Persuasive Appeals
Three rhetorical appeals—logos (the appeal through reason), ethos (the appeal through values and the speaker/writer’s character, credibility, and integrity), and pathos (the appeal through emotions)—undergird Aristotelian rhetorical analysis (Corbett 15). We’ll begin here with logos, which generally gets the most attention and respect in writing classes.
Logos. Aristotle established in The Rhetoric that good arguments are based on good reasons, reasons that are valid, appropriate to the topic discussed, and valued by the audience. It is common practice to articulate those reasons substantially through words. However, in our attempts to inform or to persuade we miss an opportunity if we limit ourselves to words alone. We’re familiar with visuals in their supporting roles, through which they organize and emphasize information. We see examples in colored maps, such as those representing states as red or blue depending on the outcome of their presidential vote; and in line graphs, such as those showing the rise and fall of the stock market. But visuals can play an even more persuasive role, as in the following examples.
To show how information can be carried and developed within a design, Anne Frances Wysocki describes differences in her interactions with two CD-ROMs about art collections: “The differences between the visual presentations of these CDs are differences of assertion and thought” (224). She further explains that various features of the design “might conventionally be called form, and yet clearly they too have carried significant argumentative weight” (231). These design differences influenced Wysocki’s impressions of the collections, one collection being focused, she believed, on the collector and other focused on the works of art. Such impressions influenced the understandings that she formed as she viewed the images and textual information of the collection. Such an in-class analysis and comparison of CD-ROMs or of websites on similar topics might help students begin to see ways in which the design of information influences their opinions.
Visuals can also add information and nuances that serve as elements of the argument itself. In an interview, lawyer Fred Steingold explained how he sometimes uses visuals in making arguments in court. He described a case in which his client was being sued by a neighbor for damages that might or might not have been caused by the client’s sewer during a backup. The lawyer created a poster six feet long, with the client’s property represented on one end and his neighbor’s on the other. The lawyer wanted the length of the poster to illustrate to the jury the long distances involved in the case, which would allow for the possibility of another cause. Though the actual distances were much greater than six feet, the long poster in the courtroom gave the impression of length that the lawyer needed for his argument. He also added small cleaning buckets at each end of his poster to minimize the interpretation of the clean up required. These visuals weren’t designed simply to get attention or act as interesting diversions; they provided content, information for the jury to interpret that contributed to the lawyer’s argument. In another case in which a man fell from a roof, the lawyer first had photos taken of rivets sticking up on the roof. Because the photos didn’t show clear distinctions between the rivets and the roof, he hired an artist to draw the roof, showing the rivets more clearly. When the rivets could be seen protruding from the roof, the risk they could present became more understandable. In both of these instances, the visual representations contributed to the logical reasoning of the arguments being offered. The facts didn’t change, but the visual representations influenced how they were interpreted. Similar techniques can be practiced in the classroom. For example, in writing their own persuasive reports, students can look for instances in which “seeing” the situation can add to and help clarify the information provided in their reports.
A third example occurs as an illustration in a professional journal. After several years of work, a group of geneticists and biochemists prepared an article for the February 16, 2001 issue of Science to explain the
sequencing of the human genome (Venter et al.). Illustrations
formed an important part of the logos of their presentation. The article ran from page 1304 to 1351 and included 16 figures and 19 tables to clarify readers’ understanding of the genome’s very complex structure and the scientists’ painstaking reasoning in determining it. Several of the figures included subparts, but one was extraordinary. The first figure, the annotation of the genome assembly, was a chart inserted into the February issue. It measured 39 3/4” by 56 1/2”, yet it still required very small print to document each chromosome in tracks, displayed as a nucleotide scale and color coded to define the structure. Though it would require extensive education to read the chart accurately, any viewer is immediately aware of the immense complexity of what is being illustrated. The chart’s size and detail impress viewers with the careful and thorough work that must have been required to produce the data represented there. As pointed out by Saho Tateno, a student in one of my classes who researched visual rhetoric’s uses in this article, the chart itself presents an argument for the importance and likely accuracy of the content presented. “When people unfold such a large map, they feel as if they explore the world of the human genome” (12), she wrote. The visual rhetoric of the outsized first figure was crucial to achieving the writers’ goals of providing detailed information and persuading readers of its credibility and importance. These goals would not have been achieved as well with words alone.
Ethos. The appeal through ethos, that is, through the speaker or writer’s character, credibility, and integrity and through community values, is often subtly indicated by clues rather than direct statement—for example, through a professional or governmental title under the author’s name, the source (e.g., professional journal or e-zine) in which a piece is published, or the stylish clothing or haircut sported by a speaker. Clues such as these encourage us to attribute certain qualities of education, authority, or sophistication to individuals. (Titles such as “The Military” and “Business Cut” given to haircut styles in Figure 1 illustrate that relating hair-style cues to ethos is an old idea.) Although we all recognize that images are being created by such visual cues, we may not be aware that they are being used to persuade us of something. When President George W. Bush wanted to show his commitment to the environment, he toured Sequoia National Park for photo ops beside the big trees. When Michael Dukakis needed to bolster the toughness of his image during his presidential campaign, he had his picture taken in a tank. (Ironically, because Dukakis was shown in a helmet that was much too big for him, the image backfired.) University websites include pictures of students involved in campus activities to show the school’s dedication to students, and clinics are careful to append MD or DO after names on the medical staff to assure us of the value of the care and advice offered there. The clinics could save money on ad space by leaving the degree information out, but that wouldn’t achieve the same effect. We use visual design to enhance ethos and personal image; Susan Hilligoss and Tharon Howard, however, warn that “inappropriate format or jarring visual choices may make the document less credible” (2). To use visual rhetoric effectively, then, we must be careful to consider each item’s appropriateness to our audiences and purpose.
In searching websites for interesting uses of rhetoric, Sara Maurer, a student in one of my classes, found a complex use of ethos in the images used to present a new medication, Seasonale. The website, describing the medication and its uses, featured the image of “a smiling, well dressed woman who represents as many consumers as possible with one image. The woman has dark hair, dark eyes, and a medium complexion. Her ambiguity is intentional: she could be Caucasian, Latin, Middle Eastern, etc.; she could be as young as twenty and as old as forty; she could be single or married; rich or middleclass” (4). No matter what group she represented, she was definitely vibrant and attractive. Maurer also reported the uses of color and authority on the site that contributed to the image of the drug and the manufacturing company. “Whereas the rest of the page comprises purples and pinks, ‘FDA-approved’ is yellow. And where the rest of the text is horizontal, this insertion is at a 20-degree angle. [. .