Neurosurgeon...President?...Ben Carson

I first heard of Ben Carson several years ago when I watched Gifted Hands, a movie about his extraordinary life.  His life is very motivating and inspirational, if you are interested the movie is currently on Netflix.  His life and example are one of the driving motivators for my continued pursuit of a higher education. Once I heard he had announced to run for President I was eager to hear his thoughts about our country.

Larsen's Cultural Images and Myths   
Larson argues that the cultural myths of an audience, created by their value system, subconsciously influence the types of persuasion to which they will respond. Larson outlines a number of cultural myths common in America and provides examples of how persuaders used these myths to influence the public.

Larson’s first cultural myth, Wisdom of the Rustic, suggests that Americans value humble beginnings and believe that difficulty teaches. Larson’s second cultural myth, the Possibility of Success, is the idea that success comes to those who are honest and work hard. Larson’s third cultural myth, the Coming of a Messiah, centers on the idea that Americans seem to be waiting for a messiah. Larson’s fourth cultural myth, the Presence of Conspiracy, is the belief that big problems don’t have simple problems. Larson’s fifth cultural myth, the Value for Challenge, suggests that there is wisdom that can be gained only through challenge and suffering. Larson’s sixth cultural myth, the Eternal Return, refers to the idea that Americans yearn for and reenact better times from the past and seek to create new beginnings.

  The Possibility of Success, Wisdom of the Rustic, Coming of a Messiah (not who you would expect), and Eternal Return are strongly present throughout his announcement.

The Possibility of Success is evident early in his speech when he recalls the difficulties his mother faced.  According to Ben, his mothers hard work, honesty, and no-quit attitude are the reasons for his success.  According to Larsen's Myths, Ben's mother is the definition of the possibility of success.

Wisdom of the Rustic comes and goes throughout Ben's speech.  It is evident when he speaks of our founding fathers.  Using the example of the founding fathers reminds us of our humble beginnings, those humble and difficult beginnings have shaped us into what we are today.

One the most persuasive parts of his speech (for me) used Coming of a Messiah.  Clearly each candidate would want to paint themselves as the saving grace of America, however Ben did not.  Ben clearly sends the message that we the people are the messiah of  America.  Towards the end of his speech he briefly touches on reasons as to why he is a good candidate, but leaves the saving of America to it's citizens.

Eternal Return is as Wisdom of the Rustic, it comes and goes throughout his speech.  Ben talks of how America used to be, and how we can make America great once more.

Process Premise
Several needs were touched upon during his speech, specifically sense of roots and sense of power.  He mentions Americas roots reminding us what made America so great.  Reminding us of these roots gave me a sense of responsibility.  A type of responsibility that urges me to help America be great and not just average.

The sense of power is displayed when he speaks about taking our country back from the government.  That we the people need to run our government not the government running us.  He is reminding us that we have the power and that we should use that power to better ourselves and America.

Pride, happiness, and joy are the main emotions used during his speech.  Pride is used when he spoke of how great America is and how great the citizens are.  Looking back on how things once were uses happiness and joy as the driving emotions.  By looking back we can remember how happy America was, all because we were the greatest country in the world.  The sense of pride drives us to action, drives us to create a better America.

Ben's speech used all three types of attitudes; Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral.  Cognitively gets us thinking about how we should be running the government not the other way around.  Once those thoughts are in place emotionally I felt compelled to act. VOTE! Not just vote, but vote based off of knowledge. I like how he says he is not asking you to vote for him, but to vote based on knowledge.  He argues that we have an obligation to educate ourselves on each candidate and then "intellectually decide" who to vote for.

Cognitive dissonance is used often.  Loss of group prestige- America is not the greatest country anymore.  Economic Loss- America is no longer holds the strongest economy.  Loss of personal prestige- Because America is no longer the greatest, we are not the greatest.

The use of cognitive dissonance set the stage for consonance.  Reassurance of security- We can become the greatest again.  The use of rewards- Doing our part as citizens will be evident in better quality of life as we gain control over our government.

His speech had me cognitively engaged, emotionally engaged, and left me motivated to intellectually select a candidate to vote for in 2016.

Walk Boldly Toward Biases

The title of the TED Talk How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them , peaked my interest but failed to persuade me toward action (as she would have me do).   I had the motivation to confront my biases.  I know I have the ability to confront my biases.  The trigger of the world needing to be a more unbiased set the stage.  So why was I not persuaded to confront those biases as she would want me to?
Motivation
According to BJ Fogg and his Motivation Wave the level of motivation a person or audience has, will directly affect their desire to do.  Reading the talk title I was motivated to tackle my biases (according to Fogg) I was ready to do hard things, because my motivation was high.  The focus of the talk was to motivate people to confront their biases, specifically toward black males.  As I listened however, I noticed my motivation started to decline, and it wasn't because she was black.
Abilities
Once motivation is on the decline, according to Fogg, the ability to do specific behaviors declines as well.  As Fogg so eloquently stated on his website, "designers of persuasive experiences sometimes assume people have more ability than they really do".   I have the ability to recognize and work on biases that I have, but I found myself lacking the motivation to face my biases as she outlined.
Triggers
The third element of the Fogg Behavior Model is Triggers.  Without a Trigger, the target behavior will not happen.  During the talk the speaker begins a slide show of black successful males, to create a trigger that will replace our biases toward the "typical black male", with that of a successful black males.
Analysis
While I appreciate the talk and movement toward everyone becoming unbiased, there came a point in her talk where I found myself tuning her out.  My motivation started to slip when she started making "you" statements.  "You have to start…".  This (to me) implies that the only biases reside within me, pointing a finger of shame that black males were treated differently because of me (its my fault).  It may not have been her intention, but it came across that way to me. During the talk I found myself saying, "If black males want biases to end, emulate black males that are shown in her slides".  This of course is a biases that black males don't emulate those featured in her slides.  Throughout her talk she did not frame things on what both sides needed to do, it was always framed in a manner that suggested black males were treated unfairly (and it is because of me, so I felt).  It is the feelings that were created inside me while listening to her talk that dropped my motivation, ability, and triggers to walk boldly toward my biases.  As she talked and those feelings started to arise I found myself saying things like: "biases will end when you stop being the stereo type", and "stop portraying yourself as thugs, gangsters, and boys from the hood, and you'd be surprised how quick the biases will stop".  I found myself saying more bias things then I did before I listened to her talk.
As I analyzed my thoughts of biases, I realized her talk persuaded me to feel the opposite of what she was trying to accomplish.  I felt her talk was asking me not to be bias toward black males that do emulate negative things such as gangs.  For me, why would I have a bias toward someone emulating her slides, black or white?  Emulating good, successful people regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion would overcome biases.
In her talk she mentions not confronting our biases in such a way that would put us in danger, eluding to that fact that there are dangerous black males (her topic...but don't be bias toward them).  This is where my motivation declined.  How can I become non biased toward someone who emulates negativity, and possibly causing a threat to those around him?
At this point I felt the speaker failed to persuade as the Fogg Behavior Model outlined.  Did the talk bring awareness to some of the biases I have? Yes.  Because her topic was so one-sided, "you must" rather than "we must"…toward black males, she failed to persuade.  I feel she painted a picture that black males have biases toward them only because we have those biases, and not because of things they have done or emulate.  When a talk feels more like a lecture of how bad you are doing something, motivation will be lacking.