persuasion is the art of convincing someone to agree with your point of view According to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle there are three basic tools of persuasion ethos pathos and logos
ethos is a speaker's way of convincing the audience that she is a credible source an audience will consider a speaker credible if she seems trustworthy reliable and sincere this can be done in many ways for example a speaker can develop ethos by explaining how much experience or education she has in the field after all you would be more likely to listen to advice about how to take care of your teeth from a dentist than a firefighter A speaker can also create ethos by convincing the audience that she is a good person who has their best interests at heart if an audience cannot trust you you will not be able to persuade them
pathos is speaker's way of convincing with an audience's emotions for example a speaker who is trying to convince an audience to vote for him might say that he alone can save the country from a terrible war these words are intended to fill the audience with fear thus making them want to vote for him similary a charity organization that helps animals might show an audience pictures of injured dogs and cats these images are intended to fill the viewers with pity if the audience feels bad for the animals they will be more likely to donate money
logos is the use of facts information statistics or other evidence to make your argument more convincing an audience will be more likely to believe you if you have data to back up your claims for example a commercial for soap might tell you that laboratory tests have shown that their soap kills all 7000000 of the bacteria living on your hands right now this piece of information might make you more likely to buy their brand of soap presenting this evidence is much more convincing than simply saying our soap is the best ues of logos can also increase a speaker's ethos the more facts a speaker includes in his argument the more likely you are to think that he is educated and trustworthy
although ethos pathos and logos all have their strengths they are often most effective when they are used together indeed most speakers use a combination of ethos pathos and logos to persuade their audiences the next time you listen to a speech watch commercial or listen to a friend try to convince you to lend him some money be on the lookout for these ancient Greek tools of persuasion