheuristics\r\nhonest framing\r\nlogos\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Review Questions<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>How do heuristic devices help speakers and writers form their ideas?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>According to Aristotle, what are the three modes of proof for advocating an idea or claim?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What are counterarguments, and why should speakers refute them during their speech?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Discussion Questions<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>Aristotle asserts that ethos is the most important of the proofs. Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>For Aristotle, the modes of proof were to be used in combination but with the special instruction that pathos <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">not<\/em><\/span> be used as the sole means of persuasion. Why do you think Aristotle objected to basing persuasion solely on pathos? Do you agree with that instruction? Why or why not?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Think of a public issue and identify several ways of framing it. For each frame, name its definition of the problem, to whom or what it assigns blame for the problem, and the solution it supports. Which is the most persuasive? For whom?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Do the means of persuasion ever justify the ends? That is, as long as the belief, attitude, or course of action that you convince an audience to accept is in their best interest, does it matter how you convince them to do it? What about when a political candidate uses dishonest framing to win an election\u2014but then ultimately governs well?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Chapter Objectives<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p class=\"import-pf\">Students will:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use the elements of invention to produce persuasive appeals.<\/li>\n<li>Persuasively frame an issue to lead the audience to the desired solution.<\/li>\n<li>Refute counterarguments to a preferred position.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 0pt;\">The previous chapter introduced persuasion as the strategic use of verbal and nonverbal symbols to influence the beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action of an audience. In that chapter, we established persuasion\u2019s importance for civic engagement and identified six steps you should take when developing a persuasive speech. We then explored the first three steps: (1) consider audience analysis and adaptation, (2) select a persuasive goal, and (3) empower your audience to act. Basically, we suggested you start by knowing your audience and then, using that information, determine what you want them to think, believe, or do and give them the means to carry that out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">This chapter picks up with the next (and last) three steps to prepare your speech: (4) invent the content of your speech, (5) frame your persuasive efforts, and (6) refute counterarguments. Together, these steps will help you develop the speech content that fulfills your speech goal. We will explore each step, beginning with invention and then turning to framing and refutation in turn.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Invention: The Substance of Persuasion<\/h1>\n<figure id=\"attachment_282\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-282\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"wp-image-282\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image235.png\" alt=\"Person holding a sign that has a lightbulb and the word &quot;idea&quot; on it\" width=\"375\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image235.png 561w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image235-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image235-65x43.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image235-225x150.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image235-350x233.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-282\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/idea-innovation-business-4095184\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by Pete Linforthvia Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Invention, as you learned in chapter 1, is the process of investigation and thought that produces the content of your speech. This designation originated in rhetoric\u2019s ancient past, but we still use the term. It emphasizes that when we speak, we make up or \u201cinvent\u201d arguments intended to persuade. Of course, when done properly\u2014and ethically\u2014your words and arguments will be based on thorough research and credible sources that you credit through citations as described in chapters 8 and 9. Ultimately, though, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">you<\/em><\/span> come up with what you say in your speech.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">How do you stimulate your thinking? How do you overcome writer\u2019s block to construct your speech? This is precisely what the canon of invention is designed for. We will begin by considering how you can use available strategies, or heuristics, of invention to develop ideas. Second, we will guide you through central proofs or means of invention you can adopt to develop the substance of your persuasion.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Heuristics<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Imagine a legal pad or computer file with pages of information and evidence you collected from your research. What can you do with all this information? Thinkers and speakers in the past turned to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">heuristics<\/strong><\/span>: specific strategies for generating new ideas.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 25.1 The Greek Origins of Heuristics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Also referred to as topics, loci, and lines of argument, the term \u201cheuristic\u201d comes from the Greek word <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">heuriskein<\/em><\/span>, which means \u201cto discover.\u201d The Greek term <em>topos<\/em>\u00a0means &#8220;place&#8221; and seems to have referred to the spot or place on a scroll wherein a particular common pattern of argument was written. The first formal presentation of heuristic devices occurs in Aristotle\u2019s <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">Rhetoric<\/em><\/span>, book 2, under the heading of topics. There he outlines twenty-eight heuristic devices for constructing arguments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Heuristic devices stimulate your intellectual discovery as you think through your topic, formulate arguments, and structure your speech. Box 25.2 contains a selection of the most commonly used strategies of rhetorical invention, or heuristics.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 25.2 Selected Heuristic Devices<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Definition: What is it?<\/li>\n<li>What are the parts, and how are they related?<\/li>\n<li>How can the subject and object be reversed or how can the order of ideas be reversed?<\/li>\n<li>How does an idea or physical entity compare with another?<\/li>\n<li>How does an idea or physical entity contrast with another?<\/li>\n<li>Has something happened or not happened? Will something happen or will it not happen?<\/li>\n<li>Is one item greater or is it smaller than another item?<\/li>\n<li>Is something possible or is it not possible?<\/li>\n<li>What is and what is not?<\/li>\n<li>How big is something and how far does it reach?<\/li>\n<li>In the past, what was something like?<\/li>\n<li>In the future, what will something be like?<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Numbers 6\u201312 are based on Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999), 82\u201383.\" id=\"return-footnote-498-1\" href=\"#footnote-498-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_283\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-283\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"wp-image-283\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image236.png\" alt=\"Picture of playdoh and cookie cutters\" width=\"375\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image236.png 542w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image236-300x229.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image236-65x50.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image236-225x171.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image236-350x267.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-283\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/play-doh-play-dough-creative-3308878\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by LMoonlight via Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">How do heuristic devices work in developing a speech? In many ways, they are comparable to the stunningly successful\u2014and always enjoyable\u2014original Play-Doh Fun Factory. The device took a blob of Play-Doh and turned it into a spaghetti-type noodle, a star, or a lightning bolt. Somewhat like when using cookie cutters, there were perhaps twenty or thirty different shapes you could mold the Play-Doh into.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Heuristic devices make use of your research in much the same way; they show you various ways to shape that information and those ideas for your audience into a thesis statement, supporting arguments, or even organizational structures (like those discussed in chapter 13). The best thing to do is to try several, see what they generate, and then select from your creations, taking into account your audience, goals, and context.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 25.3 Heuristic Devices in Practice<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the previous chapter, we introduced you to Priyanka, who decided to advocate for gender equity in women\u2019s sports. As she prepared her speech, she researched positions that have been taken on the subject, relevant court cases and rulings, statistics on college women\u2019s participation in sports and female employees on athletic staffs, and testimonials from administrative bodies like the NCAA. Then she used the following heuristic devices (drawn from box 25.2) to develop arguments:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">#5: Contrast:<\/strong><\/span> The average budget, travel accommodations, and equipment provided to men\u2019s collegiate basketball teams versus women\u2019s teams.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">#4: Compare:<\/strong><\/span> Basketball with other sports teams or compare gender equity in amateur and professional athletics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Priyanka could use contrast and comparison to establish the broader existence of inequity in sports and argue for specific changes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">#11: How things used to be:<\/strong><\/span> In terms of resources for women\u2019s sports in the United States, she could use this to argue the impressiveness <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">or<\/em><\/span> disappointment of the growth. We know that resources for women\u2019s participation differed before Title IX became law in 1972, for example, but how well has equity been achieved over fifty years later?<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">#1: Definition of \u201cequity\u201d:<\/strong><\/span> What do participants in the conversation mean when they use that word? She might discover the word has different meanings to different people and argue for a particular definition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Modes of Proof: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Another aspect of invention, also formally presented by Aristotle, includes three artistic modes of proof: ethos, pathos, and logos. By <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">modes of proof<\/em><\/span>, Aristotle simply meant the ways people are persuaded or what they find persuasive. In differentiating the modes, Aristotle explained that<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ethos is found \u201cin the character of the speaker,\u201d<\/li>\n<li>pathos relies on \u201cdisposing the hearer a certain way,\u201d and<\/li>\n<li>logos depends on \u201cthe thing itself which is said, by reason of its proving, or appearing to prove, the point.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Aristotle, Rhetoric, in Aristotle\u2019s Treatise on Rhetoric, trans. Graduate of the University (London: Oxford, 1823), 10.\" id=\"return-footnote-498-2\" href=\"#footnote-498-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">In each case, the proof is the persuasive appeal you share with your audience. Depending on the goal, audience, subject matter, and occasion, you will vary the proof you use.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Whatever your specific persuasive speaking goal, you should employ <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">all three aspects<\/em><\/span> of invention\u2014namely, logos, ethos, and pathos\u2014to accomplish it. In the previous chapter, we explained that your specific persuasive goal will be to change your audience\u2019s beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action. Some students mistakenly think speeches that target beliefs rely solely on logos while speeches that try to change attitudes only utilize pathos and so on. Such thinking confuses the end goal with the means used to achieve it (i.e., tools of invention). Whatever your end goal is, you can <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">and should<\/em><\/span> make use of all three available modes of proof. Let\u2019s turn briefly to each next.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Logos<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image237.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"125.333333333333px\" height=\"125.333333333333px\" \/>Sound persuasion is based on evidence and valid reasoning. In Aristotle\u2019s words, this is the work of logos. <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Logos<\/strong><\/span> is the logical or reasoned basis of an appeal. Thus, for our purposes, logos refers to the argumentative substance of the presentation. Argumentation constitutes a type of proof to convince audiences to accept your message. Because this aspect of public presentations is fundamental, we have made it the focus of the next two chapters. However, argumentation is only one mode of proof.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Ethos<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image238.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"120.866666666667px\" height=\"120.866666666667px\" \/>Persuasion is also a matter of credibility or ethos. As described in chapter 5, ethos is drawn from the audience\u2019s perception of the speaker\u2019s credibility. When an audience perceives you as credible, or \u201cworthy of confidence,\u201d they are more likely to be persuaded by you. In other words, your credibility functions as another form of proof of the validity of your argument.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Notice, however, that your ethos exists only to the degree that your audience <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">perceives<\/em><\/span> you as credible, and their perception is based on how you present yourself in and through your speech. You may have established a public reputation that precedes your speech, but you must further develop, reinforce, and\/or improve your ethos in and through each presentation you make.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">According to Aristotle, speakers can develop their <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">ethos<\/em><\/span> by demonstrating one or more of the following four qualities through their speech:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>competence (expertise, preparation, intelligence)<\/li>\n<li>trustworthiness (moral standing, integrity)<\/li>\n<li>goodwill (having an audience\u2019s best interests at heart)<\/li>\n<li>dynamism (charisma)<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Richard D. Rieke, Malcolm O. Sillars, and Tarla Rae Peterson, Argumentation and Critical Decision Making, 7th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2009), 155\u201356.\" id=\"return-footnote-498-3\" href=\"#footnote-498-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">We are persuaded by advocates and sources that best display these qualities. Consequently, Priyanka, for example, might stress her experience as a lifelong athlete and member of the basketball team (competence) as well as her desire for all student athletes at her college to be treated fairly (goodwill).<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">It\u2019s important you spend time cultivating your ethos because, according to Aristotle, moral character (ethos) offers the most effective means of persuasion.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Aristotle, Rhetoric, 11.\" id=\"return-footnote-498-4\" href=\"#footnote-498-4\" aria-label=\"Footnote 4\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[4]<\/sup><\/a> You might consider why and whether you agree with him.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Pathos<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image239.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"153.733333333333px\" height=\"153.733333333333px\" \/>Finally, there is the role of emotion or pathos. Recall from chapter 5 that pathos is concerned with the psychological state of the audience and rests upon effective, ethical appeals to their emotions and motivations. Practically speaking, pathos is a measure and reflection of the extent to which we are moved by and feel invested in a topic and a message. Those feelings constitute another form of proof of the validity of the speaker\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Feelings may be appealed to or cultivated in a multitude of ways. Aristotle makes the intuitive argument that we desire emotions that result in <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">pleasure<\/em><\/span> and want to avoid emotions that result in <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">pain<\/em><\/span>. A speaker can use this observation when crafting their message:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Perhaps they associate the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">problem<\/em><\/span> they are targeting with <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">painful<\/em><\/span> emotions. Aristotle listed such <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">painful<\/em><\/span> feelings as anger, fear, shame, shamelessness, contempt, pity, indignation, and envy.<\/li>\n<li>A speaker can elicit <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">pleasurable<\/em><\/span> feelings in relation to their desired <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">solution<\/em><\/span>. Aristotle named such <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">pleasurable<\/em><\/span> feelings as patience, friendship, confidence, and kindness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Of course, these are only a sampling of possible emotions you can elicit and ways you can use them in your speech.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 25.4 Pathos in Practice<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_287\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-287\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-287\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image240.png\" alt=\"Muffet McGraw\" width=\"256\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image240.png 256w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image240-65x61.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image240-225x211.png 225w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-287\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Muffet_McGraw.JPG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Muffet McGraw<\/a> by Sphilbrick via Wikimedia Commons, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-SA<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The effective use of pathos can be seen in Notre Dame women\u2019s basketball <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId395\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarchMadnessWBB\/status\/1113842633481310212?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1113842633481310212%7Ctwgr%5E42ea2aa661cff300be41a491d07c28f691b49aa1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indystar.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fcollege%2Fnotre-dame%2F2019%2F04%2F04%2Fnotre-dames-muffet-mcgraw-expounds-fearlessly-gender-inequality%2F3363068002%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">coach Muffet McGraw\u2019s April 4, 2019, response<\/span><\/a><\/span> to a reporter\u2019s question.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB), \u201cMuffet McGraw: A Voice for Women. A Voice for Women in Sports,\u201d\u00a0Twitter (now X), April 4, 2019,\u00a0https:\/\/x.com\/MarchMadnessWBB\/status\/1113842633481310212.\" id=\"return-footnote-498-5\" href=\"#footnote-498-5\" aria-label=\"Footnote 5\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[5]<\/sup><\/a> The question was prompted by an <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId396\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/A95U-L862\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">interview<\/span><\/a><\/span> published earlier in which McGraw critiqued the prominence of men hired as coaches in women\u2019s sports, especially college basketball, and defended her own all-female coaching staff.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Lindsay Gibbs, \u201cMuffet McGraw Is Done Hiring Men,\u201d Think Progress, March 30, 2019, https:\/\/archive.thinkprogress.org\/this-top-womens-college-basketball-coach-is-done-hiring-men-5f3b6d06609b\/, archived at https:\/\/perma.cc\/A95U-L862.\" id=\"return-footnote-498-6\" href=\"#footnote-498-6\" aria-label=\"Footnote 6\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[6]<\/sup><\/a> On this occasion, the reporter asked her, \u201cHow seriously do you take being that voice,\u201d referring to being a voice for women.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">McGraw answered by eliciting <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">indignation<\/strong><\/span> about the current inequity. She explained, \u201cWe\u2019ve had a record number of women running for office and winning and, still, we have 23% of the House and 25% of the Senate. I\u2019m getting tired of the novelty of the first female governor of this state; the first female African American mayor of this city. When is it going to become the norm instead of the exception?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">She then expressed <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">anger<\/strong><\/span> and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">shame<\/strong><\/span> about the state of things: \u201cGirls are socialized to know when they come out, gender roles are already set. Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It\u2019s always the men.\u201d Moving from broader society to sports, McGraw offered <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hope<\/strong><\/span> that athletics could help improve conditions for women: \u201cWhen these girls are coming out, who are they looking up to tell them that that\u2019s not the way it has to be? And where better to do that than in sports?\u2026Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we could teach them to watch how women lead? This is a path for you to take to get to the point where in this country we have 50% of women in power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Her use of hopefulness was then joined by <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">confidence<\/strong><\/span> in her practice of hiring women and a return to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">anger<\/strong><\/span> about the problem. McGraw\u2019s response exemplifies the range of emotional appeals available to a rhetor when advocating for a policy change and, especially, the effective association of painful emotions with the status quo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Clearly, appeals to pathos are potentially very powerful. Consequently, it is this dimension of rhetoric\u2014emotional appeal\u2014that has caused some scholars to distrust rhetoric. The concern is that rhetoric can obstruct good decision-making by displacing reason with emotion. We have certainly seen examples of speakers who rely excessively on emotional appeals and frequently on the emotion of fear. For instance, we see scare tactics in accusations of immigrants overrunning our borders and committing crimes or claims that our legal system is persecuting innocent officials and turning a blind eye to guilty leaders. Although emotion can be overused, it is a valuable part of deliberation and a corrective to an idealized, coldly rational perspective.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Because invention regards the core appeals and content of your speech, its methods and results should inform the next several steps in the persuasive process. In other words, use heuristics and modes of proof to help you frame your persuasive efforts and refute counterarguments.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Framing Persuasive Efforts<\/h1>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Recall from chapter 21 that framing is the process by which people use language to present and make sense of their world. We identified three parts to any <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">framing<\/em><\/span> of a civic issue. Every frame identifies or defines<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">problem<\/em><\/span> (i.e., what\u2019s wrong),<\/li>\n<li>its <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">cause<\/em><\/span> (i.e., who\u2019s to blame), and<\/li>\n<li>the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">solution<\/em><\/span> (i.e., what should be done).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">We also discussed how to use deliberative framing to set up a deliberative presentation. We concluded that since such presentations are educational, a speaker must frame the problem and possible solutions as clearly and fairly as possible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You will now be involved with advocacy, however, whereby you will try to influence your direct audience\u2019s beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action. Therefore, you should employ <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">persuasive framing<\/em><\/span> in your speech. As we explained in chapter 21, persuasive framing occurs when a speaker strategically names or defines a problem (and its cause) in a way that <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">sets up their desired solution as effective and reasonable<\/em><\/span>. Indeed, you will need to frame the civic issue you are addressing as worthy of the audience\u2019s attention and your solution as a reasonable and superior response to the problem.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Demonstrate the Issue as Worthy of Attention<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Unless you can convince your audience of the issue\u2019s seriousness, they won\u2019t have reason to change their beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action. You can demonstrate seriousness in a few ways: Characterize the problem as a violation of the audience\u2019s shared values, narrow your focus, offer compelling evidence of the issue\u2019s existence, and illustrate how the problem affects your audience\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Violation of Values<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">First, it is often effective to depict the problem as a violation of the audience\u2019s shared <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">values<\/em><\/span> or commitments. In chapter 21, we defined a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">value<\/em><\/span> as a principle or quality that human beings are committed to and upon which they base their thinking and decisions for important issues. You can employ the power of values in persuasion by explaining how the problem is violating your audience\u2019s values and commitments. This strategy is effective whether your specific goal is to influence the audience\u2019s beliefs, attitudes, or courses of action.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 25.5 Framing the Issue as a Violation of Values: Sample Argument<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A good example of persuasive framing can be found in the rhetoric we considered earlier by McGraw. Recall she had said earlier that as head coach for Notre Dame\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team, she only hired female coaches. That statement stirred controversy, resulting in her being asked more about her policy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">When prompted by a reporter, McGraw could have presented her argument in terms of its effectiveness (her team was headed to the Final Four) or the disproportionate amount of male staff in college sports.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_288\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-288\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-288\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image241.png\" alt=\"Protesters hold a large sign that says, &quot;ERA&quot;\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image241.png 400w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image241-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image241-65x43.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image241-225x150.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image241-350x234.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-288\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ruggless\/50094933831\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) banner<\/a> Susan Ruggles via Flickr, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Instead, she <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">framed her case in light of national gender inequity<\/strong><\/span>. She opened by referring to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">US government\u2019s failure<\/em><\/span> to pass the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId397\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/759U-TN6D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)<\/span><\/a><\/span>. As she reminded the audience, the ERA was introduced in 1967 to make sex discrimination unconstitutional, but it failed to gain sufficient state support to pass.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">She then turned to congressional and local leadership by noting how <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">few women<\/em><\/span> are in the House of Representatives or Senate or are even governors or mayors. At that point she asked, \u201cHow are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don\u2019t have enough female role models. We don\u2019t have enough visible women leaders. We don\u2019t have enough women in power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">McGraw <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">established <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">the<\/strong> <strong class=\"import-b\">problem <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">as a vast breach in <\/strong><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>fairness<\/em><\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\"> and gender <\/strong><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>equity<\/em><\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">nationally and locally<\/strong><\/span>. By establishing the disparity in female leadership as a national and enduring <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">violation of shared values<\/strong><\/span>, McGraw\u2019s practice of hiring female staff for women\u2019s sports teams seemed both reasonable and practical\u2014a small place to start, so to speak. Notice, too, that framing her hiring practice as helping alleviate the problem depicted McGraw as a kind of innovative problem-solver and encouraged the audience to identify with her desire for equality and fairness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Narrow Focus<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Second, narrow your focus <img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image242.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"153.733333333333px\" height=\"153.733333333333px\" \/>so your audience perceives themselves as capable of making a change. Avoid making an issue seem so immense or difficult that you give the impression that nothing can be done. For instance, it would be a tall order to convince your audience in ten minutes that all women\u2019s sports should be funded equally to men\u2019s sports. It would be more realistic to whittle the problem of gender inequity in sports down to a topic like pressures on girls to quit sports in larger numbers than boys or on the relative lack of media attention to women\u2019s sports compared to men\u2019s.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Compelling Evidence<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Third, further demonstrate the issue as worthy of your audience\u2019s attention by offering high-quality, tangible evidence of the problem or community concern, whether that be through a reliance on<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>logos, which demonstrates the scope of a problem through <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">statistics<\/em><\/span>;<\/li>\n<li>pathos, which appeals to the emotional and human toll of an issue and highlights specific <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">examples<\/em><\/span>; or<\/li>\n<li>ethos, which is generated when a subject is explained through credible sources and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">testimony<\/em><\/span>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">Ideally, a combination of all three types of appeals and evidence forms the strongest presentation.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Direct Effects<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Finally, relate the issue directly to your audience by showing how and where it is evident <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">in their lives and communities<\/em><\/span>. Such an approach will not only create audience understanding but also heighten audience identification with the issue.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Emphasize the Superiority of Your Response<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Another element of framing is to present a good way to respond to the problem. It isn\u2019t enough to demonstrate that the issue is worthy of the audience\u2019s attention. You must persuade them of the change in belief, attitude, or course of action you want them to adopt in response. Here you clearly restate your thesis and emphasize the superiority of this response to the issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Spend time <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">explaining how<\/em><\/span> the desired belief, attitude, or course of action would address the problem. What will it improve, solve, or help? How might recognizing the reality of internet addiction enable sufferers to get help? How would eating locally grown produce improve the city\u2019s economy and possibly the health of its residents?<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">As you explain, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">support<\/em><\/span> your explanation of how the desired outcome will improve the problem with evidence derived from examples, statistics, and testimony. Don\u2019t make the audience take your word for it. Use the research methods we discussed in chapters 8 and 9 and employ the argumentation skills we will provide in chapters 26 and 27 to strengthen your case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Also, ensure that the solution aligns logically with your presentation of the problem. Somewhat like the relationship between a question and an answer, you must frame the issue so that the problem (and its cause) sets up your solution as effective and reasonable.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">The Ethics of Framing<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">You might read our instructions to persuasively frame your topic and wonder, Is this ethical? Is it morally acceptable to strategically present a topic so the audience is more likely to accept my solution? Let\u2019s address these important concerns.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Framing as Necessary and Helpful<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">On one hand, framing is ethical, because it is necessary and helpful for audiences. Frames <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">help<\/em><\/span> people absorb and make sense of facts and information. A more typical use of the word \u201cframing\u201d may clarify this point.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Think of the wood frame constructed to build a house. That frame is built directly on top of the foundation, and it creates the solid structure upon which the rest of the housing materials (drywall, roofing tiles, window panes, etc.) hang.<\/li>\n<li>Similarly, persuasive frames form the basis or context on which we hang or make sense of information. Facts and statistics alone are meaningless to us without a frame or context to give them significance, somewhat like drywall is useless without a wood frame on which to hang it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In other words, framing in and of itself is not unethical; it is simply the way our minds and human language work. By thoughtfully framing public issues, speakers enable community members to make sense of otherwise meaningless facts or to make order out of seemingly incoherent information.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 25.6 Using Framing to Help Your Audience Make Sense of Information<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_290\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-290\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"wp-image-290 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image243.png\" alt=\"US Customs and Border Protection patch\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image243.png 200w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image243-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image243-65x65.png 65w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-290\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/garystockbridge617.getarchive.net\/media\/patch-of-the-united-states-border-patrol-right-sleeve-c34998\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Patch of the United States Border Patrol<\/a> by United States Department of Homeland Security via GetArchive <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/public-domain\/pdm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Public Domain<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you tell your audience that US Customs and Border Protection had 2.47 million encounters with people illegally crossing the southwest border in fiscal year 2023, they probably wouldn\u2019t know what to conclude from that statistic. If, instead, you <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">frame these crossings as illustrating a \u201cborder crisis\u201d<\/strong><\/span> and explain that the number is 40% higher than fiscal year 2021\u2014<span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId401\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/Q7KM-YZWM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">as the US House Committee on Homeland Security did<\/span><\/a><a class=\"footnote\" title=\"U.S. Congress, House, 118th Cong., 1st sess., Committee on Homeland Security, Border Crisis Startling Stats (Washington, DC: Government Publishing Office, October 26, 2023), https:\/\/homeland.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/September-Startling-Stats.pdf, archived at https:\/\/perma.cc\/Q7KM-YZWM.\" id=\"return-footnote-498-7\" href=\"#footnote-498-7\" aria-label=\"Footnote 7\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[7]<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u2014that would invite the audience to conclude that illegal immigration is a problem and that border policies are inadequately addressing it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Of course, you can prompt a different conclusion with the same statistic if you <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">frame the crossings differently<\/strong><\/span>. Bloomberg opinion analyst Jeff Fox, for instance, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId402\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/3AE9-LH3A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">argued<\/span><\/a><\/span> the number is actually <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">evidence of more successful border measures<\/strong><\/span> that catch most people crossing or prompt migrants to turn themselves in (to apply for asylum), unlike previous years.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Justin Fox, \u201cIllegal US Border Crossings Aren\u2019t Really Breaking Records,\u201d Bloomberg, March 20, 2024, https:\/\/bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2024-03-20\/illegal-us-border-crossings-aren-t-really-breaking-records.\" id=\"return-footnote-498-8\" href=\"#footnote-498-8\" aria-label=\"Footnote 8\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[8]<\/sup><\/a> If you framed the statistic accordingly, the audience would be encouraged to view illegal immigration as an issue that is being successfully addressed by border policies at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Honest Versus Dishonest Framing Efforts<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">On the other hand, we can borrow Will Friedman\u2019s work to distinguish honest from dishonest ways of \u201cframing to persuade.\u201d Friedman defines <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">honest framing<\/strong><\/span> efforts as \u201csincere rhetorical advocacy\u201d in which the speaker says, \u201c\u2018I believe this because\u2019 and\u2026means it.\u201d Such framing efforts attempt to persuade the audience in an ethical, open, and trustworthy manner with the public good in mind.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_291\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-291\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"wp-image-291\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image244.png\" alt=\"A person with their fingers crossed behind their back\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image244.png 514w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image244-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image244-65x49.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image244-225x169.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image244-350x262.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-291\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/lying-promises-deception-dishonesty-1562272\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by tswedensky via Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In contrast, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">dishonest framing<\/strong><\/span> efforts manipulate facts and promote disinformation. Motivated almost solely by a desire to win the argument by any means necessary, dishonest persuasive framing prioritizes personal gain over the public good.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We have all seen, for example, how attack ads during an election season can take the statements of an opponent (an implied audience or person represented in a speech) out of context, feature unflattering pictures, and publicize rumor as if it\u2019s truth. Such framing harms public debate and fosters the vices of unproductive public discourse discussed in chapter 2.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Will Friedman, \u201cReframing \u2018Framing,\u2019&quot; Occasional Paper, no. 1 (Center for Advances in Public Engagement), accessed May 13, 2024, http:\/\/www.communicationcache.com\/uploads\/1\/0\/8\/8\/10887248\/reframing_framing.pdf.\" id=\"return-footnote-498-9\" href=\"#footnote-498-9\" aria-label=\"Footnote 9\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We invite and strongly encourage you, then, to advocate a position as skillfully and passionately as possible. Use persuasive framing strategically to make your solution look attractive but do so with honesty and integrity for the benefit of the public good. Maintain such ethical standards as you identify and rebut arguments opposed to your thesis.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Refute Counterarguments<\/h1>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">By its very nature, a persuasive presentation will encounter resistance. You are attempting to persuade people to think or act in a way that is counter to what they are presently doing. Listeners generally have reasons they disagree with your perspective\u2014some good, some bad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">To persuade an audience to change its mind, you must address their reasons. If you ignore common <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">counterarguments<\/strong><\/span>, or claims and reasoning that oppose your own, the audience is more apt to ignore you. They will feel like you haven\u2019t challenged their perspective and may think you are uninformed about the topic. As a result, an important component of nearly every persuasive speech is attention to counterarguments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">One option available is to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">explicitly acknowledge a counterargument<\/em><\/span> by stating it and then refuting it\u2014that is, giving the reasons why you think it is invalid or weak. You might even devote a main point of your speech to refuting one or more counterarguments. This occurs when you discuss alternative solutions to a problem, such as in the problem-alternatives-solution or the refutative patterns of organization discussed in chapter 13.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The benefits of acknowledging counterarguments are many: It makes your argument more persuasive to those with opposing views, it shows you are prepared and thoughtful, and it demonstrates you are willing to confront difficult choices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">However, acknowledging counterarguments can <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">backfire<\/em><\/span> if you commit two common mistakes:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>First, while you have a responsibility to refute counterarguments, don\u2019t feel obliged to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">make<\/em><\/span> the counterargument. That is, don\u2019t provide evidence that proves the opposing position. Too often this reinforces the opposing view held by those in your audience. This is an additional way persuasion differs from deliberation.<\/li>\n<li>Second, avoid adopting the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">language or phrases<\/em><\/span> used by people who argue against your position. Otherwise, you will unwittingly reinforce the counterargument. For example, if you argue on behalf of undocumented workers but refer to them as \u201cillegal aliens,\u201d it will be difficult for your audience to think of them as anything other than violators of the law who deserve to be punished. Once you adopt the words of a counter perspective, you are arguing at a disadvantage. Instead, find a different language to express the counterargument and your refutation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Between this and the previous chapter, we have outlined six steps in the process of developing a persuasive speech. While the steps by no means compose a comprehensive template, they do cover the basics of the persuasive process as you move from analyzing your listeners to refuting popular counterarguments.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p class=\"import-paft\">This chapter covered the last three (of six total) steps in the persuasive process:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The fourth step is the invention of effective persuasive appeals and arguments. In the process of invention, speakers can draw on heuristic devices as well as the three primary modes of proof\u2014logos, pathos, and ethos\u2014to generate ideas and specific arguments.<\/li>\n<li>The fifth step of the persuasive process involves framing your persuasive efforts. Speakers should use framing in honest and ethical ways to demonstrate their issue as worthy of attention and to emphasize the superiority of their desired response.<\/li>\n<li>The final step is refuting counterarguments. To strengthen advocacy, speakers should acknowledge and refute one or more counterarguments to their proposal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Terms<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>counterargument<br \/>\ndishonest framing<br \/>\nheuristics<br \/>\nhonest framing<br \/>\nlogos<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Review Questions<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ol>\n<li>How do heuristic devices help speakers and writers form their ideas?<\/li>\n<li>According to Aristotle, what are the three modes of proof for advocating an idea or claim?<\/li>\n<li>What are counterarguments, and why should speakers refute them during their speech?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Discussion Questions<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ol>\n<li>Aristotle asserts that ethos is the most important of the proofs. Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not?<\/li>\n<li>For Aristotle, the modes of proof were to be used in combination but with the special instruction that pathos <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">not<\/em><\/span> be used as the sole means of persuasion. Why do you think Aristotle objected to basing persuasion solely on pathos? Do you agree with that instruction? Why or why not?<\/li>\n<li>Think of a public issue and identify several ways of framing it. For each frame, name its definition of the problem, to whom or what it assigns blame for the problem, and the solution it supports. Which is the most persuasive? For whom?<\/li>\n<li>Do the means of persuasion ever justify the ends? That is, as long as the belief, attitude, or course of action that you convince an audience to accept is in their best interest, does it matter how you convince them to do it? What about when a political candidate uses dishonest framing to win an election\u2014but then ultimately governs well?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-498-1\">Numbers 6\u201312 are based on Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, <em>Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students<\/em> (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999), 82\u201383. <a href=\"#return-footnote-498-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-498-2\">Aristotle, <em>Rhetoric<\/em>, in <em>Aristotle\u2019s Treatise on Rhetoric<\/em>, trans. Graduate of the University (London: Oxford, 1823), 10. <a href=\"#return-footnote-498-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-498-3\">Richard D. Rieke, Malcolm O. Sillars, and Tarla Rae Peterson, <em>Argumentation and Critical Decision Making<\/em>, 7th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2009), 155\u201356. <a href=\"#return-footnote-498-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-498-4\">Aristotle, <em>Rhetoric<\/em>, 11. <a href=\"#return-footnote-498-4\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 4\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-498-5\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-dnmrzs r-1udh08x r-1udbk01 r-3s2u2q r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\" style=\"background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; word-spacing: normal;\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">NCAA March Madness (<\/span><\/span><span style=\"background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; word-spacing: normal;\">@MarchMadnessWBB), \u201cMuffet McGraw: A Voice for Women. A Voice for Women in Sports,\u201d\u00a0Twitter (now X), April 4, 2019,\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; word-spacing: normal;\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MarchMadnessWBB\/status\/1113842633481310212\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/x.com\/MarchMadnessWBB\/status\/1113842633481310212<\/a><span style=\"background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; word-spacing: normal;\">.<\/span> <a href=\"#return-footnote-498-5\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 5\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-498-6\">Lindsay Gibbs, \u201cMuffet McGraw Is Done Hiring Men,\u201d <em>Think Progress<\/em>, March 30, 2019, https:\/\/archive.thinkprogress.org\/this-top-womens-college-basketball-coach-is-done-hiring-men-5f3b6d06609b\/, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/A95U-L862\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/A95U-L862<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-498-6\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 6\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-498-7\">U.S. Congress, House, 118th Cong., 1st sess., Committee on Homeland Security, <em>Border Crisis Startling Stats (<\/em>Washington, DC: Government Publishing Office, October 26, 2023), https:\/\/homeland.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/September-Startling-Stats.pdf, archived at <a href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/Q7KM-YZWM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/Q7KM-YZWM<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-498-7\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 7\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-498-8\">Justin Fox, \u201cIllegal US Border Crossings Aren\u2019t Really Breaking Records,\u201d <em>Bloomberg<\/em>, March 20, 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2024-03-20\/illegal-us-border-crossings-aren-t-really-breaking-records\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2024-03-20\/illegal-us-border-crossings-aren-t-really-breaking-records<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-498-8\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 8\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-498-9\">Will Friedman, \u201cReframing \u2018Framing,\u2019\" <em>Occasional Paper<\/em>, no. 1 (Center for Advances in Public Engagement), accessed May 13, 2024, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.communicationcache.com\/uploads\/1\/0\/8\/8\/10887248\/reframing_framing.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.communicationcache.com\/uploads\/1\/0\/8\/8\/10887248\/reframing_framing.pdf<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-498-9\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 9\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"menu_order":25,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3300,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/498\/revisions\/3300"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/498\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=498"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=498"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}