Science of Persuasion

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Science of Persuasion:

Resoprsity is the obligation to give when you receive. For instance in DWC Holmes “Stood to close, stared too hard, touched too much and long. And women adored him for it.” He gave the girls attention and they gave him love in return. The idea of reciprocity is a moral ideal branching off of the feeling you get from returning a favor.


Liking is the concept that people are more likely to listen to people they like. In “My lack of Gumption” the boy gets hired because he is like the man that is hiring him. The reason why the boy was hired and people listened to him was because he was liked, if he wasn’t as liked there is no way that people would have been hired.


Consistency is the ideal that If people do something a little they are willing to do it a lot. In devil in the white city “He could ease her burden he said not only that he could turn the drugstore into a thriving establishment.”(DWC) Holmes started with a small commitments with woman and followed through asking for bigger and bigger commitments until he gets what he wants.


Authority is when people listen to someone they believe has more authority or are wiser than they are. For example from DWC “Real estate advertisements were full of testimonials.” A testimonial is qualified people writing about a topic; therefore others are more likely to want what they are talking about.


Scarcity is when something is going to be taken away or shortened, making people want it more. In “My lack of Gumption.” there was no availabilities for jobs. Since there were no jobs available everyone wanted one.


Conesus is the idea that everyone is doing it so I have to. In DWC many people are going to the H H Holmes hotel. Because many people are going to the hotel, everyone wants to go.

Logos Ethos Pathos

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Rhetoric:the art of persuasive speaking or writing:

Rhetoric-the art of persuasive speaking or writing:



Logos is a rhetoric type of persuasion that uses logic and reason to persuade a person. For instance in the book “The Boy and Bank Officer,” the officer uses logos when explaining to the boy why he cannot take out money of his bank account. This circumstance is logos because of the idea that logically he can not due to the fact he was too young. Even though that wasn't the real reason, it was still logical. During Part Two of “Devil In the White City,” we see logos again



Pathos is persuasion through the use of emotions. For example in DWC a mother says “I can no longer bear to have my children in the streets of Chicago.” This is pathos, is because the fear of her kids being hurt is persuading her to not let her kids out of the house. She let her emotion inhibit her childrens ability to leave along with scaring her into being more careful.



Ethos otherwise known as credibility, is a persuasion method where a person uses ethics to show the character of another person, most likely the author. A good example of this is in MLG “Representing the saturday evening post was one of the wealthiest honors that could be bestowed in a world of business.” This is a good ethos quote because the businessman is creditable and he is appealing to Buddy’s ethical need to succeed.