The key element in negotiation is power. This case study shows how one conservative group (ONE, the Organization of the Northeast, a Chicago community group) used "radical rhetoric" to achieve functional power in negotiations for community improvements. "Radical rhetoric" employs the tactics and the strategies used by…

This study relates Eric Berne's theory of Transactional Analysis to the effectiveness of advertising messages. A 30 item Personality Mode Test was constructed in order to assess subject agreement with statements reflecting Berne's three personality states: parent (social evaluative), adult (controlled rationality), and child (emotiveness). After…

This study investigates the effect of mode of expression on the syntactic complexity of writing produced by third-grade children. Approximately 200 samples of writing in the modes of argumentation, exposition, narration, and description were collected from 50 third graders in the Atlanta school district. Syntactic complexity, as measured by length…

The basic requirements of all good prose are clarity, accuracy, brevity, and simplicity. Especially in public prose--in which the meaning is the crux of the article or speech--concise, vigorous English demands a minimum of adjectives, a maximum use of the active voice, nouns carefully chosen, a logical argument with no labored or obscure points,…

This analysis of argumentation considers three separate, yet interrelated, aspects of the persuasive argument: evidence, warrant, and claim. A study of each of these components is presented in separate chapters with an examination of the role and standards each must carry out in formulating sound, logical proof. A classification of types of…

This study was devised to determine whether teaching a unit on propaganda analysis to sixth graders would improve their ability to detect propaganda devices in literature and the mass media. An experimental group of students participated in a four week unit on propaganda techniques while a control group completed reading comprehension exercises. A…

This paper provides a format for teaching elementary school students the skills necessary to analyze and evaluate commercial propaganda. Three steps suggested for the teaching of critical listening are setting a standard of highly conscious criteria in the minds of the listener, sifting the evidence and making a critical judgment, and drawing a…

During the late nineteenth century, political rhetoric in some regions of the United States was affected by the philosophy of "populism," based on the belief that government exists to serve all the people, not just special interests. The Populist Party thrived in isolated rural areas, particularly the Dakota territories, at a time when…

This paper presents a review of the current literature on the new rhetoric. It traces the noticeable resurgence of interest in rhetoric among teachers of English and composition since the College Composition and Communication Conference in Los Angeles in the spring of 1963, citing the contributions of Martin J. Steinmann, Kenneth Burke, Francis…

Psychophysiological research into the effects of mass media, specifically the music of the masses, promises increased insight into the control the media exert on all their consumers. Attention and retention of mass media messages can be tested by measuring the receiver's electrodernal activity, pupil dilation, peripheral vasodilation, and heart…

Because of outside pressures, interscholastic debate is currently experiencing a period of criticism and self-examination, a factor which should cause debate directors to seek innovations in their programs. The best opportunities for experimentation are at workshops and summer institutes. One suggestion is that teams be given options in alloting…

Rhetorical critics generally base their comments on the assumption that a communicator has all the reasons, persuasive devices, and approaches available in the rhetorical situation, and that he can make choices of what should be utilized. The lawyer-persuader, however, does not have unlimited choice since he is bound by legal rules and…

In this teacher's guide to the textbook called "Persuasion" the emphasis is on assisting the teacher to develop in his students the skills of critical and creative thinking. Each instructional unit moves from the experience of persuasive techniques, through critical analysis, to the creative practice of the technique in question. Essays on…

The authors contend that the personality construct of "Machiavellianism" should be of concern to communication researchers because of its implicit relationship to the process of persuasion. Two studies are reported which investigate the relationship between the Machiavellian personality and two variables in the persuasive process: source…

In this study of the organizational patterns of 46 United States presidential inaugural addresses there were four research questions, relating to the overall pattern of the speeches and the internal structure of ideas and topics. Key findings indicate that: (1) 25 of the 46 speeches have three easily discernible parts--introduction, body,…