ABSTRACT
When we write to persuade, our goal is to get someone else to think or act in a particular way. Effective persuasion requires careful analysis of the rhetorical situation (purpose, audience, etc.); assessment of audience concerns, needs and beliefs; facility with a range of appeals (to readers’ beliefs, logic, emotions, and values); establishment of credibility; and acknowledgment and refutation of alternative interpretations, choices, or points of view. Our research showed that boys and girls tend to approach persuasive tasks somewhat differently. Boys tend to focus on general advantages or disadvantages of a given action or position, rather than on the impact that taking such an action would have or the possible repercussions of that position. They seem less attentive to the particulars of a rhetorical situation and the ways that the needs and perspectives of their audience can be used to shape their message. Girls are more likely to accurately analyze the complexity of the rhetorical situation, to orient their texts toward their intended readers, to draw on a range of appeals, and to acknowledge alternative points of view. At times, however, their attention to the relationships implied in a hypothetical situation seems to distract them from marshaling information and drawing on appropriate knowledge bases. We found that refuting alternative points of view was challenging for both boys and girls.
