2. CONFIDENCE-BUILDING

In a world of confusion and uncertainty, a world of many choices, people seek certitude: to do what's right. For this, they often seek outside help from someone they can trust: an expert or a friend.

We often believe a message simply on the basis of our belief in the speaker. If we already like the speaker, we usually trust what the speaker says.

People want to buy from those they know, like, and trust.

Aristotle, in his "Rhetoric," claimed that the most effective means of persuasion (more effective than rational or emotional appeals) was the ethos, the "image" projected by the persuader.

All speakers (public or private, commercial or political, "good" people or "bad") can be analyzed by what image they project, in three key qualities, of their seeming to be expert, sincere, and benevolent.

Ideally, all three qualities (being expert, sincere, and benevolent) should be genuine and all should co-exist. In practice, there's always different mixes and degrees of these qualities.

Presenters, confidence words, nonverbals, brand names, online credibility.

The general strategy of confidence-building can be seen in commercial advertising in the specific choices of the presenters ("authority figures" and "friend figures") associated with the product; the various confidence words and nonverbals (smiles, gestures); and in the use of brand names (including logos and slogans) and, now, in trusted web sites: online credibility.

Closely related to such confidence-building techniques in consumer ads are "public relations" campaigns to develop a good corporate image.

For political rhetoric, a helpful Checklist lists many "confidence" related words and variations.