Appunti inglese

Communication

Communication is commonly defined as “the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinion, or information by speech, writing or signs”. Communication is an exchange and progression of thoughts, feelings, or ideas.

Types of communication

There are three major parts in human face-to-face communication which are body language, voice tonality, and words:

• 55% of impact is determined by body language —> non-verbal communication
• 38% by the tone of voice —> para-verbal communication
• 7% by the content or the words —> verbal communication

The message is conveyed by verbal communication (words) while how you say it is conveyed by non-verbal communication (body language and voice).

• VC: verbal communication (language used, we can refer to correctness, creativeness, appropriateness)
• NVC: non-verbal communication (gestures, postures, mimicry, eye contact, distance, clothing)
• PVC: para-verbal communication (non-verbal elements, rhythm, pitch, pauses)

First impressions count, and they are based on what we see (non-verbal elements). The kind of language is fundamental also for politicians. How they look, dress, for example, account for communication. People are subject to our ideas, opinions, stereotypes, prejudices.

Persuasion

We communicate to inform or to persuade. Persuasion is a general term of influence. Persuasion can attempt to influence attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviors. The process aims to change a person’s or a group’s attitude or behavior toward some event, idea, or object by using written, spoken words, or visual tools to convey information, feelings, or reasoning, or a combination of these. Language is a powerful means to persuade others and make them cooperative.

Robert Cialdini wrote “Influence” in 1993 and spoke about the psychology of persuasion and how it works. He is one of the most important scholars of persuasion. He identified what he calls “weapons of influence” which are the direct result of his own research in the field. These weapons at the base of the persuasive techniques are:

• Reciprocity
• Commitment and consistency
• Social proof
• Authority
• Liking
• Scarcity

He says we are all victims because we suffer these elements, as people use these elements against us, but we also use them to persuade others.

1. Reciprocity

The rule of reciprocity says that we should repay the favor that someone gives to us. The author cites an example of an earthquake in Mexico and the Ethiopians sending money to help the population to repay what Mexico had done in Ethiopia after the Italian invasion (1935).

2. Commitment and consistency

Human beings are obsessed with the sense of duty and consistency of the obligation assumed. This is a way used by people who want to obtain something, so they lead you to say something in public so that you will feel obliged to do it.

3. Social proof

The tendency of people to act according to the typical mode of the masses and to consider appropriate action to the extent in which you see others taking the same action.

4. Authority

It is connected to the fact that from birth we are trained to judge obedience to authority as a right thing and to consider the opposite behavior as wrong. Political power is one of the indicators typically associated with authority, so in the words of some rulers and top government officials, they find the persuasive force arising from their role.

5. Liking (affinità)

We are influenced by the people that we have an interest or attraction in. We are inclined to attribute to good-looking people, features such as talent, honesty, kindness, and intelligence. So those who possess these characteristics can be more persuasive than others. This also explains the growing care that politicians take of their image in recent years.

6. Scarcity

Scarcity, real or perceived, of what belongs to us, provokes a sense of fear and danger. We are more affected by the idea of a potential loss rather than a potential gain so we are moved to act if we are going to lose something rather than getting something we don’t have. For example, discrimination (British jobs for British workers).

Jakobson’s model

Jakobson defined six components of communication:

• Context: informative function —> given information, making observation.
• Adresser (sender): emotive functions —> focused on himself.
• Addressee (receiver): cognitive functions —> we say something to produce an effect on the receiver. Focus on the receiver.
• Contact (channel): phatic function —> when we say something just to start communication.
• Common code: metalinguistic function —> something related to the code, focus on the code.
• Message: poetic function —> focus on the meaning.

Conative function

It focuses on the reader/receiver/addressee. It is used to call upon the addressee to act, think, or feel, to react in the way intended by the text. Its aim is to produce a certain effect/response on the addressee, to convince, to persuade.

• Explicit by order, request, demand, warning, advice
• Implicit by thoughts expressive means changing people’s minds

We think that when we want to persuade somebody, we want to use the imperative just because it corresponds to ordering. The cognitive function is most effective if we use questions. Example: advertising Adidas demonstrates that phatic function aims to draw attention from the receiver. The company tries to take attention to the imitation and its harm to health. The advertisement convinces people with the aim not to buy imitation.

Chapter 1

Language is the main instrument that a politician can use. Language is fundamental to develop political activities. Politics is the working of institutions of governance and the interrelations of social groups. The language of politics comprises all the discourses produced by groups within a society and the language used by institutions of governance to conduct their business, to communicate with other institutions and society. Politics is a mediated activity: TV and radio, the paper press, and the website.

• Democratic politics is the art of persuasion, also called rhetoric. Persuasion is achieved by the skillful use of language. Rhetoric is the art of persuading others; influencing their thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors through the use of language.
• In totalitarian regimes, rulers adopt coercion and manipulation of information (Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, North Korea).
• In pluralistic democracies, language becomes the tool used in debates for persuading.

The art of persuasion was born in Greece and applied to politics, law, and speeches. Aristotle regards persuasion as a theory of human interaction; it consists of using words to form attitudes or introduce actions in other people: ethos, logos, pathos. Modern studies regard the effect speakers wish to have on their audience. Plato regards rhetoric as manipulative. The rhetorician is someone who alters reality. Truth can only be discovered and explained by the philosopher. In modern times, the knowledge of how to use the technique of persuasion permits one to preserve and exercise power.

Spin Doctors: a category who cast a favorable light on the institution of authority. They tend to interfere with reality, showing what’s positive and brushing under the carpet what they don’t like. Spin doctors are needed because politicians think that the modern press is obsessed with scandal and conflict, always distorting their messages with fake news. Spin doctors are used also by major companies, pressure groups, lobbies, charities, and NGOs. The spin doctor and the wolf pack have a press secretary whose job is to meet the press and respond to their questions.

Chapter 2: Evaluation

Evaluation is the very basis of persuasion in politics as in life. It indicates whether the speaker thinks that something is good or bad. The persuader uses evocative language to convince the audience that their opinions are good, their proposals are logical, and they are honest while the alternatives are not.

There are 2 types:

Implicit (Covert)

It is not overtly expressed but can be recognized as good or bad when it occurs.

Explicit (Overt)

It is important to split into 3 parts:

• Grammatic evaluation: expressed through grammatical elements.
• Comparatives: ways to express what you think of the situation.
• Transitivity: is the grammatical structure which tells us ‘who does what to whom’. If the action...