Cultural Artifact

When rhetoric and communication finally moved on from the sophists to Aristotle, people were exposed to a whole new way of looking at the art of communication. When the sophists approached the concept of communication, they did so by using rhetoric. They based communication solely on public speaking. According to them, once someone knew how to communicate their ideas publically, they would be heard and then listened to may sound correct and logical, but it is Aristotle who proved them wrong and introduced the world to a brand new way of looking at communication. 

Aristotle developed five traits for effective communication. First off, he noted invention is a main priority. Before speaking, it is essential to generate an idea. What do you want to talk about? What is the point of giving a speech and talking to another person? Generating an idea is useful in the second aspect of effective communication, or disposition. By generating an idea, it becomes easier to organize the ways in which you want to present you ideas. Along with the organization of the ideas, the speaker needs to develop a way to deliver the language appropriately by creating style. Personal style helps the audience listen better and understand what they are listening to. When speaking, a speaker should speak extemporaneously, not from a manuscript. In order to do this, he or she must recall the events and ideas about their topic. He or she should use their memory while speaking to deliver the ideas to the audience. The last aspect of effective communication is delivery. If the idea you have generated is presented well, then it is likely the audience will provide you with positive feedback. 

 It is common in today's society to see these five aspects presented in the media. For example, almost every infomercial contains a combination of these five aspects. The creators of infomercials have to invent a way to make their audience listen, and hopefully if they listen they will respond with positive feedback and buy the product. Watching television this previous week at school when I should have been doing my homework, I encountered the bender ball infomercial. The way in which the bender ball was presented with extremely in shape women and their speeches about the product persuaded me to purchase the item. By buying this product, I showed the company I was interested in their product and their infomercial made a positive impact. 

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