What are Cognitive Case Studies?

A “cognitive case study”—inspired by the cases used in business and policy schools that involve students in real-world problem solving—is designed to engage students in metacognition (thinking about thinking). Cognitive cases introduce the cognitive patterns underlying our mental models, and then encourage us to explore how our and others’ mental models affect our emotions, behavior, action, and even our reality. These cases explore a broad range of topics, from politics to social issues to the physical sciences to everyday phenomena, with the purpose of enabling readers to see the cognitive structures at play across a variety of realms.