Cognitive Case Study

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Case Study Two Throughout the case study, Dan Lee, a Chinese American, was struggling with concentrating on his college studies and reoccurring personal conflicts amongst people. Dan is an undergraduate student preparing to apply for medical school, which he cannot apply unless he passes all necessary courses. However, he has been having some difficulty with staying on top of all assignments given. Also, he seeks help from the university-counseling center with his feelings of anxiety, tension, sadness, and anger. Many of these feelings arise when his fellow peers, family, and friends does not see that he is always “right” and they are always “wrong”. Although, in some cases he feels disrespected by the way his mother and sister does not abide …show more content…

According to Hutchison (2015), “Cognition is our conscious or preconscious thinking process” (p.118). Dan learned cognition through many stages throughout his life, based on how he reacts to many situations. “Emotion can be distinguished between primary (specific reactions with survival value for the human species) and secondary (are more variable among people and are socially acquired). Jean Piaget ‘s cognitive development theory, and the physiological theories of emotion are very influential in the case study. Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory In Piaget’s theory, there are four stages that develop throughout the years of an individual’s life from childhood to early adulthood. “Piaget saw that these stages where sequential and interdependent, evolving from activity without thought, to thought with less emphasis on activity, to doing knowingly, and finally to conceptualizing” (Hutchison, 2015, p.119). Also, Piaget’s theory is based on schema, which can be developed through social learning and direct learning. Also, there is two concepts that may occur during these two learning’s: assimilation and accommodation. As we look at Dan’s case, we see that the difficulties Dan has with his college peers has made it hard for him to find balance by assimilating new interactional experience within his existing schemata (Hutchison, 2015, p.119). So, when coming to college Dan …show more content…

“Some emotional experience is an interpretation and not merely given by our physiological state” (Hutchison, 2015, p.127). Dan shows that his personality is biased against sadness, which could be caused by something that has happened in his earlier years. Hutchison (2015) states, “Dan interprets sadness as a way to regain energy and to reevaluate his needs, which also signals other to provide Dan with support” (p.129). However, with the cultural difference many did not know what Dan’s interpretation of sadness was because his fellow classmates have a different meaning of sadness. So, physiological theory shows within different cultures, each emotion are organized around many different affective

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