Justify the use of elements by connecting them to various motivations of altruistic behavior as identified in social exchange theory
Altruism refers to the unselfish concern for other people’s welfare. The problem of child abuse is very rampant in the United States of America. Unfortunately, cases of child abuse are often neglected whenever they are reported to relevant authorities. Child Protective Services is a government agency in the United States, which deals with cases of child abuse (Bruni, 2008). Child Protective Service workers have special training on how to handle cases of child abuse.
However, the recent rise in cases of child abuse has raised a lot of concern over the effectiveness of the services offered by the agency. Persuasion refers to the act of communicating to induce belief or action.
As a strategy for intervention and prevention of child abuse, persuasion can be very effective if the right strategies are applied. Applying the social exchange theory in the persuasion process will greatly reduce cases of child abuse (Bruni, 2008). Intervention plays a crucial role in the prevention of child abuse, as it helps to eliminate the possibility of the recurrence of events. Social theories argue that if a child gets to vent his or her anger without any intervention from care providers, there is a high likelihood that they will be aggressive and violent towards others in the future. However, through collective education and practice, these behaviors are preventable.
Nature of Child Abuse
Child abuse refers to any action against a child that causes physical, sexual, or emotional harm (Bruni, 2008). A report released by the United States Health and Human Services Department showed that in the year 2011, the number of child abuse cases involved over half a million victims (DePanfilis, 2012). The report attributed this high number of victims to far above the ground levels of ignorance on parenting, health, and development skills among mothers. According to the social exchange theory, human beings have an inner motive of engaging in something primarily to get certain benefits (Bruni, 2008).
One of the most relevant assumptions of child abuse applied by this theory is that most human beings find their satisfaction through others. The emergence and development of the child abuse phenomenon have great links with a high rate of modernization (DePanfilis, 2012). With the high rate of technological developments, more people are getting urbanized, receptive to technology, and at the same time, exposing children to more danger.
Discuss the implications of strategy in terms of intervention and prevention
Persuasion plays a very crucial role in preventing the rise of abuse towards children (Bruni, 2008). It is important to persuade various people who provide children with care to adopt better approaches that will not harm children. Numerous elements of persuasion apply effectively in achieving this feat. Three elements suitable for the reduction of child abuse are the reliability of a persuader, the potency of a case, and the aptitude of a persuader to evoke feelings or arouse emotions of their audience. It is also important to have an active and passionate audience to pass the message effectively (Bruni, 2008).
The message delivered to an audience is very important because it has to have relevant content and be persuasive at the same time. The message ought to focus on a particular subject about child development (DePanfilis, 2012). The message should also evoke the right emotions in the audience. This is because, a message that evokes negative emotions will most likely lead to negative thoughts, while messages that evoke positive emotions lead to positive thoughts. Since persuasion aims to produce positive outcomes, it is important to apply strategies that evoke positive emotions (DePanfilis, 2012).
Persuasion applies as an effective way of intervening in and preventing cases of child abuse. It is because people get to understand easily, the importance of child safety through persuasion (Bruni, 2008). A campaign to reduce cases of child abuse ought to apply strategies that cover various aspects of child development. The best campaign strategies involve the use of case studies, numerical statistics, and stories (DePanfilis, 2012). These strategies are quite effective in evoking relevant emotions. A persuader needs to evoke positive emotions whenever they start campaigning for the end of child abuse.
Other forms of communication applicable in effectively delivering persuasion messages include the use of documents, sign language, media, and one on one interaction (Bruni, 2008). Persuasion has been effective in passing messages about child abuse to people. A persuader ought to apply effective communication strategies to ensure they deliver the desired message reliably. Good persuasion entails convincing someone to change his or her negative beliefs and viewpoints into positive thinking. Persuasion has also been very effective as an intervener to people who had thoughts of abusing a child. As a strategy for intervention and prevention of child abuse, persuasion can be very effective if the right strategies are applied.
References
Bruni, L. (2008). Reciprocity, Altruism and the Civil Society: In Praise of Heterogeneity. New York: Routledge.
DePanfilis, D. (2012). Child Neglect: A Guide for Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention. Web.