Marwell & Schmitt's Taxonomy Influence Tactics

The Magic Bullet

My first thought was to use an infomercial to show the numerous ways Marwell and Schmitt's Taxonomy is used to sell things, but as I was looking through my news feed I saw the eulogy President Obama gave for Beau Biden. Although it was fascinating to see President Obama give a speech in a completely different setting, something that was not political, I just could not find a way to make it fit into Marwell and Schmitt's Taxonomy, even though it would have worked for any of the other three persuasion applications (too bad it wasn't available for the Triumphant Individual parable). Therefore, I went back to an infomercial. This is the infomercial for the Magic Bullet.

The $60 Magic Bullet brought in $250 million dollars in just over a year. Some of you might own a magic bullet, but watching the infomercial one may think it is too good to be true. However millions of people were sold on the message.This infomercial uses the tactic based on Rewards. The banner flashing across the the ad cannot be ignored. It offers a magic bullet system free... but you have to stay tuned to find out how. The banner is offering a reward for not changing the channel and watching all of the infomercial.

It's the personal counter top magician! It is time saving by being quick, easy, and simple. If you order right now you can get the 17 piece system for $99, plus shipping and handling of course. Call now to get the the bullet juicer FREE. A $400 value. Call in the next twelve minutes and you get a second 21 piece Bullet system FREE! Plus, a 30 day money back guarantee. All of these things are rewards for ordering the Magic Bullet system. Using rewards is a great way to sell things, which is why if it is used in a speech it may be easier for the person speaking to sell whatever their point is to the audience.

The Process Premises

The Magic Bullet I believe could be considered a love object under the needs premise.  The infomercial tells you all the reasons you need this product. In the second process premise I would say that the emotions of happiness/joy are present. One will be happier with this product because it will make their life easier. It will save them time in preparing meals. I also think the third process premise of attitudes is shown by the cognitive influence this ad can have on people. There is a reason this this product brought in $250 million in just over a year. Either it is really that good, or the Rewards and the process premises were that good in selling the product. I believe it is the latter.

Reich's Cultural Parable: The Rot at the Top

The Watergate Scandal

 

Alright, so I might lose a few points for this not being a speech, but this photo I found online fits the Rot at the Top Parable perfectly. Then again, Nixon could be replaced by any politician and they would fit into this parable. The Rot at the Top definition is as follows: The fourth parable is about the malevolence of powerful elites, be they wealthy aristocrats, prestigious administrators, rapacious business leaders, or imperious government officials. The American parable differs subtly, but profoundly from a superficially similar European mythology.

The Watergate Scandal, arguably, may be the most famous one in U.S. history. It doesn't just show the rot at the top, but it also shows where the triumphant individual can go wrong. According to Reich Myth, "corruption seems to be an inevitable outcome of concentrated power and privilege due to the filthiest weakness of human nature- insatiable greed."

Watergate is definitely a tale of corruption, decadence, and irresponsibility in high places. Not to mention the conspiracy against the common citizen. I liked this example because the process premises can be seen.

The Process Premises
In the first process premise of needs it shows ego-gratification, reassurance of worth, and Nixon's need for a sense of power. In the second process premise it shows fear and pride. Nixon was so fearful he would lose his power that he intentionally abused his power of government. And he was prideful enough to think he could get away with it. With the third process premise the attitudes of the government at the time show an influence on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functions. The fourth process premise of consistency shows all the sources of cognitive dissonance, including the Loss of Group Prestige, Economic Loss, Loss of Personal Prestige and the Uncertainty of Prediction. These are all relevant with Nixon and the Watergate Scandal.

As the Reich Myth says, 'Power corrupts, and prestige perverts.'

Libertarians- Political Informative

Summary of Out-of-Class Presentation

I did not have a clue what a Libertarian was or what they believed, especially politically. After researching it I found that their purpose and beliefs were not much different than mine. With elections coming up I wanted to inform my family members about what I had learned of Libertarians.  

I gave this speech to fifteen of my family members on Sunday May 24. The audience included two sisters, three brothers and all of their spouses, my husband, mom, dad, and two of my nephews. Everyone was over the age of eighteen and identify themselves as republican. Children were also present, but I only addressed the adults and had only the adults fill out the Likert survey. I took about eight minutes to give the speech and felt as though I fumbled on my words quite a bit, honestly. However, I had to quiet my antagonizing brother that wanted to interrupt to ask questions, so that didn’t help my case much.

Overall, I feel as though the presentation went alright, but could have gone better. I didn’t really rehearse because with it being my family members I was not too worried about it. Big mistake! They were much more critical than expected. I cannot hold it against them, since this works in my favor. Now I know what to work on for the class presentations. My slide presentation was shown on a chrome-book, so I had to turn around to switch the slide. You will see with my survey questions that this did not really work in my favor. I got some good feedback, but two or three people did not understand what some of the survey questions meant so I had to explain them, and even then I wasn’t sure if they understood.

The Likert survey went as follows:

Likert Scale Survey for Amber Reid’s Out-of-Class Presentation

1-Strongly Disagree    2-Disagree    3-Neutral    4-Agree    5-Strongly Agree

1) The speaker defines and states a clear thesis, and identifies propositions to

   support their thesis?

1 2 3 4 5

Nine people gave me a 4, four people gave me a 3, and two people gave me a 5.

2) The speaker integrated (made good use of) the slide presentation without it

    over shadowing the speech?

1 2 3 4 5

Seven people gave me a 4, six people gave me a 3, and two gave me a 5.

3) The speaker articulated, used dynamics in tone rate, speed and pitch, and

   engaged the audience non-verbally through appropriate movement and eye

   contact?

1 2 3 4 5

Ten people gave me a 3, four people gave me a 4, and one person gave me a 2.

4) The speaker kept text at a minimum in their presentation?

1 2 3 4 5

Twelve fours, and three 5’s on this one.

5) The speaker kept self-checking at a minimum?

1 2 3 4 5

Ten people gave me a 3, and five gave me a 2 (I didn’t realize I had such a bad habit of looking back at the screen! Whenever I got stuck I would check the screen, even though it was not much help).

6) The speaker organized propositions logically or chronologically?

1 2 3 4 5

Eight people gave me a 4, four gave me a 3, and three gave me a 5.

7) The speaker transitions summarizing and/or relating information from one point

    to next, orally and visually?

1 2 3 4 5

Seven people gave me a 3, six gave me a 2, and one gave me a 4. It was usually during transitions that I was tempted to look back at the screen and find my place. Plus, I had to flip through all the slides to get back to my spot. Again, my family was much more critical than I thought they would be.

Overall, I thought the process was a good learning experience. I did thank them all for being there and for their support, which I will not do when presenting in class.

Larsen's Cultural Images and Myths

Jimmy Valvano's Acceptance Speech at 1993 ESPYs

I have had this speech in mind since week one of this class. I found that it fit in perfectly with Larsen's Cultural Myths. I watch this speech every year with my husband. It is a hard one to forget. This is Jim Valvano speaking at the 1993 ESPYs a month before he died of cancer. He was the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Award. I cannot imagine where he found the strength and energy to give this speech as vibrantly as he did. It is an older speech, yes, but one that has stuck with me. There are many things in his speech that apply to Larsen's Cultural Law. I will start with The Wisdom of the Rustic.

The Wisdom of the Rustic: where we come from. At 6:30 mark he said, "I remember where I came from. It is so important to know where you are right now. How do you go from where you are to where you want to be?" This is a great question and Jimmy V answers it by saying you have to have and enthusiasm for life, you have to have a dream, a goal, and you have to work for it. This leads into the possibility of success. Valvano knows all about the possibility to be successful. He tells a story about his first coaching experience, and how he was going to get his team to be successful. 

At the 2:40 mark he discusses the attitudes. He says that if a person can laugh, think, and cry in a day, then that is a full day. He talks about this again at the 7:30 mark. He challenges the audience to enjoy life, the precious moments they have, to spend each day with some laughter, some thought, to get emotions going and to be enthusiastic everyday, and to keep their dreams alive no matter what challenges they may have. He then brings everything back together by tying it back into the rustic of the wisdom. He knows where he is and he knows what he wants to do. At this moment he announces his partnership with ESPN to create the cancer foundation. 

He then gives the audience another challenge to rise to the occasion. After Jimmy announces his foundation for cancer research he persuades people to support either the AIDS or the cancer foundations. I noticed that he is passionate about cancer research, but did not want to take away form anything that could go to AIDS foundations. 

The Process Premises

This is a very passionate speech from Jimmy Valvano. This speech touches on three of the process premises. The first process premise of needs uses emotional security and the sense of roots. The second premise of emotions is used a lot with happiness, joy, laughter, and he talks about not being fearful. The third process premise of attitudes is also used. He tries to change peoples attitudes toward their outlook on life and to be more positive and enthusiastic. 

Fogg's BCM

The Speech That Made Barack Obama President

President Barack Obama gave one of his finest speeches before he was even president. In 2004 he delivered the keynote address for the Democratic National Convention. He was speaking on behalf of John Kerry who was the Democratic candidate running against George Bush in 2004. As we all know John Kerry did not win that election. However, I believe Barack Obama used BJ Fogg's behavioral change model so well with this speech that if he had been running for president in 2004 chances are he would have won. The majority of people did not know who Obama was before this speech. This is the speech that made people say 'who is this guy?'


Although, a Democrat did not win the presidential   election in 2004, there were many factors playing   into that, but this speech was not one of those           reasons.

Motivation

Obama used the anticipation of hope. He also           offers acceptance in his speech. He uses repetition   stating that it does not matter whether one is a         democrat, republican, Black, White, Hispanic, or     Asian we are still the United States of America       and we are one, as in a whole. He states that it         does not matter what your background is or what occupation you have we are still one united nation. Obama not only makes people feel accepted and part of this country, but he gets them to accept that there is hope for everyone. He also gets them to accept that it is possible for both side of congress to work together as one.  On a sensory level the crowd is definitely pleased.

Ability

Obama keeps motivation high which keeps a person's ability to believe in hope, and in the country high. This can be seen during the 2008 election when Obama is running for president on his campaign for change. Obama motivated this crowd enough that even four years prior to him winning the presidency the majority of people did not know who he was. This motivation gave the country the belief that they did have the ability to create a change four years after the speech was given.

Triggers

Obama uses many triggers in this speech to show people they have the ability and get them to act. Some of those triggers are letting people know that they have a place in America, and that great things can happen. He gets Americans to recognize that this country is still great and it is the people who make it that way. Motivation, ability, and triggers must be used together in creating a change. Barack Obama uses all three of these things throughout his speech, simultaneously. According to Fogg "Without a Trigger, the target behavior will not happen. Sometimes a Trigger can be external, like an alarm sounding." I believe this speech was like an alarm sounding to this audience which would cause them to act.