GENEX-INTERACTIF

Control goes along with understanding. We need to understand things, or at least think that we understand them, because this makes us feel less vulnerable. It gives us a sense of having some control over our lives—of being able to influence events and people—of shaping our own destiny. Our desire for control may place us in competition with others. Speeches that show listeners how they can gain control over their environment, over themselves, or over others typically hold the audience’s attention. In the student speeches, however, the theme often was not so much exercising control as warning about controllers. Cloning and genetic testing, as well as other forms of technology, could have dire as well as favorable consequences for the human species. The powerful forces of advertising, in the hands of the tobacco, firearms, or insurance industry, can turn control against us. Thus the fear of control is often a powerful motivational appeal. Speeches that satisfy our need to gain, regain, or resist control over the forces around us are typically persuasive in nature.

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