Ethos, Pathos, and Logos — The Art of Persuasion Explained

how do you persuade an audience how do you convince them to feel a certain way or think a certain thought for Millennia the answer has laid in three elements and you were right it was [Music] Aristotle this is what is ethos posos and logos first let's try to persuade you to subscribe to Studio binder and click the Bell to watch more of our videos did it work onto our argument rhetoric refers to the way in which we communicate and often more specifically focuses on the art of persuasion why should I tell you maybe this will

help I still don't think I should tell you can you spot me a 20 how about now all right I'm going down a lwigs off for I'll find out if you're telling the truth the study of rhetoric began in ancient Greece where philosophers sought to understand how writing and speaking are used in different contexts ethos paos and logos make up what is referred to as the rhetorical triangle a rubric for persuasion laid out by the philosopher Aristotle in his work called rhetoric according to him great speakers utilize each of these three tools to win an

audience over and convince them of something ethos is a speaker's credibility all the reasons why an audience should trust the speaker these can be credentials personal experience you all know me know how I earn a living or endorsements from experts this is Katherine Goble with our trajectory and launch window division her work is pertinent to today's proceedings paos is the appeal to emotions these are the ways in which an argument pulls at an audience's heartstrings and plays on our own deeply held beliefs and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they'll never

take our [Applause] freedom logos is the reasoning these are the facts and how they are laid out in other words the structure of the argument and the evidence that backs it up now a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet because he would know that only a great fool could reach for what he was given I'm not a great fool so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you but you must have known I was not a great fool you would have counted on it so I can clearly not

choose the wine in front of me today the rhetorical triangle can be found in everything from political speeches to commercials documentaries and more understanding the rhetorical triangle will make your arguments stronger and also make you cognizant of when the devices are being used on you all very convincing but for one obvious fallacy let's look first at ethos establishing credibility is a crucial component of persuasion she really is a genius I'll read that bit again shall I in Greek ethos can be roughly translated to mean moral character and indeed this is where credibility can often be

found but I can tell you this he won't sell anybody out to buy his future and that my friends is called Integrity Aristotle outlines three elements of ethos the first is fesus which refers to a speaker's perceived intelligence calm down Mike I think Mr Wonka knows what he's talking about no he doesn't he has no idea you think he's a genius but he's an idiot in other words if you establish yourself as knowledgeable an audience will be more likely to trust you I'm not a I'm a scientist and I'm the world's foremost authority on herpetology

that's reptiles for those of you who don't know in documentary is filmmakers often use experts to add legitimacy to their argument in 13th AA duer brings in a variety of seasoned activists and Scholars to add weight to her portrayal of racial inequality you were basically a slave again the 13th Amendment says that hey except for criminals everybody else is free well now if you're criminalized that doesn't apply to you they were arrested for extremely minor crimes like loitering or vagrancy and they had to provide labor to rebuild the economy of the south after the Civil

War movie trailers will often underline FIS by emphasizing creatives in film who have a proven track record the trailer for megalopolis for example boasts Francis for cop's name since audiences respect his body of work personal experience also counts as foris in her address to the UN youth assembly in 2013 Malala yfai used her experience as a survivor of an assassination attempt to advocate for girls education in Pakistan one child one teacher one book and one pen can change the world education is the only solution Education First thank [Music] you the second element of ethos is

AR this is the moral value of your argument to persuade an audience it's important to lay out why what you're saying is morally sound you drop a bomb that falls on the just and the unjust I don't wish the culmination of three centuries of physics to be a weapon of mass destruction lawyers use this technique all the time a fictionalized version of this rhetorical technique is used in attus Finch's argument in To Kill a Mocking Bird he uses the morality of a court of justice to persuade the jurors in this country our courts are the

great levelers in our courts all men are created equal the final element of ethos is yoa which refers to your Mutual understanding with the audience in other words this is a speaker's likability and accessibility M fany here this can be found all over advertising in the form of celebrity endorsements a celebrity may not be an expert on the product they are selling but the ad relies on their yoya the audience likes the celebrity and will therefore listen to what they have to say without ethos an audience May dismiss an argument outright mayday mayday anyone copying

Channel 9 terrorists have seized the nakatomi building and are holding at least 30 people hostage attention whoever you are this channel is reserved for emergency calls only lady do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza [Music] our next element of the rhetorical triangle is equally important [Music] [Applause] paos one of the best ways to persuade an audience is to move them emotionally this is where paos which roughly translates to experience or emotion comes in one Surefire way to create paos is by including empathetic characters in your argument if an audience can put themselves in a

character shoes they are more likely to understand the argument being made in Fruit Veil station Ryan cougler depicts Oscar Grant as an immensely relatable man to make the message of his film pack more of a punch cougler explains his use of phos I wanted the audience to get to know this guy to get attached so that when the situation that happens to him happens it's not just like you read it in the paper when you know somebody as a human being you know that life means something posos can also be built through sympathetic characters or

in other words characters an audience feels concerned for in his I Have a Dream speech Martin Luther King Jr invokes the lives of young children to drive his point across I have a dream that day down in Alabama with its vicious races with its Governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification one day right that in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers I have a dream today by juxtaposing the vicious racists with sympathetic boys

and girls King implores his audience to root for the side of racial equality an audience can also be emotionally affected by vivid imagery detailed descriptions can force an audience to see the real world implications of an issue with his seminal film Tity cut folies documentarian Frederick wisman pushed for the reform of psychiatric hospitals without uttering a single word instead he simply showed audiences the Dismal conditions of the facilities to elicit horror and [Music] shock pathos can also be built through analogy a lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of the sheep if a thesis is

too complex or large for an audience to grasp emotionally a speaker can liken the idea to something more relatable and understandable my mama always said life was like a box of chocolates you never know what you're going to get in Independence Day president whitmore's speech uses this technique to ground the film's Extraterrestrial sticks in less than an hour aircraft from here will join others from around the world and you will be launching the largest aial battle in the history of mankind in his Soliloquy he Likens the impending battle with aliens to America's fight for independence

perhaps it's fate that today is the 4th of July and you will once again be fighting for our freedom not from tyranny oppression or persecution but from Annihilation this strategy Stokes Americans patriotic sentiments and applies the Pride on a global scale and should we win the day the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday but as the day when the world declared in one voice we will not go quietly into the night we will not vanish without a fight we're going to live on we're going to survive today we celebrate

our Independence Day pathos is the Beating Heart of an argument but an argument that solely relies on pathos can run the risk of being manipulative and misleading raason number two look what I can do but what does that have to do with this no no he's got a point let's look at an argument's brain logos most good claims are backed up by fact [Music] logos refers to this element of an argument as well as how these facts are laid out the most obvious way to bolster a position's logos is by doing research in An Inconvenient

Truth Al G and his team inundate the audience with Statistics and importantly present them in a clean and easy to digest manner employing graphs and comparisons to make a thesis stronger an argument can also address both sides this lets an audience feel as though you are taking into account any potential reputations making your argument feel more bulletproof this is the United Nations we're talking about it's not the world Security Council it's not Shield it's not Hydro no but it's run by people with agendas and agendas changed that's good that's why I'm here when I realize

what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands I shut it down stop manufacturing Tony you chose to do that if we sign this we surrender our right to choose in The Wind that Shakes The Barley kenlo shows both sides of the factions that arose in the Irish resistance to the British Empire both Teddy and Damen explain the reasoning behind their positions we took it from the British with force and the first Judgment of this an independent Court you have undermined by deciding to settle it in a p he provides us with money to

buy weapons there's a consignment there is a consignment coming in from Glasgow in the next few weeks you tell me how I'm going to pay for that if he's sitting down in the cell sulen we should enforce the Court's decision in the end it is Teddy side who wins but through Lo's use of posos the audience is aligned with Damien it's not too late Damian for me or for you by addressing both sides Loach creates what feels like a a nuanced and fair argument for Damian's beliefs the structure of an argument is also under the

purview of logos a good structure will ensure that a claim will make its Maximum [Music] Impact in Spotlight the true number of abusive priests slowly Rises throughout the film my estimate suggests 6% act out sexually with minors uh 6% of what 6% of all priests how how many priests do we have in Boston about, 1500 1% is 15 6% is 90 this makes the final total all the more [Music] horrifying a good use of logos also avoids logical fallacies and and the name for this fallacy is called Golden Age thinking ah touche some common fallacies

include a strawman argument where a speaker misrepresents the opposite side Martin Luther claimed the Catholic Church used this style of attack toward him remarking they assert the very thing they assail or they set up a man of straw whom they may attack another logical fallacy is the false dilemma where an argument claims that there are only two options when other options in fact exist Anakin Skywalker uses the fallacy here if you're not with me then you're my [Music] enemy circular reasoning is another logical fallacy where two claims rely on one another to be true in

Idiocracy Joe is subjected to this fallacy Rondo's got what c yeah it's got electrolytes what are electrolytes do you even know it's what they used to make brondo yeah but why did they use them to make brondo cuz Bron's got Electro lights after several hours Joe finally gave up on logic and reason and simply told the cabinet that he could talk to plants and that they wanted water now that we have an understanding of ethos posos and logos let's look at the three pieces of the rhetorical triangle working together in a real world example the

rhetorical triangle is perhaps most brazenly used in commercials which need to persuade an audience extremely efficiently a viewer needs to understand the message and why they should buy into it an especially effective use of ethos posos and logos can be found in this anti-smoking ad from the CDC the most self-evident component of the rhetorical triangle is ethos I'm Terry and I used to be a smoker Terry is a former smoker who is now suffering from cancer she therefore has intimate experience with the effects of smoking posos is also present I want to give you some

about getting ready in the morning the ad uses vivid imagery as Terry gets ready for the day showing us how her throat cancer has severely affected her and now you're ready the the spot ends with logos presenting the audience with the fact that smoking causes damage to a person's body together ethos paos and logos make this CDC ad deeply moving and persuasive the next time you need to change someone's mind think about how you can employ the rhetorical triangle using posos ethos and logos to create a well-rounded argument is sure to at least make your

audiences stop and think want to create a persuasive film start writing out your next argument with Studio binder screenwriting software remember to subscribe and enable notifications to see more film making videos and check out the studio binder Academy channel for tutorials and in-depth interviews that's all for now we hope we've persuaded you I believe you've just won your case Miss Woods you did well today really you're applying for my internship aren't you I don't know