[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-83547-en":3,"doc-seo-83547-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},83547,962075006959,"Anda","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e0002397efbe92a78e?_k=1776741047341049297",8,"Research & Report","How Ethos and Pathos Appeals Resonate in Reader Interpretations of Social Media Messages","Rhetorical strategies and their influence on audiences are often studied through social media posts and comments, leaving the silent majority largely unexamined. This study analyzes how ethos and pathos persuasion resonate in readers’ interpretations of social media meaning. Using a dataset of social media sentences paired with human-written interpretations, the research labels ethos and pathos in both sources and tests whether appeals are preserved. Results show 30% divergence, with more variability for rhetorically charged content, and ethos/pathos predict audience attitudes toward the author.","How Ethos and Pathos Appeals Resonate in Reader Interpretations of  \nSocial Media Messages  \nEwelina Gajewska* , Katarzyna Budzynska* , Jarosław A. Chudziak* , Liesbeth Allein†‡  \n*Warsaw University of Technology, Poland †Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven, Belgium ‡ Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Belgium  \nCorrespondence: [ewelina.gajewska.dokt@pw.edu.pl](ewelina.gajewska.dokt@pw.edu.pl)  \narXiv :2607 .00873v 1 [ cs .CL] 1 Jul 2026  \nAbstract  \nRhetorical strategies and their influence on audiences are often studied through social media posts and comments. However, this focus overlooks the universal audience, which is the majority of readers who remain silent and do not explicitly express how a message affects them. This study investigates how two classical modes of persuasion, ethos and pathos, resonate in the silent audience’s interpretations of meaning. Using a dataset of social media sentences paired with human-written interpretations, we label both sources for ethos and pathos and assess whether these rhetorical appeals are preserved. Our analyses show that interpretations diverge from the original sentences in 30% of cases, with rhetorically charged content eliciting greater variability than neutral content. We further find that ethos and pathos in original sentences can predict audience attitudes toward the author, underscoring the subtle ways rhetoric shapes perception beyond visible engagement.  \n1 Introduction  \nRhetoric, meaning, and audience perception are deeply intertwined in online communication. Yet analyzing their relationship is particularly challenging in ambiguous contexts such as social media. Ambiguity creates an interpretive space (Sandriet al., 2023), allowing the same message to be understood in multiple ways depending on the cultural background, knowledge, and cognitive frames of different audiences. Rhetorical devices are central to how this ambiguity is negotiated. This is clear in current digital ecosystems, where prominent figures exercise considerable rhetorical power. Through appeals to credibility (ethos) and emotion (pathos) (Aristotle, 1991), they shape how people perceive themselves, others, and society as a whole. Unlike devices like metaphors or narratives, these appeals directly target interpersonal trust and affective orientation. Investigating how such founda-  \ntional modes of persuasion resonate with audiences is paramount to studying influence, trust, and polarization online (Del Vicario et al., 2016 ; Garimella et al., 2018 ; Buder et al., 2021) .  \nSo far, computational works on rhetoric mainly focus on identifying rhetorical strategies and fallacies in social media posts and comments (Habernalet al., 2017 ; Da San Martino et al., 2019 ; Shenget al., 2021 ; Jin et al., 2022 ; Wiegand et al., 2023 ; Chen et al., 2024 ; Bagdon et al., 2025 ; Ramponi et al., 2025a) . However, inferring audience perceptions only from explicit content presents strong limitations as only a small share of the audience is captured. The dynamics of interpretation and influence extend beyond vocal participants to the much larger universal audience. In classical and contemporary rhetorical theory (Aristotle, 1991 ; Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, 1971), they are those who do not speak but remain rhetorically present, i.e., they observe, internalize, and shape discourse. This concept aligns with social media dynamics, where a majority of users consume content without commenting. In that respect, this work studies the rhetorical situation of interpretation rather than demographic segmentation.  \nThis study investigates if and how rhetorical devices transform as they move from the original sentence to audience interpretations.  \nSpecifically, we examine whether ethos and pathos appeals in the sentence are retained, transformed, or omitted in internal representations of sentence meaning, i.e., reader interpretations. Interpretations are strong predictors of persuasive ","cbCaii545YCm8jpE","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaii545YCm8jpE","pdf",387121,1,15,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Contributions\n# Related Work","[{\"question\":\"What audience group does the study focus on, and why does it matter?\",\"answer\":\"The study focuses on the silent majority of readers who do not explicitly express how a message affects them. It matters because influence and interpretation extend beyond the vocal participants who comment publicly.\"},{\"question\":\"How are ethos and pathos analyzed in the research?\",\"answer\":\"Ethos and pathos are labeled in both the original social media sentences and the human-written reader interpretations. The study then assesses whether these rhetorical appeals are retained, transformed, or omitted in internal meaning.\"},{\"question\":\"What do the results show about how interpretations differ from the original messages?\",\"answer\":\"Interpretations diverge from the original sentences in about 30% of cases. Rhetorically charged content produces greater variability than neutral content.\"}]",1784188743,38,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":27},"how-ethos-and-pathos-appeals-resonate-in-reader-interpretations-of-social-media-messages","",{"@graph":35,"@context":85},[36,53,68],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/how-ethos-and-pathos-appeals-resonate-in-reader-interpretations-of-social-media-messages/83547/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-17","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What audience group does the study focus on, and why does it matter?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The study focuses on the silent majority of readers who do not explicitly express how a message affects them. It matters because influence and interpretation extend beyond the vocal participants who comment publicly.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How are ethos and pathos analyzed in the research?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Ethos and pathos are labeled in both the original social media sentences and the human-written reader interpretations. The study then assesses whether these rhetorical appeals are retained, transformed, or omitted in internal meaning.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What do the results show about how interpretations differ from the original messages?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Interpretations diverge from the original sentences in about 30% of cases. 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