Creativity at work according to humanistic psychology: interviews with René Bernèche, professor of the psychology of creativity

Humanistic psychology is the foundation of an entire school of thought in the psychology of creativity, of which René Bernèche was one of the great builders in Quebec, as a professor at UQAM. Many students remember his workshop courses on the creative individual and creativity training. Over the course of his career, René Bernèche has developed a model for understanding the motivation to create, which we discover in the conversation published here. This interdisciplinary dialogue between the fields of humanistic creativity psychology and idea management has led to the development of five themes for understanding creativity: the creative perspective, the creative posture, creative thinking, the creative journey and the creative process.

Like its main protagonist, René Bernèche, this conversation is intended to be accessible, generous and rigorous, providing all those interested in creativity with the essential foundations to help them train their own creative potential or that of others. It is rounded out by a series of appendices that, for the purposes of general knowledge, mention the major authors who helped shape René Bernèche's thinking, as well as the humanist perspective of the psychology of creativity.

«It is from this essentially humanist perspective that René offers us his understanding of creativity. [...] He proposes a posture, a way of being in the face of life, of realizing that to be a creative individual is above all to have as one's primary responsibility the most essential work, that of realizing oneself as a unique person.» (excerpt from Pierre Plante's afterword).

«I'd like to join René in emphasizing the complexity and richness of the subject of creativity, and the need for those involved, particularly in organizations, not only to master the facilitation methods that support all stages of the creative resolution process, but also to develop a solid culture on the subject.» (excerpt from Sylvain Rouillard's afterword).