Dominance, Self-Esteem, Self-Actualization: Germinal Papers of A. H. Maslow

The unifying thesis, articulated by editor Richard J. Lowry, is that Maslow's concept of self-actualization did not emerge fully formed from his later humanistic writings. Instead, it evolved directly from his empirical investigations into dominance behavior in primates and the psychological experience of "dominance-feeling" in humans. The papers demonstrate that Maslow initially understood dominance not as raw aggression but as a syndrome correlated with inner security and self-esteem. This early insight—that healthy dominance stems from confidence rather than coercion—became the conceptual seed for his later model of the self-actualizing person who is autonomous yet socially effective.

The connection is foundational but often overlooked. In papers such as "Dominance, Personality, and Social Behavior in Women" (1939) and "Self-Esteem (Dominance-Feeling) and Sexuality in Women" (1942), Maslow treated self-esteem as a measurable, empirically grounded variable. He found that women with high dominance-feeling reported greater sexual satisfaction and less neurotic guilt, suggesting that psychological health and self-regard were intertwined. This empirical link between self-esteem and well-being became a cornerstone of the hierarchy's "esteem needs" and the eventual goal of self-actualization. The volume effectively historicizes the hierarchy by showing its clinical and observational prehistory.

The 1936 papers on infra-human primates represent Maslow's attempt to ground personality psychology in observable, evolutionary biology. He observed that dominance hierarchies among monkeys were not solely determined by physical aggression; rather, dominant individuals displayed a "confident" bearing that others deferred to. This led him to theorize that dominance in humans is likewise primarily a psychological phenomenon—a feeling of security and superiority—rather than a mere behavioral reflex. Later critics, notably Dallas Cullen, have argued that subsequent primatological research has invalidated Maslow's specific interpretations of primate social structure, raising questions about the empirical durability of this foundation.

Reception has been sharply divided. Betty Friedan drew upon Maslow's research for The Feminine Mystique, finding in his work a validation of women's need for achievement beyond domestic roles. However, later feminist critics have been more skeptical. Scholars such as those cited in the 1994 work "Feminism, Management and Self-Actualization" argue that Maslow's early studies, despite their empirical ambition, encoded a masculine bias: they valued traits like dominance and autonomy while implicitly pathologizing or marginalizing traditionally feminine modes of selfhood. The papers in this volume are therefore central to debates about the gendered assumptions embedded in humanistic psychology's very foundations.

It is primarily a primary-source collection, but a mediated one. The book consists of Maslow's original journal articles from the 1930s and 1940s, reproduced in facsimile or reset form. However, Richard J. Lowry, the editor, provides substantial introductions before each paper or group of papers. These editorial interventions frame the historical narrative, explaining why each paper matters and how it connects to Maslow's later work. Readers should be aware that the "argument" of the book is partly Lowry's retrospective construction of a coherent developmental arc, imposed upon a set of discrete empirical studies that Maslow himself did not originally present as a unified program.

A frequent error is to assume that Dominance, Self-Esteem, Self-Actualization is a late-career summation of Maslow's mature thought, akin to The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. It is the opposite: it is a collection of his earliest professional work, published posthumously as a historical document. The "germinal" in the subtitle is precise—these are seeds, not fruits. Another misconception is to treat the volume as a straightforward endorsement of social hierarchy. Maslow's early work was diagnostic and descriptive; he sought to understand the psychology of dominance, not to celebrate domination. The papers contain ambivalences and complexities that his later popularizers often smoothed away.