Humanistic Theory Of
Learning
Mahrukh Shakeel
2019-ag-2109
Shehrbano Arshad
2019-ag-2117
Introduction
The humanistic learning theory was developed by
Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and James F. T.
Bugental in the early 1900’s.
Humanism was a response to the common educational
theories at the time, which were behaviorism and
psychoanalysis.
Abraham Maslow is considered the father of the
movement, with Carl Rogers and James F.T. Bugental
adding to the psychology later down the line.
Suggestions of Humanistic theory
Maslow and the humanists believed that behaviorism
and other psychology theories had a negative
perception of learners—for example operant
conditioning in behaviorism psychology suggested that
students only acted in a good or bad manner because of
the reward or punishment and could be trained based
on that desire for a reward.
Cont..
Maslow and humanistic psychology suggests that
students are inherently good and will make good
decisions when all their needs are met.
Humanistic psychology focuses on the idea that
learners bring out the best in themselves, and that
humans are driven by their feelings more than rewards
and punishments.
Maslow believed this and wrote many articles to try
and demonstrate it.
Cont…
This belief that humans are driven by feelings causes
educators who understand humanistic psychology to
focus on the underlying human, emotional issues when
they see bad behavior, not to just punish the bad behavior.
The humanistic learning theory developed further and
harnesses the idea that if students are upset, sad, or
distressed, they’re less likely to be able to focus on
learning.
This encourages teachers to create a classroom
environment that helps students feel comfortable and safe
so they can focus on their learning. Emotions are at the
center of humanism psychology.
The principles of humanistic learning theory
There are several important principles involved in the
humanistic learning theory that all lead to self-
actualization.
Self-actualization is when all your needs are met,
you’ve become the best you’ve can, and you are
fulfilled.
While Maslow and the humanists don’t believe that
most people reach self-actualization, their belief is that
we are always in search of it, and the closer we are, the
more we can learn.
1. Student choice.
Choice is central to the humanistic learning theory and
humanistic psychology.
Humanistic learning is student-centered, so students are
encouraged to take control over their education.
They make choices that can range from daily activities to
future goals.
Students are encouraged to focus on a specific subject area
of interest for a reasonable amount of time that they choose.
Teachers who utilize humanistic learning believe that it’s
crucial for students to find motivation and engagement in
their learning, and that is more likely to happen when
students are choosing to learn about something that they
really want to know.
2. Fostering engagement to inspire students
to become self-motivated to learn.
The effectiveness of this psychology approach is based
on learners feeling engaged and self-motivated so they
want to learn.
So humanistic learning relies on educators working to
engage students, encouraging them to find things they
are passionate about so they are excited about learning.
3. The importance of self-evaluation.
For most humanistic teachers, grades don’t really matter.
Self-evaluation is the most meaningful way to evaluate
how learning is going.
Grading students encourages students to work for the
grade, instead of doing things based on their own
satisfaction and excitement of learning.
Routine testing and rote memorization don’t lead to
meaningful learning in this theory, and thus aren’t
encouraged by humanistic teachers.
Humanistic educators help students perform self-
evaluations so they can see how students feel about their
progress
4. Feelings and knowledge are both
important
Feelings and knowledge are both important to the
learning process and should not be separated according
to humanistic psychology.
Humanistic teachers believe that knowledge and
feelings go hand-in-hand in the learning process.
Cognitive and affective learning are both important to
humanistic learning.
Lessons and activities should focus on the whole
student and their intellect and feelings, not one or the
other
5. A safe learning environment
Because humanistic learning focuses on the entire
student, humanistic educators understand that they
need to create a safe environment so students can have
as many as their needs met as possible.
They need to feel safe physically, mentally, and
emotionally in order to be able to focus on learning.
So humanistic educators are passionate about the idea
of helping students meet as many of their needs as
possible.
The role of teacher and student in humanistic learning theory.
In the humanistic learning theory, teachers and students
have specific roles for success.
The overall role of a teacher is to be a facilitator and
role model, not necessarily to be the one doing the
teacher.
The role of the teacher includes:
1. Teach learning skills
. Good teachers in humanistic learning theory focus on
helping students develop learning skills.
Students are responsible for learning choices, so
helping them understand the best ways to learn is key
to their success.
2. Provide motivation for classroom tasks.
Humanistic learning focuses on engagement, so
teachers need to provide motivation and exciting
activities to help students feel engaged about learning.
3. Provide choices to students in
task/subject selection.
Choice is central to humanistic learning, so teachers
have a role in helping work with students to make
choices about what to learn.
They may offer options, help students evaluate what
they’re excited about, and more.
4. Create opportunities for group work
with peers
As a facilitator in the classroom, teachers create group
opportunities to help students explore, observe, and self
evaluate.
They can do this better as they interact with other
students who are learning at the same time that they are
Humanistic approach examples in education.
Some examples of humanistic education in action
include:
Teachers can help students set learning goals at the
beginning of the year, and then help design pathways
for students to reach their goals. Students are in charge
of their learning, and teachers can help steer them in
the right direction.
Cont…
Teachers can create exciting and engaging learning
opportunities. For example, teachers trying to help
students understand government can allow students to
create their own government in the classroom.
Students will be excited about learning, as well as be
in-charge of how everything runs.
