Attributions for behaviours of persons with brain injury: The role of perceived severity and time since injury

Abstract

Visible markers of injury such as scars are spurious indicators of severity but they shape judgements of severity and attributions for actions of persons with brain injury. These results inform more accurate diagnosis and treatment for actions resulting from brain injury.

Attributions and Expectations for the Behavior of Persons With Brain Injury

“…15,17,19 In other domains, studies have shown that attributions affect expectations for future behavior. 21,23 However, research has not connected these 2 findings or examined the relation between attributions and expectations about persons with TBI.…”

“…18 Studies have compared effects of a photo of an adolescent male with a digitally altered version of the photo showing a marker of injury (scar or head bandage). 15,19 Accompanying vignettes said that the adolescent experienced a brain injury at the beginning of adolescence, followed by several undesirable behaviors. Participants attributed the behavior more to adolescence than to brain injury when there was no marker of injury.…”

“…Visible scars also led to judgments of higher severity of the injury and a shorter time interval since injury. 19 Visible markers and attributions may also influence people's expectations about the person with the injury.…”

Attributions about persons with brain injury: The effects of knowledge and familiarity about brain injury

“…Yet adolescents have one of the highest rates of TBI [7]. The current research extends research into this question by focusing on misconceptions about adolescents with brain injury in relation to visible signs of injury [8,9]. Research about visible signs of brain injury may be especially important for adolescents who are concerned about their appearance and perceived differences from their peers.…”

“…This behavioural ambiguity may lead people to attribute behaviours or symptoms resulting from a brain injury to other factors. For example, when a male adolescent had no visible markers of his brain injury, people attributed his undesirable behaviours primarily to his adolescence [8,9]. One consequence is that insufficient attention may be given to these behaviours as sequelae of brain injury.…”