Question

A. For whom the debate topic is very important

B. Accessible through the peripheral route to persuasion

C. Who is able to pay close attention to the debate

D. Both a and c

Zeke is the public-relations director for Mr. Black, a gubernatorial candidate. In preparing Mr. Black for a debate, Zeke realizes that the arguments on Mr. Black’s side are very weak. Instead of giving Mr. Black stronger arguments, Zeke loads Mr. Black with a bunch of tangentially relevant statistics (which don’t actually strengthen the argument but, instead, simply makes Mr. Black “sound smart”), and he recommended that Mr. Black wear an expensive suit (so he could look more attractive during the debate). With this strategy, Mr. Black is most likely to persuade someone __________.

Answer 1

B. Accessible through the peripheral route to persuasion

The idea to wear an expensive suit is that the audience would be concentrating on his external looks and wouldn’t pay attention to his speech in reality. Any person who would be paying attention to his speech would come to know that the statistics are not relevant. Hence, option C is eliminated and subsequently option D as well. Also, for someone who is interested in the debate topic, would pay close attention to the speech and would identify the flaw in the speech. Hence, the answer is B.