Abraham Maslow, one of the most well-known psychological theorists promoting self-esteem and self-actualization, found in his later research that his theories had been wrong. He tried to curb the enthusiasm for his earlier theories and wrote in the second edition of Motivation and Personality:
“...the high scorers in my test of dominance-feeling or self-esteem were more apt to come late to appointments with the experimenter, to be less respectful, more casual, more forward, more condescending, less tense, anxious, and worried, more apt to accept an offered cigarette, much more apt to make themselves comfortable without bidding or invitation.
“The stronger [high self-esteem] woman is much more apt to be pagan, permissive, and accepting in all sexual realms. She is more apt to have had sexual relations with more than one man....”
In other words, Maslow found that satisfying the so-called self-esteem needs did not produce the desired results. And that is the problem with so many of the self theories. They begin with fallen flesh and simply end up with another face of fallen flesh. Nevertheless, few people pay attention to research that does not support their faith in self-love, self-acceptance, and self-esteem.
12 Steps to Destruction pp. 52-53
