Oh and consider dropping out of grad school...I have a PhD in Cognitive Sci and I don't think it is worth the pain!!

If you treat him with respect and ask for respect in return, you will probably get it.Is it possible this tenant has a cognitive disability or simply lacks the experience or education you expect him to have?

In other words, don't chew something you can't yet cognitively digest. 

Perhaps I'm drowning in excuses all of which affects my proper cognitive rationality.

Asking for help , my cousin has some slight cognitive impairment and is unable to work and unable qualify for disability,  I would like help him and buy him a triplex or four-plex in a city state that has them for those prices where he can live in one and collect rent from the other ones to survive on.

The original owner is in his late 70's and his memory & cognitive function is on the decline. 

She had what's called magical thinking which is a cognitive distortion and asymptom of mental illness.  

I assume a person of normal cognitive abilities.

Steven Pinker (a well known and highly respected cognitive psychologist) talks and writes about how--by many objective measures--life is much better for most people today than in previous generations.

That's lazy thinking designed to help defeatists and egomaniacs along in their cognitive dysfunctions.