Habits, Their Making and Unmaking
- Author:
Knight Dunlap. New
York: Liveright, Inc., 1932. x -f- 326 pp. $3.00.
This book appears to be a fair example of the practical, concrete, matterof-fact attitude typical of the American, contribution to psychology. It is not for this reason to be denied the qualities of imagination, since it is by no means cast in the traditional mold. Of necessity, much that is old is found in its pages, but almost always it is written with a difference. The term “habit” is taken in a broad sense so that much of the general field of psychology is related to the central topic. We have the modern version of an ancient classification of mental processes?perceiving, thinking, feeling?given a piquant behavioristic turn when these processes are said to be things that we actually do, with the implied contrast with things that are done to us. Reflex, instinct, and volition, efficient methods of learning, transfer of training, and similar problems are discussed, but each is colored by the author’s own very personal point of view. Consequently, though the book is written in a semi-popular vein, it is not to be disregarded by the trained psychologist. One of the most welcome attributes of Dunlap’s discussion is also the most characteristic: namely, the tendency toward the replacement of theory by thoroughgoing analytic description. We are happy to see the conventional theories measured by the actual facts of learning and learned behavior, even though brain-paths, conditioning a la Pavlov, and similar explanatory mechanisms may suffer in the process. Throughout the book a justified emphasis is placed upon the much disregarded fact that the processes and responses involved in practice, while learning is progressing, are not necessarily the processes and responses which are learned. No theory of learning can afford to neglect this point; its practical applications are displayed strikingly in connection with the author’s work on “negative practice”?the elimination of habitual responses by their conscious repetition?in the breaking down of specific bad habits. Such a development could scarcely have come about without the adoption of a critically descriptive attitude.
The clinical application of negative practice to problems of maladjustment of many kinds, such as thumb-sucking, masturbation, homosexuality, and stammering, is described too confidently to be overlooked. Quantitative statements are lacking, as are case reports, and one is thereby the less convinced; but Dunlap’s presentation of his case, all things considered, is so circumstantial as to demand at least the compliment of investigation. We believe the author may expect his book to have a wide and beneficial influence, whether or not his principles are finally substantiated. Francis W. Irwin University of Pennsylvania
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