Beyond Feelings

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CHAPTER 19 Persuading Others 215 clever presentation. Therefore, if you truly believe that only one argument is worthy of consideration, then by all means use only that argument. This dilemma, however, is not likely to arise very often. In most cases, you will be able to choose among a variety of arguments without compromising your integrity. GUIDELINE 11: ALLOW TIME FOR YOUR VIEW TO GAIN ACCEPTANCE It may be tempting to believe that when you present your view, your readers will immediately abandon their own and embrace yours. That expectation is unrealistic. Except in rare cases, the best you should hope for is that they will be moved to reconsider the issue in light of what you said and that your insights eventually will cause them to modify their view. The fact that “eventually” may turn out to be next week or next year rather than five minutes from now is not necessarily a comment on your skill in persuading others. It may merely reflect the reality that the bonds people form with their opinions are not easily broken. Use the following summary of the guidelines for persuasion as a checklist whenever you wish to present your ideas persuasively: 1. Respect your audience. 2. Understand your audience’s viewpoint. 3. Begin from a position you have in common with your readers. 4. Take a positive approach. 5. Understate your argument whenever possible. 6. Concede where the opposing side has a point. 7. Don’t ignore any relevant facts. 8. Don’t overwhelm your readers with arguments. 9. Focus on the argument best calculated to persuade your audience. 10. Never use an argument you do not believe is sound or relevant. 11. Allow time for your view to gain acceptance. Next we’ll compare a persuasive composition with an unpersuasive one to see how these guidelines apply. An Unpersuasive Presentation A student chose to write a letter pointing out his complaints about the quality of the campus dining hall food and service. His reader was the dining hall manager, his task to impress the reader with his reasonableness and dispose her to reevaluate the performance of her staff.
216 PART THREE A Strategy Violates Guideline 3 Doesn’t begin on common ground Violates Guideline 5 Sarcasm offends reader No examples offered to support charge Violates Guideline 1 Actually suggests bad intention (How can writer presume to know the intentions of staff when even the facts are in question?) Sarcasm offends reader Creates unfavorable impression on reader (judges administrators rashly) Shows disrespect toward reader (no admission that students occasionally do embellish facts) There is continuous discussion taking place on this campus about the dining hall. The students are disgusted with the poor quality of the food and service, and the dirty dishes and silverware. As a student, I would like to point out the reasons for complaining. First, let us consider the quality of the food. The meat is either undercooked or overcooked. It is of such low quality that one wonders how it ever got on the market to be sold. The vegetables are completely tasteless, but this is all right because few students bother to eat them. Some students receive bonuses in their meals—such as hair in their soup or dead flies in their potatoes. These are only a few examples of how poor the food is. Another complaint of students is the inefficient service. Because of the slow service, students often sit down to a cold meal. Many students have to skip their meals because they don’t have time to wait. Some are driven to eat in local restaurants at extra expense. Perhaps the most common complaint is the dirty dishes and silverware the students are forced to use. I suppose everything goes through a dishwasher, but by some strange coincidence few things come out clean. However, the work staff don’t worry about it— they just close their eyes to the dirt and pass the dishes and silverware on to the servers. Egg caked to the forks and pieces of meat stuck to the plate—it certainly raises a student’s spirits when he’s eating two meals for the price of one! The question is, what can be done to correct these problems? Students have already issued their complaints to administrative officials, but this has done no good. These people appear to have turned their heads from the problem. It is clear that something must be done. A lot of revising is needed. But will there be any? You know as well as I do. NO! How should the student have approached his subject and reader? First, he should have realized that the dining hall manager must be either a dishonest person, caring little whether she runs the dining hall well or poorly, or a conscientious person, anxious to make the operation efficient and excellent. If the student is convinced that the manager is dishonest, he would be wise not to write the composition for that reader at all but perhaps for the administrator to whom the manager reports. If, on the other hand, he is sure the manager is conscientious and experienced, he would have to acknowledge that (1) she is familiar with the frequency and exaggeration of student complaints that are almost a
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Beyond Feelings A Guide to Critical
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To the memory of Howard Trumble, wh
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vi CONTENTS Imperfect Memory 35 Def
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viii CONTENTS Using Your Inventory
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x PRFACE evaluate them carefully wh
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xii PRFACE Aimee Ross-Kilroy, Loyol
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2 INTRODUCTION applications cover p
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CHAPTER 1 Who Are You? Suppose some
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6 PART ONE The Context The Influenc
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CHAPTER 2 What Is Critical Thinking
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22 PART ONE The Context Are interes
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24 PART ONE The Context Basic Activ
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30 PART ONE The Context Application
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CHAPTER 3 What Is Truth? For hundre
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34 PART ONE The Context You have he
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36 PART ONE The Context in their ti
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38 PART ONE The Context to express
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40 PART ONE The Context the example
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42 PART ONE The Context ripples can
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44 PART ONE The Context Application
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48 PART ONE The Context We may not
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64 PART ONE The Context In the 1980
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66 PART ONE The Context What are th
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68 PART ONE The Context 2. Resist t
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70 PART ONE The Context 9. Think of
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CHAPTER 6 What Is Evidence? To stat
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74 PART ONE The Context the conclus
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76 PART ONE The Context EXPERT OPIN
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82 PART ONE The Context A Differenc
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86 PART ONE The Context The Argumen
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92 PART ONE The Context The U. S. C
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CHAPTER 8 The Basic Problem: ”Min
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96 PART TWO The Pitfalls important
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98 PART TWO The Pitfalls discussed
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100 PART TWO The Pitfalls majority
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CHAPTER 9 Errors of Perspective Ima
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104 PART TWO The Pitfalls Unwarrant
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106 PART TWO The Pitfalls Remember
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108 PART TWO The Pitfalls reasonabl
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110 PART TWO The Pitfalls Shortly a
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112 PART TWO The Pitfalls b. Some p
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114 PART TWO The Pitfalls a. Beer a
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116 PART TWO The Pitfalls unintende
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118 PART TWO The Pitfalls of human
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CHAPTER 11 Errors of Expression We
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128 PART TWO The Pitfalls rise toda
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130 PART TWO The Pitfalls move.”
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132 PART TWO The Pitfalls IRRATIONA
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136 PART TWO The Pitfalls A busines
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138 PART TWO The Pitfalls Eventuall
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140 PART TWO The Pitfalls because t
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142 PART TWO The Pitfalls control.
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CHAPTER 13 The Errors in Combinatio
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146 PART TWO The Pitfalls Bias for
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148 PART TWO The Pitfalls Arguing i
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150 PART TWO The Pitfalls Attacking
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152 PART TWO The Pitfalls that mome
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154 PART TWO The Pitfalls with all
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156 PART TWO The Pitfalls Christine
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CHAPTER 14 Knowing Yourself Western
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160 PART THREE A Strategy 12. In wh
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162 PART THREE A Strategy within he
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Page 237 and 238: Notes CHAPTER 1: WHO ARE YOU? 1. Th
Page 239 and 240: 226 NOTES 7. “Town’s Terror Fro
Page 241 and 242: 228 NOTES CHAPTER 8: THE BASIC PROB
Page 243 and 244: 230 NOTES 5. “An Exercise in Educ
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Page 248 and 249: Henry, Carl F., 99-100 Henslin, Jam
Page 250 and 251: psychology, 6-7, 11-13, 161 publish
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Beyond Feelings

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