Appeal (communication)

An appeal is a function of interpersonal communication in linguistics and psychology . The call can be aimed at action or inaction. Analog or digital messages can be used on a verbal or non-verbal level. A non-verbal appeal that has a clear situational effect can e.g. B. be waving an arm to someone seeking help.

species

There are three types of appeals:

• The rational appeal highlights the benefits or advantages for the addressees ( product quality , economy );
• the emotional appeal creates positive ( joy , pride , humor ) or negative feelings ( fear , guilt );
• the moral appeal aims at insight , understanding or willingness to cooperate and is intended to arouse a sense of justice or helpfulness in the addressees.

This classification goes back to Aristotle , who called these types in his work Rhetoric as rhetorical means of persuasion with "logos", "pathos" and "ethos".

Appeals of this kind are often the subject of political communication .

linguistics

According to Karl Bühler (see Organon model ), the appeal function is one of the axioms of linguistics . It is addressed to one or more recipients and is intended to change their attitudes or behavior. The appeal includes a call for action or inaction. The appellative text function typically dominates in text classes such as advertising. The roll call can be more or less open or covert.

The different forms of appeal are:

• request
• You're welcome
• command
• persuasion

Literary studies

In literary studies, the study of the appeal function of texts began more recently with Roman Jakobson's theory of text functions and is explicitly continued in Wolfgang Iser's aesthetic of effect.

Roll call level with Friedemann Schulz von Thun

In the four-page model (also called "communication square" or "four-ears-model") of the communication by Friedemann Schulz von Thun is a level or, taken any notice by the recipient of the four aspects of the on hearing the appeal . The four sides can superimpose one another so that, for example, the content aspect or the call to action largely disappears behind the emotions of the message.

Von Thun deals with several problem categories: An appeal can in principle meet with rejection, even if its content is justified, as long as the relationship level between sender and recipient does not allow it to be followed, e.g. B. because it would violate the freedom or honor of the recipient. In this context, he describes the complex defense reaction of reactance . Furthermore, appeals cannot bring about “profound” changes (e.g. a friend is advised to quit smoking), in most cases “well-intentioned” advice is even harmful.

See also

• Admonition , Fear Appeal

literature

linguistics

• Karl Bühler : The Axiomatics of Linguistics . In: Kant studies 38. Frankfurt, 1933. pp. 19–90.

Literary studies

• Wolfgang Iser: The appeal structure of the texts. Indeterminacy as a condition for the effect of literary prose . In: R. Warning (Ed.): Reception aesthetics . Munich 1975.
• H. Link: 'The appeal structure of the texts' and a 'paradigm shift in literary studies'? In: Yearbook of the German Schiller Society 17, 1973. pp. 532–583.

psychology

• Friedemann Schulz von Thun : Talking to each other : disruptions and clarifications. Psychology of Interpersonal Communication . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1981. ISBN 3499174898

Individual evidence

1. ^ Siegfried J. Schmidt, Handbuch Werbung , 2004, pp. 101 ff.
2. ^ Aristotle / Christof Rapp: Rhetoric. 2002, 1356a2 - 20.
3. ↑ Friedemann Schulz von Thun: Talking to one another 1 - disturbances and clarifications. General psychology of communication . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1981, ISBN 3-499-17489-8 , pp. 209-253.