essay on q9 paper 2 2021, scenario 8 marker about biological explanations for crime and antisocial behaviour , including 3 PEEL paragraphs and competing arguments for high level band
Paper 2 Q9 2021
9 Peter is 17 years old and has just been arrested for arguing in the street and
refusing to go home. His family is well known to the police. Peter’s mother has been
arrested for being drunk in public and his older brother has been arrested for fighting.
Peter lives in an area that has a bad reputation, which means he finds it hard to get a
job. In a sporting accident, a few years ago, Peter banged his head and since then his
family have noticed that he has become more aggressive.
Discuss how Peter’s development may have affected his anti-social behaviour.
You must make reference to the context in your answer. (8)
Peter’s being labelled as a criminal may have affected his anti-social behaviour. Labelling is
when general and broad terms are used to describe members of a group grouped together
by a shared characteristic. Labels are ascribed according to stereotypes. For example,
Peter’s family being well known to the police and his mother being arrested for being drunk
in public, may lead others to label Peter as a criminal as stereotypes about him coming from
a criminal family may arise. This may encourage Peter to live up to the expectation of the
label assigned to him and argue in the street, which results in him being arrested as well.
This means that the expectations of others about Peter’s criminality become true. However,
it is not certain whether the label assigned to Peter directly leads to him displaying anti-social
behaviour. There may be other factors that may explain him arguing better, such as pre-
existing personality disorders that Peter may have which make him more likely to display
aggression such as anti-social personality disorder or oppositional disorder. This implies that
labelling may not be the only factor that explains his antisocial behaviour.
Self fulfilling prophecy may explain Peter's anti-social behaviour. This theory states that a
person will assume an individual will assume an individual will behave in an antisocial way
because of previous antisocial behaviour or stereotype. The individual is therefore treated in
accordance with that false belief. For example, the area in which Peter lives in has a bad
reputation. This means that people are more likely to believe that Peter will also have a bad
character and will treat him according to this label. For example, they might consider him
suspicious and offer him no encouragement towards positive behaviours. This leads Peter to
internalise the label assigned to him and him living up to the expectation that he will behave
in an antisocial manner, like him refusing to go home and arguing in the street. On the other
hand, socio-economic factors might be a reason why Peter behaves in an antisocial manner.
The area he lives in makes it hard for him to find a job, therefore he might not have a choice
but to behave aggressively to gain money not because he is expected to behave antisocially.
Brain injury might account for Peter’s antisocial behaviour. Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
occurs as a result of trauma on the brain, such as Peter banging his head in a sporting
accident. The prefrontal cortex is the at-most risk area of the brain from TBI, which assesses
risk and determines appropriate responses to social situations. Peter banging his head might
have damaged his prefrontal cortex, which means that he may not be able to assess risk or
appropriate social reactions. Therefore, he has become more aggressive as he may not be
able to find other safer and more socially acceptable ways to behave. This suggests that his
antisocial behaviour may have a biological cause. However, his aggression may also come
from early exposure to violence, for example from watching his older brother fighting and
being arrested. This might lead Peter to imitate his brother’s behaviour because he might
view him as a role model, which leads him to become more aggressive.
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