D.L. Stephenson
Western Connecticut State University
Richard Eugene Vatz
Towson University
The study of persuasion has been a central concern of rhetorical studies since Aristotle's Rhetoric. Persuasion also is a major component of other disciplines including political science, psychology, psychiatry, mass media, legal studies (and particularly trial law), business and others.
Extant theories of persuasion see persuasion as parasitic to situational study, whereas the perspective offered here argues for a focus on creative human agency – rhetors' creating agendas and spin --to understand persuasion study. This course introduces learners to the model for teaching and research.