chapter nine - persuasiveness of the source

1. chapter nine - persuasiveness of the source central question:how do I know that this person/message/argument is credible? “Credibility is a social construct, something that is created, maintained, and changed through communication. Our ideas about credibility are subject to persuasive influence. Persuaders can affect what we perceive to be credible” (219). examples of varying kinds of credibility over time

2. Ethos: character of the speaker; not “has” or “doesn’t have” – many kinds of character that get enacted during/within a text Ethos is the basis of credibility; the primary concern for a speaker or source I. ethos not solely determined by the speaker/source it is affected by the particulars of the event/situation/context

3. ex. Colin Powell question not “does he have ethos?” but what topic is he addressing?what is thecontextofhiscomments?what does he actually say? he might have an authoritative ethos when discussing the Gulf War, but what if he was speaking about the history of iowa city? or about rhetoric?

4. credibility depends on more than the biography of the speaker,it is meticulously constructed federal seal formal attire presidential seal

5. these production elements are how we get persuaded to think that what comes out of this person’s mouth is important and of consequence ex. everyday fashion decisions, how we write, language choices, etc. we are always of aware of how the way we present ourself affects our credibility in particular situations II. three components of source credibility (221-223). 1. safety: degree to which we trust the source

6. 2. qualification: expertise of the source Peter Snell M.D., Ph.D. (2), Psy.D., RN, D.D., D.D.O., D.V.M 3. dynamism: aggressiveness, boldness, and energy

7. key point:all three sources of source credibility are effects of – or come after exposure to – particular texts/images credibility comes from what we say and do rather what we “know” i.e. it has to be performed