Make your persuasive speech make sense - causation matters

A persuasive speech is, among many things, an argument. It is difficult to persuade thoroughly without your position passing the “does it make sense?” test. Virtually every audience will reject an idea if they cannot see reason in it. Research shows that the more educated an audience is, the less they rely on sentiment, butterflies and warm fuzzies, and the more they are moved by sound arguments.

This article is the first in a series called “Making your speech make sense” where I discuss common logical traps and fallacies that speakers commit and how to avoid them. See another article on using persuasive claims here.

This installation discusses one common but deadly logical trap that speakers fall into – False causation. Read on to discover what it is, how it may be hurting your speeches and how to avoid it. Let us begin.

False Causation

This is the single most common logical trap speakers fall into. In fact, it is not isolated to speakers, we all fall prey to false causation at different times in our lives – daily.

A, therefore, B, therefore, C. This is the stuff of causality.

False causality is when we take two or more connected or correlated events and then assert that one caused the other. For example, consider this statement:In Calgary, road construction happens in summer, therefore summer causes road construction.Does it though? Does it really?A little thought will show why this position is a false causation. Probably summer weather conditions are factors influencing the choice to schedule road construction and maintenance for that period but does summer actually cause road construction? I’m going with no.

The speaker (and human) causation dilemma

For speakers, the false causation, while found in almost every kind of speech, is especially common in inspirational and motivational speeches. In these speeches, the content tends to be subjective and often anecdotal. It can be tricky in these kinds of speeches to find hard, objective concepts that will carry through with certainty. Perhaps you have heard refrains like “all you need to succeed in life is hard work”. Sure, hard work helps and, yes a lot of successful people are also hard working. But there are also a lot of unsuccessful hardworking people and a lot of lazy successful people.

The difficulty in being persuasive while simultaneously contradicting ourselves is evident.As humans, we want a simple linear explanation of reality – a simple causality. Therefore, it is easy to create (and believe) false causalities. For those who see through it though, the purveyors of such false causalities quickly lose all credibility. Don’t let that purveyor be you.  It might be tempting to sacrifice logic and reason for persuasion and punchiness, but you do so at the risk of your credibility. It is much better to do the extra work of testing your assumptions – this will give you more confidence and can actually enhance your persuasion if used properly.

Test your causation position

Testing your position is crucial. Better for you to find the holes (and plug them) than for the audience to (they may not plug them). Whenever you find yourself stating a cause and effect relationship, pause. Check to see if you have any proof of the causation. Ask yourself a few questions:

Is reality more complicated that you are assuming? (It almost always is).

If I apply this cause, in different contexts, can I predict the outcome reliably?

That is, is there predictive power to this position? If the answer is no, then look again.

If these questions yield answers that show weakness in your causation position, this doesn’t mean your idea is completely useless. It might just mean that you need more clarity around contexts, supporting factors and exceptions. Knowing these helps you craft a more compelling and well-rounded argument. If nothing else, it makes you well prepared if there is a question and answer period.

Use your verified causation to max effect

If you do find that the causality is true, then milk it for all it’s worth. This can be very persuasive when you walk your audience through the different ways in which the causality holds up. Walk them through any doubts – phrases like “you might think this is a one-off situation but….” and “I thought this was a fluke but when I look at …. I realized that it wasn’t, because...”

This is a very economical way to answer your audience’s possible unvoiced objections while at the same time showing them that you respect their intelligence and have taken the time and effort to think through your position before presenting it to them.  For the right audience, this can be much more persuasive than a fluffy anecdote , useful as that may be.

Until the next article, speak with skill