Review of Dynamics of learning

Abstract

Reviews the book, Dynamics of learning by Nathaniel Cantor (1946). In this book the chairman of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology of the University of Buffalo describes his own experience in the teaching of courses in personality and culture, and in criminology, by a discussion method which departs radically from the usual college lecture. Most college teachers in the social sciences and humanities will accept the diagnosis of the learning situation as Professor Cantor describes it, but few of them will have had his courage to adapt their instructional methods to the implications of this diagnosis. While the book is not written for the professional psychologist, it should give pause to the psychologist who is also a teacher. Upon reading it he cannot help but ask himself, Am I really teaching in a way consonant with what I know about the psychology of personality, mental hygiene, and attitude formation? Or am I teaching in the conventional ways in which I was taught with no more than tradition to justify my practices? If he should choose to teach in newer ways, he would find encouragement and instruction from this account of the success which Professor Cantor has had in the use of a freer method. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)