essay on question 9 of paper 2 in 2020, discussing brain injury 8 marker, including 3 PEEL paragraphs and competing arguments for higher level band marks
Paper 2 Q9 2020
9 Pat recently fell over and hit his head on a hard surface. As a result of the accident
the doctors diagnosed him with a brain injury. Pat has just been arrested for being
involved in a fight, which witnesses say he caused. His friends no longer want to go
out with him as he often gets into fights and recently threw an object at one of his
own friends. He is also aggressive at home, shouting at family members and losing
his temper quickly.
Discuss how far brain injury can account for the aggression shown by Pat.
You must make reference to the context in your answer. (8)
Brain injury may account for Pat’s aggression to a significant extent. The most common type
of brain injury is traumatic brain injury (TBI), which occurs as a result of trauma on the brain
caused by falls, accidents, stroke or tumour. This is the case for Pat as he recently fell over
and hit his head on a hard surface. This might lead to an inability to learn appropriate social
behaviour. For example, Pat may not know how to manage his aggression or an argument
with someone, which might result in him causing a fight. This suggests that brain injury may
account for Pat’s aggression as he may be unable to interpret social situations and manage
his aggression. However, brain injury cannot be the only factor that causes Pat’s aggressive
fights. Other factors such as early exposure to violence and pre-existing personality
disorders may encourage Pat to engage in aggressive behaviour as these may motivate him
to imitate it from role models he may have seen in the media. This suggests that brain injury
alone may be too simplistic to explain his overall aggressive patterns and the reasons why
he caused a fight.
Self-fulfilling prophecy might explain Pat’s aggression better than brain injury. This theory
states that people assume that an individual will engage in aggressive behaviour because of
previous antisocial behaviour committed or stereotypes. For example, Pat losing his temper
quickly might lead others to expect antisocial behaviour from him as they associate a short
temper with aggression, therefore they may keep themselves under surveillance and offer no
encouragement to Pat towards positive behaviours. This may result in Pat internalising the
assigned label and living up to the expectation that he will commit antisocial behaviour
through shouting at his family members and being aggressive at home. This might explain
his aggressive behaviour due to his social environment.
On the other hand, brain injury is most likely to damage the prefrontal cortex, which
assesses risk and determines appropriate responses to social situations. Damage to the
prefrontal cortex might lead the person to display an aggressive response to a perceived
threat, which results in assault and social disorder offences. Pat might have likely damaged
his prefrontal cortex when hitting his head, which may result in him being unable to assess
risk of fighting somebody or of causing a fight. Him throwing an object at one of his own
friends may have been a result of Pat being unable to determine appropriate responses to a
social situation with a friend and perceiving them as a threat to their self esteem. This leads
Pat to throw an object at his friend and hence display aggression to perceived threats. This
suggests that brain injury may account for Pat’s aggressive behaviour to his friends to some
extent. However, his aggressive behaviour may be due to him having high levels of
neuroticism. This means that he may react excessively in front of minor stresses and be
emotionally unstable. Pat may be unstable as he often gets into fights and his friends no
longer want to go out with him. This may be a result of Pat reacting aggressively to social
situations through fighting. This suggests that his neurotic personality may best explain his
aggression than his brain injury.
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