Affecting Argumentative Action: The Temporality of Decisive Emotion.

Area of Science:

• Rhetorical studies
• Psychology
• Decision Science

Background:

• Argumentation is crucial for decision-making, especially under uncertainty.
• Temporality and emotion significantly influence persuasive appeals and audience reception.
• Existing models often overlook the dynamic interplay between time and emotion in rhetoric.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the interrelations between temporality and emotion in rhetorical argumentation.
• To propose a threefold model for understanding how emotion and time influence argumentative action.
• To analyze how speakers translate distant past and future into the situated present during uncertainty.

Main Methods:

• The study employs practical inferences to develop a threefold model.
• It examines two intertemporal mechanisms: retrospective forecasting and prospective remembering.
• Analysis of a speech by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the model's applicability.

Main Results:

• Argumentation affects action in uncertain situations by invoking emotions that link past and future to the present.
• The model outlines how reasons for exigence, decision contingency, and required confidence shape argumentative action.
• Retrospective forecasting (past-future-present) and prospective remembering (future-past-present) facilitate decision-making under uncertainty.

Conclusions:

• The proposed model provides a framework for understanding how temporal and emotional appeals guide action in uncertain contexts.
• The interplay of retrospective forecasting and prospective remembering creates a situated presence that overcomes temporal limitations.
• The model's effectiveness is demonstrated through a real-world case study of crisis communication.