John Devine 309A Independence Hall x44739 jde8228u@postoffice.uri.edu

Office Hours: TR 12:00-2:00, or by appointment

“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as the star.” Albert Einstein

Text: Cialdini, Robert. Influence: Science & Practice, 4^th ed. Harper Collin. NY 2001.

Objective: To identify and apply approaches to persuasion. We will examine persuasion from a behavioral and rhetorical perspective. The intent of this examination is to develop the skills to identify different persuasive techniques, as well as developing an understanding of why/how these techniques work. We will accomplish this primarily through class discussion and position papers.

Week	Topic	Reading/Assignments
Sep. 4	Persuasion, Coercion, Extortion, Manipulation	C.1
10/12	Reciprocation – Ch.2	C.2 Pr1 – Thurs.: Examples/Problems w/Recip.
17/19	Speech Acts	Lecture/hand-out
24-26	The Consistency Principal	C.3 Pr2 – Thurs.: Is Consistency reasonable?
Oct. 1/3	Society, truth, judgement	C. 4 Pr3 – Thurs.: What is “natural”?
8/10	Attraction and transference	C. 5 Pr4 – Thurs.: Are we what we buy?
15/17	Authority	C. 6 Pr5 – Thurs: What is authoritative to whom?
22/24	Review & Mid-term	Mid-term, Thurs.

Nov. 5/7	Scarcity and desire	C. 7 Pr6 – Thurs.: Who decides what is desirable?
12/14	Automation	C. 8
19/21	Technology’s persuasion	Pr7 – Thurs. how does technology restrict you?
26/	Does the world change if we talk about it differently?	Judgmental Heuristics/Prospect theory – class handouts
Dec. 3/5	Standards of Judgement Stories we tell


12/17	Final Exam 3-6 pm

Attendance: Attendance is required. It will be carried out as follows: For each class everyone will be expected to have done the requisite reading. I will be selecting people to answer questions. Providing a coherent answer results in a “p” for present, or “p+” for an exceptional answer. No answer, or an answer which reflects unpreparedness for class, results in an “X,” or “not present.” Selection for answers will be random. There will be varying numbers of questions per class. Everyone will be called on.

Grading: Mid-term, 25%. Final, 25%. Final Paper, 20%. Weekly papers, 15%. Attendance, 15%.

Mid-term, Final, & Final Paper, standard A-F grading. Weekly papers: 0, .5, 1, 1.5. 0, not turned-in. .5, turned-in but not on point or not typed. 1, acceptable. 1.5, exceptional. Your average grade on the papers times 15% will equal how much of the 15% you get toward your final grade. (If you turn in all the papers, and get all “1”s, you get the full 15%. If you get all “1.5”s on the papers, you get 15% x 1.5, or 22%. This amounts to 7% extra-credit.) Attendance: Attendance will follow the same procedure as the papers, except that “X” = 0, “P”=1, “P+” = 1.25. Again, there is the possibility for extra-credit.

Please see the student handbook for standards on plagiarism and attendance. Both will be taken very seriously. In summary, the use of others’ ideas or words, whether published or of your fellow students, without proper credit will be grounds for failing the course. Attendance will be taken with equal seriousness. Unexcused absences, in excess of two, will reduce your final grade.

Descriptions:

Attendance Questions: These will fall into two categories: definitions/concepts in the assigned reading, or your opinions about said issues. Note: I expect that all the reading for the week will be done before the Tuesday class. These answers will not be evaluated for “correctness.” They will be evaluated for how well they demonstrate that you are prepared for class, not how “right” you are. Grading is a form of pass/fail.

Weekly papers: 1 to 2 pages, typed, double-spaced, 10 or 12 point font, 1 inch margins, no title page required. These are intended to focus your thinking about persuasion on the topic of the week. This will usually happen by asking you to reflect on your experiences or to take a position on a conflicting/controversial aspect of persuasion. I do not expect these to be research papers. They will be evaluated on your thoroughness in applying the concepts from class to the issue in question, and, the quality of argument/reasoning demonstrated in the writing. I define this quality by how clearly you explain/support your conclusions, claims, opinions. Grading is a form of pass/fail.

Final Paper: 6 to 8 pages, typed, double-spaced, 10 or 12 point font, 1 inch margins, title page, MLA or APA citing for sources (my personal preference is MLA footnotes), bibliography. This paper is a report/exploration intended to combine an area of life in which you are interested. This can take many forms: different forms of persuasion used in a specific context, in a specific business or by a specific artist/art form, etc.; the different contexts/ways/situations a specific form of persuasion can be used; a critique of a particular theory of persuasion; etc. This paper will be graded on both form and content, equally weighted.

Plagiarism and Attendance: Plagiarism will result in a failing grade, and reporting to the appropriate offices. See the student handbook for details. Be particularly careful with this issue in this class as we will be relying on lots of sources requiring citing. The handbook also contains details on attendance policies. Unexcused absences, in excess of two, will result in a decrease in you final grade beyond the policies explained above.

Access and Assistance: This course requires intensive reading, library research, note taking, and aural processing (listening skills). The reading and library work take place outside of class and time is limited by your own schedule. Aural processing and note taking are critical as you must listen to people make arguments and take notes on them as the argument is made. If you require any assistance in these areas, whether this needs stems from learning disabilities, lack of practice, lack of information (about the library, note taking strategies, etc.), please talk to me.