[NOISE] Welcome to the video. Three elements of credibility from the course, engaging and persuasive and credible communication. In this video we will be discussing the three elements of credibility and we will be focusing on the element of trust in particular. At the end of this lesson you will be able to identify and explain these three elements of credibility and describe how they relate to persuasion. In the last video, we learned that there are three modes of Persuasion. Logos via reason, Pathos via emotions and Ethos via credibility. Also we learned that Credibility is derived from the word Credo and can be defined as how believable a message is. So here is a really long quote from the old man Aristotle again. So what was he trying to say? Basically, what Aristotle was saying is that there are only three elements to Ethos. Firstly, intelligence. Secondly, a virtuous character, and lastly, goodwill. Fast forward to 2000 years later today, after much research had been done on credibility. Social scientists agree that credibility can indeed be divided into three elements. Competence, trust and goodwill, which unsurprisingly did not deviate too much from Aristotle's original work. But what do these three terms mean? Let's start with the first concept, competence. According to research, competence can be divided further into another three sub categories. Expertise, reputation, and knowledge. These three sub-elements may seem very similar but are considered conceptually distinct and are measured differently. Firstly, it may not be necessary to meet all three elements of credibility to be perceived as credible. Take for instance the example of the dentist. A dentist is normally an expert on methods concerning the teeth and he or she is normally assumed to be someone knowledgable. Even though the dentist may not have a high reputation. Not someone famous but what he or she says will still be deemed as believable and therefore persuasive, unless of course he or she has a deputation for being a liar. Now let's consider the example of Cristiano Ronaldo again. He has expertise in football being a very prolific goal scorer. He has knowledge because he has been a footballer for a long time and he definitely has reputation because he has acquired a certain celebrity status. Thus, if he will say to you that Nike's football boots helps him shoot better, it is likely to be highly believable and therefore persuasive. Since he meets all three elements of credibility. However what if we find out that it was a paid advertisement and that he was not being honest. This is something we will find out when we discuss the element of trust later. The next element of credibility is goodwill or caring. Again, let's remember that credibility refers to the believability of the message depending on the characteristics of the sender. Thus, Aristotle believed that if one had goodwill and cared for the receiver, then it is likely that the sender will have a higher level of credibility and therefore making it easier for the sender to persuade the receiver. For example, one's parents may not be very highly educated or very competent, but the very virtue of them constantly caring and being concerned for their child. The child is likely to think what they say is credible and also believe what they say because the parents will have the best interest of the child in mind. The same could be applied to a school teacher. Research from Microski show that caring teachers will show empathy, understanding and responsive to student's needs are more likely to be perceived as a credible source. So the amount of goodwill and care that a receiver perceives that you have for them is related to the degree of credibility that you have as a source. Thus, the more the receiver thinks that you care about them, the more likely they will believe you. The last and important element of Credibility is Trust. Again Trust can be broken down into three sub categories. How honest is the source is, how Ethical the source is and how Genuine the source is. Naturally, when someone is not an honest person, we are unlikely to believe the person at all. The same could be said if this person is unethical. Therefore, if we find out that Cristiano Ronaldo was paid to say that Nike boots are the most powerful. We tend to be less persuaded by what he says precisely because there is an added element of deception. Or perhaps we can tell that if he is being genuine in his claims. Thus, the message he says will be less credible and therefore less persuasive. In an increasingly skeptical world trust is something that is hard to build. For some people, they might not even trust their own friends. Think about it, who are the people you really trust in this world, and why do you trust them? Is it due to any of the above factors? It's likely that trust is built over many years, after developing a relationship with the sender. It is almost impossible to trust someone you have only met recently. I may be an honest, ethical, and genuine person, but if you have not known me for a long period of time, how would you know whether you can trust me? How do we then build trust with one another in the context of professional communication if building trust is difficult? This is where the power of communication lies. Certain ways of communication, particularly language, might be seen as deceptive or untrustworthy. However, the good news is skepticism can be won over by good communication habits. And we can build trust not only through our actions but also through communication or language to be particular. In the next video, we'll be learning about the language of trust. Where I will introduce the concept of the four Ps, which you can use to communicate to build trust.
