MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Practice Exam 2025 – Your All-in-One Guide to Mastering the Exam!

The term that refers to emotional persuasion appealing to an audience's feelings is indeed pathos. This rhetorical strategy is widely used in communication and argumentation to evoke emotions such as sympathy, anger, happiness, or any other feeling that may help persuade the audience toward a particular viewpoint or action. When a speaker or writer employs pathos, they engage the audience on an emotional level, often making the message more relatable and impactful.

For instance, in a speech advocating for animal rights, pathos might be used through vivid imagery of animal suffering, aimed at stirring compassion and empathy from the audience. By tapping into these emotions, the communicator attempts to motivate the audience to respond positively to the argument or call to action presented.

Logos refers to logical reasoning or the use of facts and evidence to persuade, whereas ethos pertains to credibility and ethical appeal, relying on the speaker's or author's character to gain trust. Kairos involves the timeliness of an argument and its relevance in the current context, which is distinct from the emotional appeal of pathos. Each of these terms plays a unique role in persuasion, but pathos specifically targets the audience's feelings as a means of influence.