The podcast argues that the impact we have on others is often greater than we give credit for through the use of the rhetorical triangle. The podcaster uses logos to strengthen his argument through results of experiments that have been performed. One of the studies that really stuck was the “obedience test” (Milgram Experiment) performed by a Yale psychologist. Throughout the experiment, the psychologist noticed that those who played the teachers asked what was going on in the mind of the student (an actor) and not asking whether or not it was difficult for the experimenter to tell them to keep going with the experiment, even if that meant inflicting pain on the student. From the results of this study, the podcaster was able to conclude that we often don’t put ourselves in the shoe of the “experimenter”. With that statement, they were then able to transition to the claim that we don’t feel as though we have such power, which is why we don’t identify with experimenter from obedience study.  This claim was also supported by the results of the subway experiment in which Vanessa had to ask strangers in a subway to fill out a questionnaire. The pocaster explained that she was so focused on her own anxiety instead of the pressure that the person who was asked to fill out the questionnaire may have felt. That action was later labelled as “egocentric bias”, which was then said to be the reason that we don’t believe that we have an influence on others and can’t see ourselves as the “experimenter”.

Ethos is seen in those who conducted the experiments. When the audience hears that a “Cornell psychologist” and a “Yale psychologist” conducted these experiments and came up with conclusions for the results, they tend to believe that the experiments and their results/conclusions are valid. The podcaster uses pathos to force the audience to put themselves in the shoes of other people with whom we interact. His word choice helps the audience think about that person’s feelings. He uses words such as “uncomfortable” and “awkward” to describe how the person feels if we were to ask them a simple question, as seen in the experiments. Just as an interviewee said in the podcast: we often do not experience the pressure that we make others feel, so using those types of words help the audience understand how people with whom they interact can feel.

 vaguely remember a conversation between me and my friend that is an example of the impact that someone can have on others. My friend asked me if she were to get into a fight whether or not I would join. I told her that it would depend on the reason for the fight. She felt hurt by this comment, but after a conversation I realized that she thought that I would not help her at all and that I did not have her back. She also felt as though I was not a real friend to her. I had to explain to her that I was not going to put my life and future in jeopardy if she was trying to rob somebody or to start a fight just to start a fight. This made me realize that tone and miscommunication can often affect how others feel toward you.