Humanistic learning theory views learning as a person-centered process that emphasizes the whole learner, personal growth, intrinsic motivation, and the learner’s subjective experience; it traces to mid-20th-century humanistic psychology, notably Abraham Maslow (1954), who described a hierarchy of needs culminating in self-actualization, and Carl R. Rogers (1969), who adapted these ideas to education and counseling by promoting learner-centered approaches, empathy, and unconditional positive regard to create environments where autonomous, meaningful learning can occur.