The Persuasive Thinking Style Essay Example

The persuasive style of thinking consists of eight key points; steps you need to accomplish in order to persuade the intended audience of your ideas; these points are: establishing your credibility, use of a positive & tactful tone, making a clear presentation, presenting strong evidence to support your position, tailoring your argument to the listener, appealing to the subjects’ self-interest, use of logic, and use of emotional appeals.
Establishment of credibility comes first and foremost; the audience will not take serious the words of a speaker without credibility; having a background in the area of knowledge that you are speaking for will allow the people being influenced to be more receptive and willing to listen. Use of a positive and tactful tone means to not talk down to your audience; you want the audience to feel smart and respected. Present each idea clearly and one at a time as to not confuse your audience. By presenting strong evidence on your position, you build up both the case you are trying to make as well as your own credibility. Figuring out the right persuasive strategy to use for each situation is done by tailoring your argument to the listener; a background knowledge on the current beliefs and ideas of your target audience is how this is accomplished successfully. The next key-point of persuasive critical thinking is appealing to the self-interests of the audience; find out what they are looking for from the information you can provide and focus your points and arguments on those interests. The use of logic is a given, in that the more sound your ideas are, the more credibility the audience will give you & the easier they can be persuaded. Finally, the use of emotional appeals refers to trying to dig deep into understanding what your audience loves and hates, their fears and frustrations, & using those emotions to shape your presentation in order to turn those emotions into fuel for the fire of the ideas you are trying to get