James Melton
Professor Olivas
Eng 101
11 April 2017
In Guy Winchs TED Talk, Why We All Need to Practice Emotional First Aid, he uses
different types of rhetorical strategies such as ethos, logos, and diction in order to persuade his
audience of his purpose of his presentation. The purpose of his presentation is to persuade his
audience of the importance of mental health, including emotional hygiene. He argues that we
show favoritism towards our physical health and treat our physical injuries, but we are not taught
or we do not teach the importance of mental health and treating emotional injuries, especially in
children. Because he is presenting at a TED Talk, he can assume that most of his audience is
actively seeking out new information and are critical to what he has to say as they tend to have a
higher education. This requires him to establish his credibility in the beginning of his
One of the most important and earlier strategies we see is ethos. He does exactly that
here, In fact, the hardest thing Ive ever done in my life is move across the Atlantic to New
device, it is very important that it is used early on to let the audience know you are a reliable
source of information, so they dont critique you the entire time instead of listening. In order for
Melton 2
him to persuade his audience of the importance of mental health, he needed to establish
credibility in order for them to listen or take him seriously. Ethos is an important rhetorical
strategy to establish early on in order to effectively persuade an audience, and he did that well.
After his credibility has been established, the next rhetorical device we see with the same
early death by 14%(Winch). He uses absolutely alarming statistics with objective findings that
cant help but to create anxiety for the recipient of this presentation. After these finding create
that rift of severity you look for a way to compensate and that leads you back to his purpose
which is the importance of mental health and emotional hygiene. These facts cause the
audience to now see his side of the argument that we show favoritism towards our physical
health and treat our physical injuries, but we do not teach the importance of mental health and
In addition to ethos and logos, diction has a strong effect on how words are perceived
when reading and especially when giving a presentation. For example,We were apart then for
the first time in our lives, and the separation was brutal for both of us(Winch) when speaking
about his relationship with his twin brother. When he uses the word brutal he implies a more
connotative meaning: Its basic meaning being savagely violent(Google Search). The brutality of
the separation from his twin was enough to cause him serious mental and emotional harm which
is why emotional hygiene is so important. His use of diction effectively communicates to the
Guy Winchs Ted Talk, Why we all need to practice emotional first aid was an
excellent example of rhetorical devices and how to use them effectively. He established
credibility early on. Also he used statistical facts to support his argument. He included diction by
his wording choice throughout the presentation. He effectively shared his purpose and persuaded
his audience.
Melton 4
Sources
Winch, Guy. Why We All Need to Practice Emotional First Aid. TED.com. Nov 2014. Web.
07 April 2017.