For this final post I wanted to find a video that was different than the others that I had used. I thoroughly love the passion of this lady and her courage to stand up for her cause. She also gets extra points in my book for creativity and courage.
In this video a lady walks into a restaurant and tells everyone her little girl was abused and would have been murdered if she had not been rescued. How horrible! Or, just watch the video and you can judge for yourself while you either laugh or cry along with her.
There are many of the Marwell & Schmitt's Taxonomy Influence Tactics that are used throughout this video. The main message was that meat is not food, it is violence. The nature of the topic death and abuse tends to be more negative than positive. Therefore most of the negative influence tactics were used in this speech.
We begin with Negative Expertise tactic. This lady uses this by portraying herself as the mother and protector of her daughter who assures us that life will be bad for us if we continue in our same behaviors. This tactic also leads into her Moral Appeal tactic. She makes a claim to the moral decency of the restaurant patrons to stop killing her babies and putting them on plates.
She really hits hard with the Negative Self-feeling tactic as she goes on and on about how bad everyone would feel about themselves if it was their little girl that was being abused and they did nothing about it. This tactic was pretty much a theme throughout the speech from chicken to egg and everything between. In the end she even challenged the patrons to think of her daughter's name every time they saw someone eating an egg or the body of one of these precious individuals.
Some of the other influence tactics like Negative Altercasting and Negative Esteem of Others are not directly highlighted but more implied in her speech. The implication of Negative Altercasting is felt when she claims that businesses like this restaurant are evil and bad and the patrons don't want to be bad like them, so they should stop abusing the poor and innocent children by putting their bodies on plates.
We also see the Negative Esteem of Others inferred as she urges the patrons to stop smiling and laughing about this situation, because it is not funny to her precious daughter. Her daughter and sisters wanted nothing more than to just live and who are these people to smirk and joke about this serious problem.
As we look at process premises, we see that emotional needs ran high on the chart for this speech. The lady wanted more than anything to have her audience feel what she was feeling about her child. She wanted them to feel what it would be like to be left behind, sharing the need that these precious beings have to just live. These emotional needs where being met as she furthered her argument with plenty of fear and guilt. I feel that she was not very effective in making this happen though.
This lady also looked to persuade her audience's attitudes through their emotions. Her metaphor of her chicken being an abused child that was rescued was used as motivation to push for change in peoples attitudes toward the issue. Equating the eating of chicken to violence towards children was a creative and potentially powerful way to do this.
Even though this is by far not one of the most motivational speeches ever given, it does a great job highlighting many of the negative Marwell & Schmitt's Taxonomy Influence Tactics.
(If anyone knows how she got milk from a chicken, please let me know.)
This particular speech I chose for two reasons. First, it oozes with inferred references that highlight Reich’s "Mob at the Gate"cultural parable. The second reason is because I know how much our beloved instructor admires and loves Brother Beck. (I am also glad our beloved instructor has a sense of humor.)
Glenn Beck gave this speech in 2013 at the Christians United for Israel, Washington Summit. Beck has established his media stronghold on the basis of America being a great country which was established for the purpose of saving mankind from their wicked ways. Despite America’s greatness, Beck showcases the dark forces that have been whittling away at the goodness here from within. He believes in the strong foundation established in the past and that that will lead us all to peace and prosperity after a time of trial and tribulation.
This speech is quite long, and I would encourage you to watch all of it, but the first and last ten minutes hit all of the necessary points for understanding the "Mob at the Gate" parable.
This particular speech is powerful and poignantly adapted to show America as the “shining light on the hill” as Beck referred to it many times in his speech accompanied with the applicable biblical and pilgrim references. He also shared the story of fighting the Barbary pirates in America’s first war as a nation, and how we were the only ones even then who would face these foes. Jefferson even had the Koran published in America so people could read it and determine for themselves if this was a good cause to be fighting.
Beck then shared how we are “key” to the restoration of Israel and that without us they could not stand. We are their protectors and must stand united in order for them to prosper. This again shows how perfectly it fits into Reich’s cultural parable.
He continues to feed the flames by sharing how evil infiltrated the European nations during the World Wars. This part was quite fascinating since he used actual historical relics from the time to show the evil. He again pushed forward the notion that we were the saviors in those times and we will have to be once more.
He followed this up with a warning that we are on a course reminiscent of biblical prophecy. We must stay strong and true or we will also be infected with the evil that tears the soul of nations apart. This furthers the second concept of the parable about the fear we have because of our vulnerability a openness that we may succumb to the evil that may come from abroad.
He also shared how the first great seal of our nation was established on principles of us being a virtuous and good people who will stand to protect others in their affliction. He then went into detail about the Statue of Liberty and what symbols it has that adds to the ideals that we are a nation of light and hope to the world.
His last stand for his case is his appeal that the youth are the answer. We must raise them to be the protectors. We must not let them be overcome by the evil of the outside world. They are our future and the future for all other nations to find peace in. By including the youth, Beck takes Reich’s cultural ideals well into the future as a new generation is taught these ideals.
Also in this speech, Beck hits on all of the process premises. He initiates our basic needs by first telling us how bad things are and that we are the need for other nations. He focuses our attention back to our roots while giving us a sense of power because of where and how we live.
He also uses a lot of emotion in his speech. He is typically a crybaby anyways, but in this speech he effectively draws the audience through fear of the future, guilt for letting down their guard, anger over how the government is handling things, pride for our heritage, and ultimately the happiness and joy we will feel when we have done all we can and have found our own peace.
The process premise of attitude was just as well administered throughout the speech. He made his audience think through his line of logic. He appealed to their emotions with passion from his soul. He challenged them to take the behavioral steps to stand with each other and with Israel.
The final process premise is about consistency. He created a cognitive dissonance throughout his speech, but then reassured his audience that as Christians we know what the outcome will be in the end regardless of what happens between now and then. This attitude taken resolves any dissonance incurred.
Despite the predictability of the speech topic and its direction, this was a great example of Reich’s "Mob at the Gate"cultural parable.
The idea of preparing a hip-pocket speech was not as difficult as anticipated after it finally hit me that I should choose a topic that I am passionate about and can know from my hip-pocket. (Yes, I suffer from thick-skull syndrome.)
The topic I finally chose was that of Conflict and Perspectives. This relates to how our differing perspectives internally and externally are constantly being challenged and we must be open to viewing those different perspectives otherwise we will be in conflict. I also shared how we then cast around and even troll for others to join our internal conflicts. The resolution of course is to look at and sometimes change our perspective on that subject in order to resolve our conflict.
The greatest challenge I faced for this speech was gathering a crowd. My audience ended up being most of my extended family on my wife's side. Once a month we all get together to catch up on news and of course eat. This month was no different, except I told everyone that I would like to give a speech for my class. They were thrilled to hear about my topic and agreed to do a short evaluation afterword.
I was hoping that only the adults would want to stay and listen, but it ended up that the little children were anxious to see what I was doing as well. So, I adapted my speech for ages three to seventy.
I began by using my laptop to show an example of differing perspectives. This was quite effective in catching everyone's attention. I then introduced my topic of conflict. I kept my audience involved in the speech by using analogies and examples backed by pictures. For the children I also used a small fishing pole with a stuffed animal tied on to the line. When I explained how we cast out our conflicts in an attempt to catch others and involve them in our conflict with us, I used this prop to effectively keep their attention. The adults related well to this too.
For the speech evaluation I handed it to all of the adults and asked them to please be brutally honest in their evaluation. (My almost eighteen year old daughter was the most brutal, but she has taken speech and debate in school for years.) I also asked them to comment on any other issues that they noticed that may have added or detracted from the speech. One commented that they appreciated that I kept eye contact with them instead of just talking to hear myself talk.
For further evaluation and in order to see if they had learned anything from the speech, I also asked them to write down something that they took away from the speech. I was pleasantly surprised at the messages that were gleaned from what I had shared. One person shared that they felt the message was just for them and that they would change the way that they looked at conflict from now on.
I learned a ton from this experience. I realized that I can give a great speech without notes and memorization, especially if it is a topic that I am passionate about. I also found out that I like using the word "okay" to transition instead of "um". I also learned that even though I may not say everything in a speech that I wanted, it tends to work out just right when you focus on the needs of the audience.
Hey everyone,
I have heard a lot of talk and worry about the outside speech evaluations. I've had the same concerns, but the best advice to myself and you is to keep it simple.
I have copied a speech competition evaluation form below to give you some ideas of the categories and presentation skills that you can use in your own personal evaluation form.
Good luck and see you all on Tuesday night for all kinds of fun and excitement.
After
the huge success of her memoir, “Eat, Pray, Love”, Elizabeth Gilbert
went from unknown novelist to a pop culture icon. While she loved the
success, she found it difficult to write again. Her TED Talk discusses
her journey to success and how both failure and success motivated her to
keep going. - See more at:
http://www.strayer.edu/buzz/success-project/10-speeches-that-will-inspire-you-to-succeed/#sthash.p7uIirM9.AW4f4Xu8.dpuf
lizabeth Gilbert: Success, Failure and the Drive to Keep Creating
After the huge success of her memoir, “Eat, Pray, Love”, Elizabeth
Gilbert went from unknown novelist to a pop culture icon. While she
loved the success, she found it difficult to write again. Her TED Talk
discusses her journey to success and how both failure and success
motivated her to keep going.
- See more at:
http://www.strayer.edu/buzz/success-project/10-speeches-that-will-inspire-you-to-succeed/#sthash.p7uIirM9.AW4f4Xu8.dpuf
Larson's cultural myths concept posits that an audience will respond to different types of persuasion based on the subconscious cultural myths it holds. Persuaders rely on these myths to further enhance the influence they will have on an audience. Elizabeth Gilbert, famed author of "Eat, Pray, Love," effectively uses many of these myths to share the story of her success, her failure, and her drive to keep creating while she struggled to regain who she really is.
Larson’s wisdom of the rustic myth shares how Americans value humble beginnings while believing that they can learn from difficulties. Elizabeth incorporated this idea in her speech with her own personal story of how she started writing when she was young and failed being published all throughout that time. She then shared how she kept on writing while she was in college and then still as a waitress. For over six years she received one rejection letter after another in the mail. Despite these failures she continued on.
Another myth is that of the possibility of success. In this myth people believe that success is supposed to come to those who have been honest and have worked hard for it. Elizabeth worked hard as a waitress, but even harder as a writer. She felt that she deserved success, because she had put the time and work into it. Her efforts finally paid off when she was finally published and her book was an instant, huge success.
As her success ran out, she then faced a new problem, the presence of conspiracy myth, which is the idea or belief that big problems can't have simple solutions. She had immense success with her book, but now she had the dilemma of having to write an equally successful book in order to still fill her needs. She described how her success had actually taken her just as far from her true self, or who she really was inside, than her failures had. She wanted to get back to this "home"where she could do what she loved to do without worrying about what others thought. She again felt like the young waitress waiting for the rejection letters.
This speech also looks at the myth of the value of challenge. This myth argues that wisdom can only be gained through challenge and suffering. Elizabeth established her challenge and suffering as she continued to describe how she took on her problem of returning "home" to the foundation of writing. She had to go on a quest to find herself again after the success of her book. She shared how she had to face this challenge of discovery and the suffering along the way in order to triumph.
The last myth she used was the myth of the eternal return. This myth focuses on the belief that Americans desire to return to the better times of the past in order to seek to create new beginnings from this foundation. Elizabeth fully embodied this concept of this myth as she described how she desired to return "home" to her roots of writing. She wanted to again be like the waitress, who was happy writing and failing for almost six years before finally seeing success. She felt that this is what made her strong and she wanted to go back to that feeling and place.
Elizabeth used the first process premise of needs very effectively throughout this speech in order to move the audience toward her objective. She used much of Packard's list of compelling needs throughout the speech. She shared her emotional securities while desiring a reassurance of worth and ego gratification as she shared about how her success was great but also how it pulled her away from her base. She shared how her sense of power from her success and accomplishments was just as much of a challenge to her desires as was failure. So, she worked toward finding her love of writing again as her sense of roots, which brought her back to her foundation while advancing her forward in her quest to find what would make her resilient and immortal.
Her ultimate goal for herself was for Maslow's self actualization. Through her quest to find herself she was able to endure much suffering and hardship. Her quest also led her to understanding who she is and what she really wants in life. The premise of pursuing self actualization is apparent through the path she choose. I liked how she was able to portray this to the audience in a brief but effective manner.
Through the process premise of needs and Larsen's cultural myths interwoven into the fabric of her speech, Elizabeth was able to move, motivate, and uplift her audience. This speech embodies many of the qualities equal to many of the best speeches ever given.
After
the huge success of her memoir, “Eat, Pray, Love”, Elizabeth Gilbert
went from unknown novelist to a pop culture icon. While she loved the
success, she found it difficult to write again. Her TED Talk discusses
her journey to success and how both failure and success motivated her to
keep going. - See more at:
http://www.strayer.edu/buzz/success-project/10-speeches-that-will-inspire-you-to-succeed/#sthash.p7uIirM9.AW4f4Xu8.dpuf
For this post, I dipped into the archives of speech videos
that have had a major impact in our society. The opportunity to view a speech
in hindsight and to see its effects on society adds to the analysis of the speech
through the BJ Fogg model of behavior.
I chose the following speech because of the rich content it
contains for analysis as well as the opportunity it will create for discussion or contention in this class. As much as people now say
they dislike Obama and his “reign”, he understands what it takes to persuade
and motivate people to action. At least he did in 2004 when he gave his now
famous speech at the Democratic National Convention.
B J Fogg’s model takes the chaos of psychological
theories and puts them into an understandable order. He groups concepts into
three areas, motivations, abilities, and triggers. All of these must happen at
the same moment in order to affect the desired behavior. He believes that when
a behavior does not happen it is because one of these three main elements are
missing.
In the speech given by then Senator Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, we will
show how he used each of these main elements of Fogg’s model to affect
behavior. We will also look at any of the process premises used through this
speech to determine their effectiveness.
To begin we will look at the motivations described in the
speech. Obama began with the story of his own family and how he and his family were able to rise above the pain of the oppressed to triumph and succeed in this country. In each instance he related how these same things have happened to everyone else out there. His message was that he is just like everyone else.
He furthered the concepts of motivation by making a claim on hope. He explained that because we live in such a great country like America that we can always hope for something better. We can all use the freedoms enumerated by the Constitution to gain a greater hope for a better future. These inspiring phrases hit all of the hot buttons of motivation while dispelling fears of failure.
He finished off the speech with the claim that we are all one. We are one America. We are one in purpose, not Republican and Democrat. We are not Red and Blue states. We are a United States. This image follows Fogg's concept of social acceptance. Challenging his audience to come together and be united in purpose is a great motivator to action.
The next element necessary in Fogg's model cover abilities, or as Fogg also calls them the simplicity factors. These factors relate to things like time, money, and physical effort. Obama related again and again stories about how nice it would be when people could have their health care taken care of and going to college without worrying about how to pay for it. He mentioned that people were willing to make the effort, but the government should be there to help them to the top. Government would take away the hurdles that now stand in the way of people who truly want to succeed. He also focused peoples attention toward how quickly this hope and success could be achieved by sharing how quickly his success had come.
The last element in Fogg's formula is the triggers that facilitate the action. This speech was for the nomination of John Kerry, yet every part of his speech pointed toward an action reflecting his intention to put himself up as the hope and change that this country needed at the time. The context and environment at the time was the facilitator for the needed spark. The spark was seen by his quick rise to stardom in the political world. This speech was a signal to the world that it was time for change. It was time to progress forward and chart a new course for America. People saw that spark in him. They felt like he really could bring them what he was proposing. They wanted him to bring a brighter future of hope and success instead of pain and misery that they had felt through years of war. The timing was perfect for the speech and Obama capitalized on it.
When we look at this speech through the lense of process premises, there are many aspects that Obama used that were effective in motivating his audience further than just that of Fogg's model. He tied in many of the needs mentioned by Vance Packard. He began with a sense of roots by sharing stories of his family's American heritage. He rolled in a lot of emotional security as he talked of hope for a better future. He gave his audience a sense of power and a reassurance of worth as he shared how he is just like everyone else and how even he has been given a place here in our society. He built up the audience's ego by telling them that they have the ability to be as great as their efforts can carry them.
He also used emotion to carry his message to the hearts of his audience. He focused his attention on the more positive emotions in his speech like happiness and joy. He allowed them to feel a great pride in themselves and their country as he would lead them, through John Kerry, to a brighter future and a better America.
Obama created dissonance in the minds of his audience by suggesting that things were all right now, but they could be so much better. He then suggested a solution of hope is the only thing that would fill the emptiness created by the lack of harmony that he had just suggested was in them. This was one of the most powerful tools in this speech.
I know that I have looked at this speech from hindsight and know how it turned out in the next ten years or so. Despite this perspective, I feel that the objective view of this speech is that it hits all of the major elements needed in order to be a great motivational speech. It hit every one of Fogg's elements for affecting behavioral change in people and society. This speech is what propelled him into the spotlight and onto the stage of national politics and then onto the White House four years later. He was able to do this years before Fogg even came up with his theories and model. (Maybe he took a class from professor Young.) Whatever may have happened, I stand on the belief that this is one of the best motivational political speeches given in many decades.
In order to better understand the assignment for this week, I looked up B.J. Fogg's website and found some great information that you should read. Here is the graph that explains the foundation of his concepts:
