Theories of the Visual: Part II

1. Theories of the Visual:Part II October 13, 2011

2. The Psychology of Rhetorical Images Charles A. Hill

3. The Psychology of Rhetorical Images “How exactly do images persuade? In other words, how do representational images work to influence the beliefs, attitudes, opinions—and sometimes actions—of those who view them?” (25) Kevin Carter’s 1994 Pulitzer Prize Winning Photo

4. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate

5. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate Cultural Studies

6. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate Cultural Studies Conventional Wisdom

7. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate Cultural Studies • “scholars analyze the way in which culturally shared values and assumptions are utilized in persuasive communication”(26) • “how these shared values and assumptions influence viewers’ responses to mass-produced images”(26) Conventional Wisdom

8. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate Cultural Studies • “scholars analyze the way in which culturally shared values and assumptions are utilized in persuasive communication”(26) • “how these shared values and assumptions influence viewers’ responses to mass-produced images”(26) Conventional Wisdom • “representational images tend to prompt emotional reactions and that, once the viewer’s emotions are excited, they tend to override his or her rational faculties. . .”(26)

9. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate

10. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate Psychology

11. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate Psychology • “Psychological research suggests that this conventional explanation of the rhetorical power of images is broadly accurate in outline, although inadequate for explaining how persuasive images work”(26)

12. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate Psychology • “Psychological research suggests that this conventional explanation of the rhetorical power of images is broadly accurate in outline, although inadequate for explaining how persuasive images work”(26) What Hill’s Up To

13. Approaches to Understanding How Visual Appeals Operate Psychology • “Psychological research suggests that this conventional explanation of the rhetorical power of images is broadly accurate in outline, although inadequate for explaining how persuasive images work”(26) What Hill’s Up To • “Ultimately, a comprehensive theory of visual persuasion will need to incorporate insights gathered from a variety of viewpoints and methodologies, including cultural, psychological, and textual studies. . .”(26)

14. “However, many rhetorical concepts already exist that were not developed exclusively for the study of verbal elements, and it makes sense to begin a study of rhetorical images by mining these concepts to see what insights they may offer that could be applied to such images” (27).

15. Images and Rhetorical Presence

16. Images and Rhetorical Presence • “Presence”

17. Images and Rhetorical Presence • “refers to the extent to which an object or concept is foremost in the consciousness of the audience members . . . elements with enhanced presence will have a greater influence over the audience’s attitudes and beliefs”(28) • “Presence”

18. Images and Rhetorical Presence • “an object or person is more present to us when we can see it directly” (29) • “Presence”

19. Images and Rhetorical Presence • “an object or person is more present to us when we can see it directly” (29) Consider the difference rhetorically between this and this. Both these artifacts are “about” the same subject. Which has more impact? Why?

20. Images and Rhetorical Presence • “an object or person is more present to us when we can see it directly” (29) • “The phenomenon of presence in inherently linked to visual perception”(29) • “a photograph is an “index”—it proves the existence of an object (29) Consider the difference rhetorically between this and this. Both these artifacts are “about” the same subject. Which has more impact? Why?

21. The Psychology of Rhetorical Images “vividness”

22. The Psychology of Rhetorical Images “vividness” • “vivid information is identified as information that is emotionally interesting and concrete” (31) • “the more vivid the information, the more likely it is that the information will prompt an emotional response from the receiver”(31)

23. The Psychology of Rhetorical Images “vividness” BUT… • “although many studies have shown vivid evidence to be more persuasive than non-vivid information, several other studies found no persuasive advantage for vividness” (32).

24. Vivid Information and Emotions • Evolutionary responses • Cultural forces

25. Vivid Information and Emotions • Evolutionary responses • Cultural forces • “In many persuasive appeals that use images, the images elicit emotions largely because these images instantiate one of these [cultural values], and evoking one of these cultural constructs causes the emotions that are linked to it to be instantiated”(35)

26. Building Connections What Scholars Agree On: • Persuasive elements that evoke strong emotions in the audience tend to have an extraordinary amount of persuasive power • This phenomenon is connected to visual perception; the production of mental images is more likely to have more persuasive weight (35-36)

27. Advertising “a visceral response to a stimulus” not a “conscious decision”(37)

28. The Rhetoric of Visual Arguments J. Anthony Blair

29. The Rhetoric of Visual Arguments “I take it as part of my task, then, to address the relationship among these three: rhetoric, argument, and the visual. How can there be visual arguments when arguments as we usually know them are verbal? And if there can be visual arguments, what is their rhetorical aspect?. . .What does being visual add to arguments?”(41)

30. The Rhetoric of Visual Arguments The enthymeme: “an argument in which the arguer deliberately leaves unstated a premise that is essential to its reasoning. Doing so has the effect of drawing in the audience to participate in its own persuasion by filling in that unexpressed premise.”(41)

31. Logic Lesson!

32. Logic Lesson! Syllogism

33. Logic Lesson! Syllogism Enthymeme

34. Logic Lesson! Syllogism Enthymeme All cats are mammals. (major premise)

35. Logic Lesson! Syllogism Enthymeme All cats are mammals. (major premise) Fluffy is a cat.(minor premise)

36. Logic Lesson! Syllogism Enthymeme All cats are mammals. (major premise) Fluffy is a cat.(minor premise) Therefore, fluffy is a mammal. (conclusion)

37. Logic Lesson! Syllogism Enthymeme Some politicians are corrupt. All cats are mammals. (major premise) Fluffy is a cat.(minor premise) Therefore, fluffy is a mammal. (conclusion)

38. Logic Lesson! Syllogism Enthymeme Some politicians are corrupt. Therefore, Senator Jones could be corrupt. All cats are mammals. (major premise) Fluffy is a cat.(minor premise) Therefore, fluffy is a mammal. (conclusion)

39. Edward P. J. Corbett described the difference between syllogism and enthymeme this way: "[T]he syllogism leads to a necessary conclusion from universally true premises but the enthymeme leads to a tentative conclusion from probable premises. In dealing contingent human affairs, we cannot always discover or confirm what truth is." Logic Lesson! Syllogism Enthymeme Some politicians are corrupt. Therefore, Senator Jones could be corrupt. All cats are mammals. (major premise) Fluffy is a cat.(minor premise) Therefore, fluffy is a mammal. (conclusion)

40. Defining Rhetoric

41. Defining Rhetoric • Olivier Reboul: “Here, then, is the definition we propose: rhetoric is the art of persuading by means of speech.”(42)

42. Defining Rhetoric • Olivier Reboul: “Here, then, is the definition we propose: rhetoric is the art of persuading by means of speech.”(42) • Sonja Foss, Karen Foss and Robert Trapp: rhetoric is “the uniquely human ability to use symbols to communicate with one another” –including visual rhetoric (42)

43. Persuasion • For Reboul: “rhetorical persuasion consists in causing someone to believe by means of speech” (42) • For Blair: “What seems to be a necessary ingredient in persuasion as a kind of cause of behavior change is that the person persuaded assents to the pressure of the vector of influence” (43).

44. Persuasion • For Reboul: “rhetorical persuasion consists in causing someone to believe by means of speech” (42) • For Blair: “What seems to be a necessary ingredient in persuasion as a kind of cause of behavior change is that the person persuaded assents to the pressure of the vector of influence” (43). • The person consciously assents

45. Against Arguments Being Visual • The Vagueness Objection • Answer: vagueness inhabits both spoken and written arguments (46)

46. Against Arguments Being Visual • Visual Communication does not have truth values and so cannot convey propositions (47) • Answer #1: Propositions are essential; it is possible to express propositions visually (47) • Answer #2: Arguments are used for primary purposes other than to cause belief change (ie. changing attitudes, behavior) (48)

47. The “Daisy” ad • “. . .visual arguments constitute the species of visual persuasion in which the visual elements overlie, accentuate, render vivid and immediate, and otherwise elevate in forcefulness a reason or set of reasons offered for modifying a belief, an attitude or one’s conduct. What distinguishes visual arguments from other forms of visual persuasion is that in the case of the former it is possible to enunciate reasons given to support a claim, whereas in the case of the latter no such element is present.”(50-51)

48. Genres of Visual Argument

49. Genres of Visual Argument • Cartoons

50. Genres of Visual Argument • Cartoons • Film