Lesson #1: Persuasion as a way of life

Objective: Let students know that persuasion isn't just something that they will be studying in class; it is something that they deal with on a daily bases. Make them realize that they are influenced by many things around them.
 

Materials needed: Posterboards, markers, tape. Anticipation Guide
 

Preset activity: Have students ask their classroom neighbor what kind of commercials or advertisements they saw the previous day that they can remember. Have them jot down the commercials that they both remember, or other advertisements that they recall from the previous days. Then have students fill-out the anticipation guide.
 

Mini Lecture: Discuss the anticipation guide with the students. Question one is false because advertisements persuade using all the senses. Commercials combine visual with audio stimuli. Tell the students that persuasion is everywhere they look, even if they cant see it. There are numerous ways that we are being persuaded. Some of the techniques we recognize, the most common of these is commercials Some of the persuasion we don't recognize, like our friends saying something is good.
 

Activity: Prior knowledge posters on persuasion. Break students up into groups of five and have them write ideas on the posters. Ask the students what they think of when they think of persuasion, being persuaded, or what they think commercials do to make people like the products they are advertising. Give them a couple of minutes then have them switch to another poster and read the ideas that group has and write ideas on that poster. Keep doing this until the groups have been to every posterboard.
 

Lesson: Give overview of Postmans analysis of commercials

Commercials teach that: 1. All things are resolvable, 2. All things are solvable fast. 3 All things are resolvable fast through the agency of some technology.
 

Go over the students posters to see what they have in common. See if the students agree with Postman's analysis. Do the commercials that they remembered have the things that were listed on the posterboards. The things that we remember about ads are the messages that they are using to persuade you toward buying their product. They try to appeal to all of your senses so that they will be more rememberable. Are the things they listed teaching what Postman says they are teaching?
 

Reflection: Have the students write a short essay on whether or not commercials are persuasive. They should back up their argument with reasons. The lesson given says that commercials are persuasive. Do they believe the lesson? They could have good reasons not to believe that commercials are persuasive. One reason could be that they know that ads are trying to sell something, so they don't pay attention to them. (1-2 page(s) typed, or 2-3 pages written).

Lesson #2: Is Persuasion tricking? (A) Lying
 

Objective: Provide examples of how commercials persuade decisions, and begin to question the persuasion tactics that are being used. This is to make the students begin thinking more critically about the world around them. This is done by giving them an overview of the condition of values in America and how people perceive one another.
 

Materials: Video containing commercials of different products. Survey handout.
 

Preset Activity: Have students get in groups and ask them to develop an outline of what lying is. What someone has to do to be lying.
 

Activity: Watch video of different kinds of commercials. Have students look for things that meet their criteria of lying in the commercials.
 

Lesson: Ask students if they saw anything in the commercials that met their criteria for lying and discuss why it would be lying. Explain that not everyone has the same idea of what lying is, or that it is even wrong to lie in certain situations. What about "white lies," what are the students views about lying? Is it alright to ever lie?

Time Magazine reports that Ethics have become somewhat of a taboo to claim. We have the "we should stick together" approach. In 1992, in a survey conducted on college students, 1/6 have lied on a resume. 1/5 have cheated on a test. If people find out, what could happen to these people? In 1999, 71% have stated that people are not as honest today. It is the practice of companies to decide what they want to prove then design research that will find statistics that prove their point.
 

In light of this news, are advertisers really trying to lie to people? If they are lying, why would they do this? If they get caught what could it do to their credibility?
 

Reflection: Fill out survey and hand in. No names put on the survey, instead have them number them in case some don't want to participate. This way credit can be given to those who participate, and they don't have to worry about you stereotyping students. Results will be calculated and given to the students.

Lesson #3: Is Persuasion tricking? (B) Different Perspectives
 

Objective: To have students begin thinking more critically and not in terms of everything being right and wrong. Have them understand that we are persuaded by many things, but that might not be as bad as we might think. Persuasion can actually have helpful benefits.

Materials: One Eyed Doe handout. Assessment for skit. Commercials for students to watch.
 

Preset Activity: Have the students read the fable The one eyed doe. Have students write what they think the moral of the story is.
 

Lesson: Discuss the answers that the students give. Then explain the standpoint that the doe's problem is that it couldn't see things from a different perspective. Ask if persuasion can help keep us from being like the doe? Do we sometimes need to see something from a different perspective, or are we always right? Can this be what commercials are trying to do in their advertisements? (Good commercials for this would be life insurance, or any kind of insurance; different kinds of medicines like allegra or for mood disorders. Have them watch these types of commercials for preventive type things.)

Tell the students that we may not think of getting this kind insurance or preventive coverage if ads didn't tell us about them. If there weren't Allegra commercials we would never think of asking our doctor about such things. What about things like the "little purple pill." We might not even think of asking the doctor about things like that if there weren't commercials telling us that it is alright.

In their own lives students may have had to convince someone that what they were thinking of doing is actually bad. This is a form of persuasion that isn't bad. Parents try to persuade kids through punishment like grounding all the time. (The idea is to get students thinking about examples of how persuasion can be helpful for people. How someone might need to be persuaded for their own good.)
 

Activity: Have groups design a real life scenario that would fit the message in the tale of the one eyed doe. The groups need to develop two different outcomes: one would be with an unfavorable outcome due to overlooking something, the second would be a favorable outcome due to being persuaded to change their behavior. The students will design skits so they can act them out.
 

Reflection: Have students write whether they think persuasion can help or not. Why, or why not, they think the way they do. (Should be 1 page forming an opinion of their own.)

Lesson #4: Ethics
 

Objective: Have students understand what we mean when we say that they have to have ethics. Know the people behind some of the common views of ethics. Have them understand that they are still developing their own ethics and that is why rules may seem so strict in school. This will help them become more valuable members of their community, and be able to interact within diverse situations.
 

Materials: Quote about Persuasion worksheet. Authentic assessment for group skits.
 

Preset Activity: Recite the previous lesson; have students talk about if they think advertisements are ethical. First they must decide what ethical means, then decide if commercials have the qualities to be ethical.

Have the groups list what being ethical means on the board and whether they think commercials classify as being ethical. They don't have to give a reason why commercials would be ethical; that will be in the discussion about the different groups answers.
 

Lesson: Discuss what the groups came up with for answers. Have them describe how they came up with their answers. Tell them that defining what ethical is, is a process that had been taking place ever since Plato's time.

Lecture on what ethics is:

"Ethical issues focus on value judgement concerning degree of right and wrong. Persuasion as one type of human behavior, always contains potential ethical issues because:

1. It involves people trying to influence others beliefs, attitudes, values, and overt actions.

2. It involves conscious choices among ends sought and rhetorical means used to achieve the ends.

3. It necessarily involves a potential judge (the receiver of the message)" (Larson 2001, p.23).
 

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: (In order to know the right from the wrong, we must practice what is right. We need to be taught virtue and practice it.)

Virtue according to Aristotle - Excellence, then, being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual excellence in the main owes both its birth and its growth to teaching (for which reason it requires experience and time), while moral excellence comes about as a result of habit.

Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do excellences arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit.
 

Aristotle's reasoning shows why we need to learn about ethics and practice them. According to this message, practice does make perfect. That is why we learn about ethics in the classroom and are made to follow rules that we may not always agree with. By participating in moral decisions, we learn to become more moral citizens. This is why we will be practicing moral conduct in this class.
 

John Stuart Mill's On Liberty: Everyone must have a say.

A person can not be overpowered in order to do something because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise or even right. These are good reasons for reasoning or persuading a person, but not for compelling a person.

If every person minus one agrees on something, it is not justifiable to keep the one person from stating their case. It is the duty of the government, and of the individual, to form the truest opinion they can.
 

According to John Stuart Mill we have to listen to everyone before we can make a decision on something. That is why when we design our rules for conduct for this class we will listen to everyone's comments. Mill also shows us why we shouldn't ridicule someone when they try to speak. When we do this, we are actually doing ourselves more harm then the person we are ridiculing. In order to ensure that we are able to follow Mill's examples, there have already been some classroom rules designed by me (The Teacher).

Reflection: Complete the Quote about Persuasion worksheet.

Lesson #5: Avoiding Ethics:
 

Objective: For students to understand why ethics are important, and why it is important to treat everyone fairly. Sometimes fairly doesn't necessarily mean equally
 

Materials: Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. Blindfolds, cups, water or other liquid, different color chips or something else that students will have to pick up in the activity.

Preset Activity: Groups will come up with value that they believe should be followed (example, you should not kill people). The group will then think of an example when that rule might not have to be followed (example, in war it is alright to shoot the enemy).
 

Lesson: We can all think of different ethics that we believe in, and ways around these ethics. Sometimes we have to use our judgement when using ethics. (Give story about the man who stole medicine for his wife because they couldn't afford it.) Should the guy be sued? There are many reasons why people say that we shouldn't teach ethics in school.
 

Ways in which people try to get around ethical arguments.

1. Everyone knows this appeal of tactic obviously is unethical, so there is nothing to talk about.

2. Only Success matters, so ethics are irrelevant to persuasion.

3. After all, ethical judgments are only matters of our individual personal opinions, so there are no final answers.
 

Calvin and Hobbes cartoon - Ethics and perspectives - being able to put yourself in someone else's situation. Do we sometimes forget how it would be to be on the other end of the stick. Sometimes we don't think about what we are doing to others. We all want to be ethical, and probably think that we are most of the time, but we can easily loose site of truly being ethical in our everyday experiences.

Philosophical perspective on how to make laws: In order to decide what is fair for everyone, we must go about making rules as if we didn't know what rule we would be assigned after the rules were made. For instance, we would pretend that we are floating around without a body and decide how people with and without physical disabilities should be treated. After we have figured out the rules, we would all get bodies, some with disabilities and some without. Since we made the rules before we knew which body we would get, everyone should perceive the rules as fair.
 

Activity: Pass out blindfolds to about half of the students. Explain that everyone will have to get the objects that are laid around the room (these are the chips, cups, water, and other objects that you want to set out). Before the activity begins, the class needs to set some rules on how everyone will get these things. The people with the blindfolds will have to wear them throughout the activity. Tell them that the first half of the class that completes the activity wont have to do any homework, unless everyone gets done at the same time. If that happens then they will just have to write about their role in this activity. Now, the class must decide on the rules of the activity. They will have to decide if they are going to help the people with the blindfolds, so that everyone gets done at the same time. After they have decided whether they are going to help or not, have the people with the blindfolds give them to another student.
 

Reflection: Discuss with the class how the experiment went. Do they think everyone made the rules fairly. Why did or didn't this happen?

Despite how the activity went, have the students write answering this question: Can someone break the law and still be ethical? Explain your answer.

Lesson #6: Developing Classroom Ethics
 

Objective: To give students the chance to use the previous lessons on ethics to design classroom rules that they will have to abide by for the semester. This gives them practical use of the lesson and some say in classroom management.
 

Materials: Contracts for students to sign (these could be made by the students themselves).
 

Preset Activity: Have groups brainstorm what they think would make a good list of classroom rules and ethics to live by. Write the groups list on the board and discuss them.
 

Lesson / Activity: Make sure that the students understand the effects of rules on the student body. Give them the general rules of conduct for the class and discuss why these are the general rules of conduct. Discuss what the class has come up with, and come to a consensus as to what the classroom rules are. Have students design a contract that they sign. This will be a moral contract of behavior that they agree to adhere to in the classroom.
 

Reflection: Have the students write about any concerns that they have about the rules. If there is something that could be a potential pitfall for them have them explain it. If there is nothing they have a problem with, have them tell you why they wont have a problem with anything.
 

On a separate sheet of paper have the students write about what kinds of rewards they would like for outstanding behavior. For example if they did well on something would they want it announced to the class or would they like a private acknowledgment of their achievement. If you were to give them a prize for something, what would they like.

This allows the student to think of what could come of good conduct, and allows the teacher to understand how to reward the student in a way that will be rewarding for the student.

Lesson #7: Defining Persuasion
 

Objective: For students to understand the history of persuasion. Where we got some of the ideas, and that it is something that has evolved over time. The main objective here is to let them know that they need to have a connection with people if they want to convince them of anything.

I would focus on Aristotle (Ethos, Pathos, Logos), Charles Larson (Self-persuasion), and Dale Carnegie (make people think its their own idea, also that you have to be genuinely interested in others or people will see through you).
 

Materials: Who said it worksheet.
 

Preset Activity: Discuss with their group what makes something believable to them. Have each group discuss their answers with the class.
 

Lesson: Persuasion is convincing others that something is believable and true. Over time there have been many theories on how to make this happen.

Aristotle - Ethos- source's credibility, Pathos- emotional appeal, Logos- logical appeal. Enthymene- The audience makes an assumption about how something is proved in an argument. The arguer identifies the common ground between the audience and himself/herself by using what the audience thinks the proof is. (Basically, find something they all agree on and use that as the bases for the argument).

Roman Orator Cicero - Five Elements to persuasion: 1. Inventing or discovering evidence. 2. Organizing them. 3. Styling arguments artistically. 4. Memorizing them. 5. Delivering them skillfully.

Bremback and Howell - communication intended to influence choice.

Wallace Fortheringham - says that even gossip overheard on the bus (unintentional persuasion) could persuade someone.

Kenneth Burke - artful use of "resources of ambiguity". Burke believes that people want to feel like they are being spoken to in their "own language," not talking above or below someone, creates a sense of identification.

Charles Larson - the co-creation of a state of identification between a source and a receiver that results from the use of symbols.

A) Cocreation means that both the source of the persuasion and the person being persuaded must be involved in the process.

B) Self-persuasion means that we participate in all persuasion. We are actually the one to persuade ourselves. This concept goes along with what Dale Carnegie says about not being able to win an argument. According to Carnegie the best way to convince someone that something is right, you have to make them think it was their own idea.
 

Reflection: Have students complete the Who Said It worksheet.

Lesson #8: Talking about Persuasion.
 

Objective: Have students understand how to make people want to do something for them. They will be able to identify the different models and apply them in real life situations.
 

Materials: SMCR handout. Commercials for students to analyze.
 

Preset Activity: Have groups design a flowchart or diagram that shows how their persuasion method would work.
 

Lesson: In order to begin talking about persuasion, you have to know how messages are formed. The most important thing to learn is the SMCR model because this model is used when talking about communication in general.

Shannon and Weaver's SMCR Model of Persuasion:

Source - The person doing the persuading.

Message - what the persuasive message is.

Channel - how the message is given. This can be orally, through the radio, or tv.

Receiver - The person being persuaded by the persuader.
 

Ranks Model of Persuasion:

Intensify your own good and others bad. You want others to notice all of the good things about your point, and all the bad things about the oppositions point.

Downplay own bad and others good. You want the receiver to think that your faults aren't that big of a deal. Likewise, you want the receiver to believe that the oppositions good points aren't really all that good. Make them think your good points are better then the oppositions.
 

Patterns of Organization:
 

Monroe's Motivated Sequence:

1. Attention - get their attention

2. Need - create a need for action

3. Satisfaction - show them how you can fix the need

4. Action - tell them how to get your solution.
 

AIDA:

1. Attention - get the audiences attention like in Monroe's sequence

2. Interest - make them interested in what you have

3. Desire - Create a desire for what you have

Ranks 4 ways to create desire:

1) Protection (to keep a good)

2) Acquisition (to get a good)

3) Relief (to get rid of a bad)

4) Prevention (to avoid a bad)

4. Action - Tell them how to get it.
 

Stock issues (a more complicated way of organization) - show need for change (burden of proof), show the plan of action.
 

Activity: SMCR & Create Desire handout.
 

Reflective: Have students develop an advertisement that they will give to the class using these methods (Monroe's, AIDA, and Ranks). The students wont be giving a persuasive speech, they will be describing how they would create an advertising campaign for what they pick to advertise. The students should have posters or other visual aids for this project.

Lesson #9: Argument Spheres and Fields
 

Objective: Have students realize differences in personal preferences. Notice that they can tell how friendly people are by how they stand, and how close.
 

Materials: Proxemics worksheet.
 

Preset Activity: Have students discuss the distance they stand when talking to people. Do they notice difference in where and how people stand when talking. Are there people who they feel stand to close or to far away? Do they stand in different fashions when talking to different people? What if they don't want others to join their group? Have groups demonstrate their findings.
 

Lesson: People stand at different distances depending of who they are talking to. There are four different distances that we associate with communication. These distances are referred to as proxemics.
 

Proxemics:

1) Public distance - 15-25 feet or more.

2) Social or formal distance - 7-12 feet.

3) Personal distance - 3 ½-4 feet.

4) Intimate distance - 6-8 inches apart.
 

Discuss about how they argue with different people. Besides the distance they stand from these people, what are some other differences. For example, do they use the same argument with their mom as they use with their friends? What are the differences in how they argue with these different people?
 

Argument Spheres - Three different realms of participating in arguments.

1) Personal sphere - when arguing with friends and family.

2) Technical - Arguing in scholastic or work environment.

3) Public - Arguing in front of a crowd for their approval.
 
 
 

Argument Fields - distinct area within a sphere; like in personal sphere, mother and fiancee would be distinct fields.
 

Nonverbal aspects of the different spheres. Discuss how they would dress in each of the situations. For example, in an interview they would dress differently then they would when trying to convince their friend to go to a party. They will have different facial expressions when wanting to express a certain point, for example they wouldn't smile when talking about death. Their nonverbal behavior must suggest that they know how to act within the context of their argument, and the sphere they are communicating in.

Body position to let others know if they are invited to the group. Blocking is when you stand so that there isn't a space for others to move into. With three people this would be a triangle form.
 
 
 

Reflection: Proxemics, Spheres and Nonverbal worksheet.

Lesson #10: Beliefs

Objective: To show students that you may convince someone on your perspective, but that doesn't mean that you can change their behavior. There is much more to changing behavior then convincing them in your point. This lesson will give students an understanding in how their own attitudes and behaviors are developed
 

Preset Activity: Have students make 3 different lists. The first list should be of things that they think everyone would agree on. These would be things that they don't think anyone would argue against (i.e. The sun sets in the west). The second would be a list of what could be considered family values or beliefs. These could be things that their friends might disagree with them on, but they both agree to put the disagree aside (i.e. it is important to go to college, lying is wrong). The third list is thing they think to be true, but if shown differently they would change their minds (i.e. you can catch more fish with worms).
 

Lesson: Milton Rokeach (a Social Psychologist) is a researcher of attitudes. Rokeach's theory assumes a hierarchy consisting of beliefs at the bottom with stronger and more complex attitudes coming next, and values which are even stronger and more complex at the top. Each person has countless beliefs, far fewer attitudes, and a rather limited number of values.
 

Beliefs can be general or specific, significant or insignificant. Beliefs are statements that we make about ourselves and how we perceive the world around us.

Values are a specific set of beliefs and attitudes. There are two types of values.

Terminal Values are ultimate life goals (i.e. I want to be a success). Instrumental Values are the tools with which one hopes to achieve one's terminal values (i.e. I will get a college degree).

Our attitudes, beliefs, and values are interwoven into a single belief system that receivers bring to a persuasive situation.
 

Rokeach's Belief Hierarchy -There are five levels of belief; the core beliefs are the most impossible to break.

1. Primitive beliefs ( unanimous consensus) - These come from direct experience, and aree ones that everyone around us agree upon. (The sun sets in the west.) These are hardest to change.

2. Primitive beliefs (zero consensus) - These are learned from our experience, but we don't get outside approval of these beliefs. (Most people like me.) These rarely change.

3. Authority beliefs - These depend on our interchange with others. (It is best to tell the truth.) These could be changes with lots of experience or persuasion.

4. Derived beliefs - These are beliefs we get from second hand sources like books or newspapers. These beliefs are easier to change.

5. Inconsequential beliefs - These have to do with individual preferences and tastes. These are the most easily changed. (I prefer living in warm weather.)
 

Reflective Activity: (This activity is to give students a more in-depth look at derived needs. I choose these needs because they are the ones focused on throughout education. They will be required to form "scholarly" essays in college where they get their information from credible sources. This will teach them how to begin using scholarly information.)

Research Activity: Students are to look through popular magazines for an article on a topic that interests them, and one that could be supported by research. The idea is to get students looking for derived beliefs in popular magazines. Once they have chosen a topic from a popular magazine, they must research that topic in other avenues. Since in high school there isn't much access to journals, students could look the information up on the internet. The idea is for students to learn how well the ideas in popular magazines are supported.

Written Response: The students will have to write a paper on their topic describing what the popular magazine wrote and if it was backed up in other sources or not. They should also report how they see the topic. Did their views change, remain the same, strengthen, or weaken?

Oral Report: The students are to give a quick overview of what they researched and what their results are. Their oral report should only be a couple of minutes that gives us a glimpse of what they discovered.

Lesson #11: Changing Belief
 

Objective: The previous lesson took a look at how beliefs can be formed. This lesson looks at how those beliefs can be changed both in advertisements and in daily life. The ideas learned in this lesson come from the Social Psychology field. This gives students a view of how persuasion works on them.
 

Preset Activity: (In the previous lesson students researched derived beliefs. Here students will take a look at Authority beliefs. These are beliefs that are formed over time, and are contingent on what others around an individual believe.) Have students compile a list of different behaviors expected in their classes. For example, some teachers might allow them to talk more then others. Classes might have different seating arrangements. The students might write that most teachers want them facing the front of the room and listen to lecture. Then they could write that a couple of teachers allow them to sit differently, or talk more in their class. Have the students write how they know what the behavior norms are for each class. For example did the teacher tell them they could chat as he taught or did it occur over time? (This gives students a glimpse into how behaviors are developed, which is a main focal point to this lesson.)
 

Lesson: Behaviors are developed over time with influence from outside sources (those around you). Examine how the classroom norms were developed in each classroom. Did the teachers tell them how to act or did they learn how to act over time? Today we will take a look at how those around you can shape your behavior.
 

In advertisement it is important that the audience gets the message right away. They are attempting to change your attitudes, which they hope will change your behavior. Their method can be explained as a Single-shot Attitude change. This is a series of steps that have to be met in order to change the audiences attitude.

1)Attention - have to have their attention

2)Comprehension - audience needs to understand.

3)Acceptance - accept what you say is true.

4)Retention - need to remember the message.

5)Action - If all the others are met, the audience will be persuaded into some action.
 

This model is one that is used by everyone trying to change someone's attitude. Even your friends and family need to have all five elements of the single-shot method if they hope to change your attitude, however those around you don't need to change your mind in one commercial or advertisement. Most of your friends don't layout an extensive explanation in order to change your mind. Usually those around you use subtle methods to change your attitude over time. There are a few different models or methods that describe how people can persuade over a period of time.
 

Behaviorism:

Skinner and schedules of reinforcement. There are fixed and intermittent schedules of reinforcement. Fixed schedules give positive feedback on a continuous bases. The schedule can be based on either time (interval) or action (ratio). Giving dessert after eating beans is a fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement based on eating beans. Giving dessert every six hours is a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement.

Intermittent schedules give positive feedback on a more limited bases. These are also based on either time (interval) or action (ratio). Playing the lottery is an example of variable ratio. Addictions can arise out of variable ratio. It is one of the strongest reinforcements to ensure that a behavior continues after the reinforcement has ceased.

Negative reinforcement - The taking away of something for a negative stimuli after a behavior has been completed. (The taking of Tylenol to rid a headache is an example of this.)
 

Learning Theory:

Bandura and role models. Social learning theorist who says that we learn from those around us. We learn what things are acceptable and which aren't by how others are treated according to their actions. Bandura describes this in a three step model (1) observes the behavior of a model. (2) immediately copies the response. (3) receive reinforcement.

Shaping or Successive Approximations - This is where you get someone to do somethhing kind of the way you want and gradually get them to do more specific things. This is how animals are trained in obedience schools.

Shaping can occur with people as well. A Story on shaping behavior: Students in a psychology class decided to reinforce the professor to move to the left. The reinforcers they used were listening attentively, nodding their heads, and taking notes. Whenever the professor moved to the right, however, they stopped delivering the reinforcers. They would stop taking notes, yawn, and look bored. This systematic delivery of reinforcers for movement to the left was apparently quite successful, for legend has it that about halfway through the lecture the professor fell off the left of the stage.
 

Tension Theory - We like to agree with people we like and disagree with people we don't like. If we don't like someone and find out that we agree on something, we either have to change our attitude about the thing or the person.
 

Cognitive dissonance - Make people uneasy about something, then give them a way to put their minds at ease. We want our beliefs to be in balance with our actions. When we are made to believe that our actions are hindering our beliefs it cause dissonance. There are some overall situations that can cause this imbalance, these are: Loss of Group Prestige, Economic Loss, Loss of Personal Prestige, Uncertainty of Prediction, and Sense of Guilt.
 

Reflective: Have groups prepare a list explaining where they can find each method being used in their daily lives. They should have an example for: Behaviorism, Learning Theory, Tension Theory, and Cognitive Dissonance. Then have them prepare a skit that demonstrates a group trying to change behavior by using one of these methods. (An example of this would be: Shaping can be found when I hang out with my friends. My friends like to play basketball and I grew up liking soccer, after continuous reinforcement for basketball by my friends talking positively about the sport and giving me the opportunity to play, I have grown to like basketball more then soccer.)

Lesson #12: Packard's Eight Hidden Needs
 

Objective: People know how they want to be treated, but sometimes we forget that others want to be treated in the same manner as us. This lesson is to show students that there are underlying fundamentals that everyone seeks, even those that we may see as different from ourselves. Students may get told that everyone should be treated equal, this will show them why, as well as make them understand why this is true.
 

Preset Activity: Have groups come up with a list of what people they like do to make them feel good. What kind of reassurance do these people provide for them. For example, someone might always make them feel like they are doing things that acceptable. Also, what do you get out of other things that make you feel good. An example of this might be, I like to play sports because it makes me feel like I am good at something.
 

Lesson: We have all heard of the saying that we should treat others the way we want to be treated. This is easy to say, but often hard to live by. We sometimes think about ourselves and forget that others have the same needs as us. There are some underlying needs that we all seek in some way. Packard calls these the hidden needs. Advertisements understand these needs, and plays on them in one way or another. If they didn't hit one of these needs, we wouldn't have any reason to listening to advertisements.
 

Packard's Eight Hidden Needs:

1. Need for Emotional Security - These are things that put our minds to ease. (Deodorant that is strong enough for a man, but made for women.)

2. Need for Reassurance of worth - These are things that show you are of worth or things to show others they are of worth. (Remember her with flowers.) (Improve your worth with career services.)

3. Need for Ego Gratification - This is letting people or a group of people know that they are special and deserve to be treated as such.

4. Need for Creative Outlets - this would be demonstrated in products that let you put your own touch in them. Most likely products would be food orientated. Hamburger helper lets you add your own creative touch to preparing it.

5. Need for Love Objects - We have a need to show affection for things. People who have kids that let the house can develop the empty nest syndrom. In these cases they might treat their pets like children. Animal products can play on these needs by saying their product would be a great example of providing the best for their pet, therefore showing their love for the pet.

6. Need for Sense of Power - We want to feel like we have power over something, like we have a say in something. Cars with bigger engines provide a product that will allow a person to show their superiority over others.

7. Need for Roots - This is, we need to have familiarity with things. We look for things that remind us of how we were raised, or how we have done things. This would be appealing to tradition.

8. Need for Immortality - Things that will keep you healthy, or make you remembered after you have died.
 

Activity: Design a product or service that fulfills one of these needs. Describe how it would fulfill the need and how you would get the message out about your product. These will be presented to the class.
 

Reflection: Have students examine how they fulfill these needs in their own lives. Have them write on each of these needs describing what they do to fulfill each of these needs. Are there things that they have in order to fulfill these needs, or are there things they do to fulfill them.

lesson #13: Maslow's Pyramid of Needs
 

Objective: To show that while needs are important, there is more then one way to discuss the needs of people. Maslow's way of looking at needs may explain why people of different status act in different ways.
 

Preset Activity: Have students discuss the hidden needs that were taught the previous day. Do they think any of these needs are more important then others. If so, which ones are more important? If they are all the same, explain how something like ego gratification would be just as important as emotional security.
 

Lesson: With Packard's hidden needs we learned that everyone has underlying needs that they search to have met. If we are looking to have the same needs met, then why do people act differently? The answer is that they may be at different levels of development in their search for needs. Maslow classifies needs in levels. He states that it is very hard to fulfill a higher level need when lower level needs haven't been met. This may be why some people are seeking to have their ego's stroked while others are searching to have security in their lives. The people who are more concerned with their egos have already fulfilled their security needs. The lowest levels of needs have to be fulfilled before a person is able to fully immerse themselves into the next level. This doesn't mean that once a level of need has been completed that a person wont go back to that level of need.
 

According to Maslow the structure of needs is as follows:
 

(Highest, level 5) Self-Actualization - Seeking ones own true potential. This is wwhen we seek greatness in ourselves and in accomplishing those things we have set out to do.

(level 4) Esteem Needs - Seeking to have a meaningful impact on those around us. We want to be seen as an important member of society.

(level 3) Belongingness and love needs - Once we know that we are accepted by our family and immediate friends, we might look to join other groups or associations. We will look to have others to do things with.

(level 2) Safety and Security - These can be things from having a job so we can pay for things to wanting to protect ourselves from thieves. We might also want to be secure in our ability to interact with others.

(Lowest, level 1) Basic Physiological needs - food, sleep, things we need to stay alive and well. A person that is starving is unable to think about how well they will do on a test, they are preoccupied by their basic needs.
 

Activity: Have students write a reflective paper explaining how they fulfill these needs in their own life. What are things they have done to fulfill these needs, and how do they plan to fulfill them in the future. Which of Packard's needs do they think would fit into each of these categories? Can you fit Rokeach's Belief Hierarchy into these categories? Where would a primitive belief fit in, how about a derived belief?
 

Reflection: Have students select one of the needs that a person in a certain situation might have trouble overcoming. Explain how they could help that person realize this need.(This project gives students the opportunity to look at those around them and realize something they have that others don't. It also gives them the opportunity to explore how people with different needs have different concerns, and what they can do to even the playing field for everyone.)

Lesson #14: Demographics
 

Objective: Usually when we teach research, we forget to teach about researching the audiences perspective. This lesson attempts to teach that one needs to understand the audiences perspective in order to make a connection and have their message be effective. The last lesson started to look at the needs of others, now students will examine how to determine the needs of groups of people.
 

Preset Activity: Have students get in a circle and think of something that interests them and prepare a question that addresses that interest. (We did this in Teaching of Speech.) Students will ask the class a question, and everyone will have a chance to answer it. This could also be done by forming groups and have the groups come up with some questions. Then have the class come together and announce their questions to the class. The class will write down the questions and answer them on paper. The teacher could sort through them and discuss common themes at the end of this lesson.
 

Lesson: So far we have discussed theories on how to change attitude, and how persuasion works. The most important aspect of persuasion is to know your audience. If you don't know what your audience is thinking, it makes persuasion harder. Most of us have learned that we need to research an idea in order to be able to write a good paper on it. Making a good argument, or to be persuasive, one needs to do their research. You have to learn about the people you are talking to. The method of finding out about people is called demographics. That is, demographics is information about a group of people. The preset activity was an example of finding out the demographics of a group of people. The group is this class.

Advertisers always research demographics before advertising. They try to connect with the way people think in a certain area. So what are some things that can be considered demographics, and how can they help?

Average Age: The age group can have factors on how people think about things. Do your parents listen to the same music as you? Do they like the same food, or enjoy the same activities as you?

Income: This can play a factor as to the type of products people are looking for. Are they looking for luxury items, or are they looking to save money?

Gender: Are there more men or women? Which gender will most likely be interested, and how do their views differ from the opposite gender? Would you use a hockey player to sell Depends?

Religion: Does their religion play a factor in how they will view your topic. If it's something that their religion preaches against, you will have to have a good reason why and how it could fit into their religious beliefs.

Other Affiliations: Just like religious affiliations, groups that people belong to can have a huge influence on how they make decisions. Are they members of PETA, or do they belong to a wine tasting group? These groups can tell you a lot about the persons attitudes.

Family Size: Is their decision going to affect lots of people, or just them? Will it make it harder for them to support their family? You wouldn't want to sell a sports car to a family of five unless you sell it as an expression of freedom

Political Party: If you are taking a political stance, do the people favor this stance or not? Will their political stance be a factor in their decision?

Type of Occupation / Education: White collar workers or those with more education might want more statistics and explanation in a more formal manner. Blue collar workers might want to know how it will give them relief from the stress of work.

Hobbies: The types of things that people choose to do outside of groups or work can tell you what is important to them. It can also tell you how to approach and argument. If someone likes tennis your argument shouldn't be centered around how to avoid physical activity.
 

Task Orientated Approach:

Along with demographics, it is important to know under what circumstances a person or group will be introduced to your argument or persuasive message. If a person is a Roman Catholic who likes tennis, your method of persuasion would be different for that person depending on whether you are introducing your method in their church or on the tennis court. In each situation a person will be in a different state-of-mind. In a book titled The Responsive Cord (1973), Tony Schwartzwrites about using messages that are built for the time and place, when and where they will be heard. Schwartz calls this the task-orientated approach.
 

Reflective Activity: Have students come up with a product/service that they think the students in class could use. The students can use the results of the demographics survey already done. They should also make a new questionnaire that will ask questions that pertain to their product. As part of this questionnaire, students should remember Schwartz's task-orientated approach. The people taking the questionnaire, and where the results will be used, is in school.

Lesson #15: Types of Evidence
 

Objective: As students begin to search for information to give their persuasive speeches they need to understand what good evidence is and what isn't. This assignment is to help them understand what kind of information they need to use in order to build their credibility.
 

Preset Activity: Have students come up with something that they think they could represent and write-up why they should represent their items. Most likely students will pick something that they like to do (i.e. mountain bikes, the students rides mountain bikes). Have students tell what their thing is that they should represent, and why they should represent these things. They can pick a product, idea, or anything they would like.
 

Lesson: There are different things that a message and persuader must have in order to be effective. Building credibility is the most important aspect of persuading. These are the elements that a persuader must provide if they wish to persuade. The class picked things that they knew about or liked. They did this because they could claim some sort of expertise in that thing.
 

Speaker Attributes: Trust, Expertise, and Dynamism. Dynamism is something that you can't really teach, it's something you either have or don't have. (Bill Clinton has dynamism, it is suggested that is how he became the president, with his dynamism.) You may be able to build your own dynamism. Expertise and Trust can be taught. There are things a speaker can do in order to make others believe you have these attributes.
 

Reliability - Evidence should be drawn from sources that have been proven to be correct many times in the past.

Expertise - Evidence should be drawn from sources Having a background of knowledge in relevant information.

Objectivity - Evidence should be taken from sources who hold a fair and undistorted view on a question.

Consistency - Evidence should agree with other sources and should be consistent with itself.

Recency - Evidence should be based on the most current information available.

Relevance - The facts and evidence presented should be relevant to the claim that is made.

Access - Evidence should be drawn from sources who have observed first-hand the matter being disputed.

Accuracy - Citations should be complete and the sources of evidence fully identified.
 

Reflection: Complete Test of Evidence handout.

Lesson #16: Fallacies
 

Objective: Students will be able to identify different fallacies and how they are used in advertisements. This will also show students that they aren't the only ones who can get away with stretching the truth.
 

Pre-set Activity: The teacher reflect on the previous days lesson about evidence as a way of building credibility. When we try to apply the tests of evidence it can be hard because people sometimes try to use tactics that mislead us. Some common tactics are to use fallacies. Fallacies are nontruths that sound true. We may think that we can tell when we are being lied to (the survey results might be useful in this case if lots of people said they lied, but were never lied to).
 

Activity: Play the fact or crap game with students. This game will show how hard it is to know whether people are telling the truth or not. Usually the truth is more weird than lies are.
 

Lesson: Different kinds of fallacies, subliminal, and sexual messages.

False Analogy - Compares two things that are not alike in significant respects or have critical points of difference. (We should not teach socialism in the university any more than we should teach arson).

Non Sequitur - A claim that is irrelevant to or unsupported by the evidence that is supposedly supporting it. (Plea bargaining affects many people. Last year there were 2,356 burglaries, 18 rapes, 65 robberies).

Begging the Question - Using the very thing in question as evidence. (The soul is immortal because it lives forever).

Hasty Generalization - Making general conclusions about something based on too few examples. (I had an Epson printer and it broke after a few weeks, Epson printers are not any good).

Post Hoc - Assuming that because two events are associated in time, one event caused the other.

Ad Hominem - A personal attack to avoid the issue. (Who would want a president that wears green suspenders).

Ad Populum - The "everyone else is doing it" argument.

The Straw Man Argument - Setting up a weak argument then saying that is the oppositions argument.

Undistributed Middle - Guilty by association. ( Frederick hangs out with those kids that smoke, so Frederick must smoke too).

Hazy Claim - Confuse the audience so they follow you to be on the safe side. (Yogurt may not make you live as long as Soviet Georgians. But it couldn't hurt).

The Magic Ingredient Claim - Calling attention to an ingredient or device that is suppose to make the product better then others. (Noxzema's Acne 12).

The Advantage Claim - A claim that seems to offer some advantage to a product. (Mother's noodles are made from 100% semolina wheat-but so are all the other brands).

Appeal to Tradition - Should continue to do something or use something because we always have.

Slippery Slope - Assuming without evidence that a given event is the first in a series of steps that will lead inevitably to some outcome. (If you do this, then this will happen which will lead to another thing).

Weasel Words - Word that let a source weasel their way out of a promise. ( Helps, Like, Virtually).
 

Activity: Have students complete the cause and effect guide.
 

Reflection: Have students search through magazines for advertisements that have some of the fallacies in them. Have the students glue the advertisement to construction paper and write what fallacy the ad is using.

Lesson #17: Tactics & Presentations
 

Objective: This is to help students understand how they need to give their persuasive speech, it also provides a look into deceptive methods of persuasion. These are methods that they can use in their own speeches. They are also things that have probably been used against them in the past. The things taught in this lesson will be what I will look for in their speeches, as well as if they are using the methods that we have worked on in class over the past few weeks.
 

Lesson: When giving a speech the persuader should appear to be confident in front of the audience. These are some things that the persuader must demonstrate in order to appear confident.

Posture: Your posture needs to be relaxed but confident. The speakers shoulders and torso should be upright. They shouldn't be tense however. You don't want a speaker that looks like a cardboard cutout, you also don't want one that looks like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The important factor is to appear to be confident. This doesn't mean that you wont have any butterflies in your stomach. (A couple of good books to reference are Speak Smart: The Art of Public Speaking by Thomas K. Mira copyright date 1998, and Do's and Taboos of Public Speaking by Roger E. Axtell, copyright date 1992.)
 

Eye Contact: The myth is to look over the audience or to picture them naked, this is the worst thing to do. It brings you further away from your audience.The trick is to make to make conversation with people in the crowd. Pick out people in the crowd that you want to talk to and talk to them. It's easy to talk to one person in the crowd. Start with one side of the audience. Pick someone out and share a thought with that person, then move to someone in the middle and share a thought then someone on the left. This will let you talk one-on-one with many different people in the audience. It will also let the audience become intimate with your speech. The result? Both you and the audience will enjoy the speech. You will feel like you have gotten to know one another.
 

Articulation and vocal quality: One way you will notice your nerves is through your voice. Don't let your voice hinder your speech, make it work for you. Most people will notice their voice starting to crack and become more nervous. In an effort to correct this they will speak softer which will make their voice crack even more. Before you know it, you are just as nervous as you were before reading this book. Don't let this happen to you. Do some preliminary exercises to help warm up that voice. Before giving your speech stretch your mouth side to side and yawn. Make noises as you yawn and move your mouth around. This will help warm up your vocal cords and prepare your mouth for speaking. When you are giving your speech use the full capacity of your voice. Breath in using your diaphragm and use all the air you have inhaled to speak with. If you use your full voice (thus using all the air in your lungs) your voice wont have a chance to crack on you. This means if you speak loud, your voice wont crack. Also use the full range of your voice. If you are excited about something then let the audience know you are excited through your voice. It's perfectly ok and encouraged to use: tonal inflection (sounding excited), rate (how fast you talk), pitch (questions vs. non-questions), and even laughter in your speech.
 

Some tactics that you can use with your audience.

Get your audience involved by asking direct questions and calling people by name. You can get them involved by having them do something physically before or during your speech. You could also ask them to participate in demonstrations, or ask the audience members questions. If you are going to give the audience members handouts, this should be done at the end of the speech because material given before the speech will take the attention away from you.
 

Ways to get them to agree with you:

The Yes-Yes Technique - The idea here is to get people to start agreeing with you. When people believe that they are in agreement with you on most issues, they are more likely to support you on other issues. You are showing your audience members how much you are alike.
 

Don't ask if, Ask which - It is easier to make a choice between two things. If you ask the audience what they want, there may be a range of answers. If you give them the choice between two things, one of them will have to win out.
 

Answer a question with a question - Use this tactic when you need more time to think about the question being asked of you. Responding with a question usually throws the other person off, and gives you time to gather your thoughts.
 

Get Partial Commitment - Sometimes people aren't sure if they want to join a group, or participate in something. They may not know if they like your idea or not. Work them into it slowly by getting them to commit to something small that wont take anything away from them. The church does this with prayer. By bowing your head for prayer, the church is getting partial commitment from you.
 

Ask for more, and settle for less: Stores do this all the time with sales. They give you a price that you may think is a little to high, then once it goes on sale you are inclined to buy it for the cheaper price, sometimes you will buy things that you wouldn't have bought for that price if it was the original price.
 

Make it their own: This is an idea of Dale Carnegie's. He suggests that if people think something is their own idea, they are more likely to believe in it and follow through on it. In court this is called leading the juror. You can make subtle remarks about your idea
 

Planting: This idea here is to use sensory memory to have the audience members remember your product or idea. A steakhouse would use this with their steak by showing how "sizzling" it is.
 

Get an IOU: It is much easier for people to commit to something in the future then it is to commit to something today. This works with quitting smoking. It is easier to set a date in a month or two, then to set a date in a day or two. You are more likely to commit if you have a set date in the future.
 

Activity: Students will research a topic and give a persuasive speech on it. They should use a sequence when giving the speech, create desire, build their credibility, stay away from fallacies, and use one of the persuasive tactics.