The Art of Persuasion

There are three persuasion techniques that should be done to persuade a reader or buyer. Rhetoric is persuasive speaking and writing. Exigency is the way of using your words to make them think they need it; it is more of an impulse thought rather than logical.

Logos- This tactic persuades the reader with logical reasoning, facts, statistics, and evidence.

"He walked with confidence and dressed well, conjuring an impression of wealth and achievement. He was twenty six years old" (35). Holmes was able to get people to think he was normal and wealthy just by the way he dressed and acted around them.

Pathos- This method persuades using emotion, a lot of the times the ASPCA commercials use this; they try and make you feel horrific for the animals and lend a hand. “Holmes listened with moist eyes. He touched her arm, he said he could ease her burden” (36). Holmes talks to her and uses his persuasion and she starts to feel emotional towards him.

Ethos- This is persuasion using characters: morals, ethics, and etiquette are examples

"He broke prevailing rules of casual intimacy: He stood too close, stared too hard, touched too much and long. And women adored him for it" (60). Holmes gets the women and lures him with his charm and gets them to do what he wants. 

The Science of Persuasion 

Reciprocity is the obligation to give when you receive. Burnham was required to have a wine and dine where he drinks and eats with them; they are more likely to say yes or help because of this nice act (131).

Scarcity is how people will want more things that they have less of. Holmes uses reciprocity when he gets workers to come work for him because he had a way for them to get out of the “intensifying summer heat” (67).

Authority- people will follow the most credible experts. "Burnham excelled, however, at drawing and sketched constantly. Burnham was eighteen when his father sent him east to study with private tutors to prepare him for the entrance exams for Harvard and Yale" (19). He would be considered a credible source with an education from Yale or Harvard.

Consistency is looking and asking for commitments that can be made reasonably easy. When Burnham is looking for someone to help him build the fair, he keeps asking people over and over again but gets turned down (49).

Liking is when people tend to like and follow people who are similar to them. Burnham was trying to get architects from all over to help him construct the fair but if he couldn’t get Hunt on board the others wouldn’t join him either (54).

Consensus is how people look to the actions of others before determining their own actions. The other architects are waiting to see if Hunt will join Burnham or not. They will make their judgment after the action of others (54).