“Dylan’s Three Marriages”

Dylan is on his third marriage and it appears to be on the rocks. His wife, Cassandra, just found out that he is having an affair with another woman. She suspected this for some time, but her suspicious were proven when she saw a text message on his phone confirming a lunch date later that week. Usually Dylan kept his phone on him and she wouldn’t have the chance to see a message, but today was different. After she had put in a long day at her marketing job and finished a major project, her boss gave her the afternoon off. This rarely happened and she was looking forward to dinner with Dylan and a romantic evening together. Instead, it turned into a terrible argument ending with Cassandra throwing Dylan out of the house.

This is not the first time a marriage ended for Dylan because he was having an affair. Both of his previous marriages ended for the same reason. During his first marriage, Dylan had multiple affairs. His ex-wife, Whitney, knew about them but accepted the affairs because she thought that a man like Dylan needed more than one woman to satisfy him. He had always been sexually promiscuous, in high school and college, so she reasoned that as long as he loved her, it did not matter that there were other sexual partners. Dylan and Whitney had two children together, but over time Dylan’s time away from her and their family became too extensive and obvious. After while she got tired of being the only one to care for their boys. She felt used and no longer loved. She felt that Dylan was no longer interested in her and just kept her around to care for the house and children. So she filed for divorce.

Dylan married again and had another child with his second wife, Nicole, who had no idea of Dylan’s sexual past. He explained this first divorce was due to irreconcilable differences, but then a friend told Nicole about Dylan having an affair and she filed for divorce.

Besides this recurrent pattern of affairs and marriages, Dylan has another noticeably repetitive pattern of behavior in that all his wives share an uncanny resemblance to each other. They are all very attractive, medium height, with a slender, athletic build, shiny long blond hair, and complexions that are just slightly tanned.

Dylan is attractive also, with an athletic build. Most likely some of these similarities stem from the fact that Dylan usually meets his prospective wives at the fitness club he belongs to. A typical first date usually involves a tennis match and dinner afterward. Other dates often include going out dancing at a club. It is well known among the members of the fitness club that he is quite wealthy from his position as a vice president of a software manufacturing company.

Interesting, although Dylan is quite sexually promiscuous, he rarely uses contraception or STI protection. Even when his dates ask him to use condoms he refuses because of his decreased sensation. He never asks his dates whether they are on any type of birth control either. He believes that if his dates, or his wives, are concerned about getting pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted infection, the responsibility for prevention is theirs. Even though Dylan has three children with his previous wives and is unconcerned about contraception, he is an uninvolved father who rarely spends time with his children.

Using Chapter 12 as your guideline, address the following issues or questions as they relate to Mischel’s traits in cognitive social learning theory:

• How could cognitive social learning theory explain Dylan’s promiscuity?
• How is delay of gratification demonstrated in Dylan’s life?
• How does the CAPS model apply to Dylan’s relationships?

Rubric

Case Study Rubric

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