What persuasive appeal is used to convince viewers by evoking an emotional response?

Ethos, Pathos, Logos: The three pillars of persuasive communication

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are referred to as the 3 Persuasive Appeals (Aristotle coined the terms) and are all represented by Greek words. They are modes of persuasion used to convince audiences.

Ethos

Ethos, or the appeal to ethics, refers to the effort to convince your audience of your credibility or character. Before you can convince an audience to accept anything you say, they have to accept you. Whether you are creating a flier, giving a presentation, applying for a job, or teaching a workshop, people won’t be persuaded by you unless they trust you. When it comes to communication, trust can be built in a number of ways. It is up to you to understand how you need to respond in each situation and adapt accordingly.

Ethos can be promoted by choosing appropriate language & vocabulary (dependent on the audience and topic), by making yourself look honest, by paying attention to your movements and the way you dress (for your digital presence pay attention to design details, functionality, content, etc.) and by documenting on the areas of your expertise. Ethos finally, may be hard to acquire and maintain, sometimes it may take years to build a strong, credible reputation which can be lost in minutes…

Pathos

Pathos, or the appeal to emotions, refers to the effort to persuade your audience by making an appeal to their feelings. Your audience is more receptive to being persuaded by someone with whom they can identify. Pathos can be used in a variety of ways (to promote positive and negative feelings) as it is the Greek word for referring both to “suffering” and “experience”. When you use pathos to persuade your audience, you need to make them feel an emotion in order to act. Any emotion can cause people to act, (happiness, compassion, nostalgia, anger etc.) even in a ‘small scale’.

Pathos can be promoted by using simple & meaningful language, emotional tone of voice (oral or written), pauses and emotional metaphors or stories. Remember however, most people are aware of when we are trying to touch their emotions and we need to do it cautiously and responsibly. Generally, pathos is most effective when used in the introduction and conclusion. You want to grab readers' attention in the beginning and to leave them with conviction at the end and emotion is a useful tool for those purposes.

Logos

Logos, or the appeal to logic, refers to the effort to convince your audience by using logic and reason. Effective arguments should include testimonials, surveys and other supporting details to back up your claims/positions. Logos means to document your point through storytelling, logical arguments, facts, recorded evidence, historical data and literal analogies.

When using logos to persuade, you need to ensure that you have found facts, stories and information that ‘matter’ to your audience and that you will present them in a way that makes sense (to them).

Aristotle coined the terms ethos, logos, and pathos as the three main tools of persuasion.

These are used in theatre, in literature, and beyond. As actors are learning various acting styles, techniques, and methods, they are introduced to these three modes of persuasion.

In theater,  persuasion is most effective through a person’s character: their ethics, their logic, their emotion, and their ability to sympathize.

An actor on stage has the responsibility of being believable or credible. Ethos, logos, and pathos are used to create a more authentic and credible personality.  To successfully persuade, actors have been looking upon these three appeals for quite some time. They are reliable methods that actors learn to use to their advantage. Read on to learn more about the three classic modes of persuasion.

Ethos: Appealing to Ethics

Ethos is the ethical appeal, and it means to convince an audience of the author’s credibility or character by showing a good sense of ethics. An actor would use ethos to prove to his audience that he’s credible and worth listening to by presenting their ethical opinions and making ethical decisions. 

If an actor was working on how to appeal to ethos, they may try studying their character out of rehearsal and off-stage. They may choose to make ethical decisions as their character would, and even dress frugally as their character would to better understand their character’s lifestyle.

Logos: Appealing to Logic

Logos is the appeal to logic, meaning to convince the audience by using logic or reason. When appealing to logos, an actor may cite facts or statistics to prove their points. An actor may appeal to logos by presenting logical or well-rounded arguments, may cite important information, or may refer to historical analogies for explanations and proof.

Pathos: Appealing to Emotion

Pathos is the emotional appeal, meaning to convince an audience through appealing on emotional levels. Actors may attempt to evoke sympathy so the audience feels how the director intended for them to feel. Actors appealing to pathos aim to generate a certain emotion or response. Pathos can be expressed by actors through language, emotional tones, or emotional events/scenes.

These forms of persuasion help actors sell their characters immensely. Persuasion helps the audience to believe and understand the storyline and the overall dynamic of the production. Strong productions rely on the effective use of these persuasion techniques by the actors. By studying each form of persuasion, actors can learn how to better their styles and increase their overall credibility while on stage.

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