Characteristics of Arguments: Emotional Appeals

In a speech, an _________________ stirs listeners' feelings rather than their senses of logic or reason.

• appeal to negative emotion

• emotional appeal

• claim

speaker's position

• emotional appeal

• shared values

• claim

shows an issue through the speaker's eyes

• appeal to sympathy

• appeal to shared values

• appeal to negative emotion

brings up values, such as equality or freedom, that most listeners share

• appeal to sympathy

• appeal to shared values

• appeal to negative emotion

provokes strong negative feelings, such as anger, resentment, sadness, or fear

• appeal to sympathy

• appeal to shared values

• appeal to negative emotion

Which of these statements by President Ronald Reagan is an appeal to sympathy?

• We don't keep secrets and cover things up.

• We do it all up front and in public.

• And we know of your anguish. We share it.

Which of these statements by President John F. Kennedy appeals to shared values?

• The world is very different now.

• … Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

• … Man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish … human life.

Which of these statements by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is meant to provoke anger?

• … The U.S. was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces. …

• … The U.S. was at peace with Japan and … was still in conversation. …

• … The Japanese ambassador to the U.S. … delivered to us a formal reply.

Which of the following statements by President Richard M. Nixon is the strongest appeal to sympathize with the speaker?

• … I have shared in the turbulent history of this evening.

• Sometimes I have succeeded. And sometimes I have failed.

• I have tried … to meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me.

Which of these statements by President Reagan, following the explosion of a space shuttle, is an appeal to shared values?

• The crew of the Challenger honored us by the ways they lived their lives.

• I’ve always had great respect … for the space program.

• And what happened today does nothing to diminish it.