W11: Appeal to Emotion

                Appeal to emotion is an argument that is used to cater to or manipulate a person’s emotions.  A person’s emotions are very important to consider when presenting an argument.  It is possible to appeal to fear, consequences, flattery, pity, vanity, ridicule, spite, or ignorance.  An appeal to emotion that strikes me is the appeal to flattery.   This strikes me because flattery is a very manipulative way to get what you want.

               An example of an appeal to flattery would be if a student was sent to the principal’s office for bad behavior.  The student should be punished, however the student sweet talks and flatters the principal by saying things like, “Surely a man as intelligent, generous, and kind as you can find it in your big heart to let this go.”  The principal is so overwhelmed with compliments and praise and the principal decides to let the student off the hook.  This is an appeal to flattery because the student used flattery to hide their own faults and to get the principal to support their argument.