Dr. Sharon Myer
Psychology 100
Evolutionary Psychology
The following form contains information about 6 people. They are conceptualizations of several
people I have known but they are not real so confidentiality of any person is completely
protected.
For the following people in these examples, you will conducting assessments based on the
limited information you have learned about Evolutionary Psychology. Please complete answer
the following questions. Please use the questions as guides. Please use what you know about
this field of psychology to obtain why they are doing what they are doing.
Questions:
1. What do you believe is the primary motivation of this person based on what you know the
basic tenets of Evolutionary Psychology? Why do you think they have acted they way they
have?
2. Why do you think they are acting like they are currently acting?
3. What are the vulnerabilities or issues of Diathesis for this person?
4. What are the additional stressors for this person?
5. What are their protective factors?
Case One
Adam is a 46yo male who has been incarcerated in a maximum security prison for two years.
You are seeing him because he is complaining of depression. He is currently not eating well,
waking up several times during the night, experiencing nightmares, and is irritable. Before he
was incarcerated he was a severe alcoholic. His crime involves the following: several years ago
he was married and had two children. At that time he was alcoholic, mean, and possessive of
his wife and kids. His wife secretly left him and took their children. He found her living in an area
of town where no one knew them. He lured his wife and kids out to a field, murdered them,
chopped up their bodies, and put their bodies in huge drum containers. He then rented storage
space and placed the containers in this space. He faithfully paid for the space every month.
Adam then met a woman who was the girlfriend of one of his business rivals, got married, and
had two more children. He was still alcoholic. 15 years later his new wife found the storage
facility bill and refused to pay it. The company that owned the storage facility opened it up,
called the police, and from there, it was discovered what Adam had done.
Adam has not seen his friends or family from the day he was arrested. He has contact with no
one. Currently he also keeps to himself. He states he feels no shame for what he has done.
Case 2
Rita is a 54yo married female. She is complaining of a lack of interest in her marriage and her
husband. She has been sent to talk to you by her plastic surgeon. Rita would like to get a face
lift and tummy tuck. Rita has been married 30 years, she has three children, and four
grandchildren. She and her husband live and sleep in separate rooms. Rita complains this is
due to the fact that she feels her husband ignores her. She states she feels invisible to him and
to most men. She states men no longer look at her, refer to her as "mam", and will easily drop
her to talk to a younger or prettier woman. This includes her husband. She states she wants to
feel noticed and wanted thus the reason for the plastic surgery.
Case 3
Jessica is a 28 year-old married female. She has a very demanding, high stress job as a second
year medical resident in a large hospital. Jessica has always been a high achiever. She
graduated with top honors in both college and medical school. She has very high standards for
herself and can be very self-critical when she fails to meet them. Lately, she has struggled with
significant feelings of worthlessness and shame due to her inability to perform as well as she
always has in the past. Although she wants to have a career, she also would like to have a
baby. Her husband states he is not ready for this.
For the past few weeks Jessica has felt unusually fatigued and found it increasingly difficult to
concentrate at work. Her coworkers have noticed that she is often irritable and withdrawn, which
is quite different from her typically upbeat and friendly disposition. She has called in sick on
several occasions, which is completely unlike her. On those days she stays in bed all day,
watching TV or sleeping. She complains her life is about work and she wants more.
At home, Jessica’s husband has noticed changes as well. She’s shown little interest in sex and
has had difficulties falling asleep at night. Her insomnia has been keeping him awake as she
tosses and turns for an hour or two after they go to bed. He’s overheard her having frequent
tearful phone conversations with her closest friend, which have him worried. When he tries to
get her to open up about what’s bothering her, she pushes him away with an abrupt
“everything’s fine”.
Case 4
Joanne, age 32 and newly married. As the couple has become more intimate, Joanne has
started to have flashbacks about an uncle who touched her inappropriately when she was eightyears-old. She is distressed to find that she is shutting down feelings about her husband and
distancing herself from him. She says that she can't stand to let herself be physically intimate
with someone she loves and trusts. She startles easily and reports a general increase in
anxiety. She is very angry that she has to deal with the feelings about the incidents with her
uncle that happened so long ago. She says that she thought she had gotten beyond all that.
Joanne’s husband has stated he will start to look outside the marriage for comfort if she does
not fix this situation. This only increases her anxiety.
Case 5
Noah is a 10-year-old boy who was in a car accident that killed his 6 year old brother. Before the
accident he had no academic, social, or behavioral problems. He had minor physical injuries in
the accident. Six months after the accident his school performance had deteriorated to the point
where he was given a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder. A doctor was given the history of
distractibility and inattentiveness in school, but the family did not make any connection between
these symptoms and the accident. Since Noah never talked about the accident or his brother,
the parents felt he "had dealt with it." The doctor, with only the history of attention and behavior
problems, gave the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and prescribed
Ritalin. The medication did not help.
Case 6
Dave is a 45yo male. He is tired of his job, feels depressed and is angry with his life. He has
expressed this anger several times to whomever will listen. His girlfriend has recently broke up
with him and started dating one of his coworkers. His friends comment on this and Dave is
humiliated. Dave buys a gun and writes a blog about killing. He fantasizes about killing his
girlfriend and her new boyfriend. He adds this to the blog.