Corna Olivier

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Educator, researcher, psychometrist, counselor and coach, worked in South-Africa and the United Arab Emirates in both public and private sectors. Strong academic interest in neuropsychology, assessment and BCI (Brain Computer Interface), video and tabletop games and robotics applications in mental health, education and psychological assessments.

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Taking a Swing at Sport Psychology: A case study of an athlete participating in Golf

Objective: To show that describing and structuring an athlete's subjective experiences can be ins... more Objective: To show that describing and structuring an athlete's subjective experiences can be instrumental in better understanding the elements contributing to and deterring from optimal performance. Design: A single case study. ABSTRACT: This project is the result of research done in the field of Sport Psychology as part of the author's post graduate studies. The author has participated in various types of sport in her life but found golf to be the most challenging, not only from a skills perspective but specifically from a psychological perspective. In no other sport has she experienced her emotions and unconscious world to become so obvious and transparent, and have such an influence on her performance, as in golf. When her studies called for a research project in sport psychology, she saw that as the perfect opportunity to explore the inner workings of the pro-golfer and find out if top players shared her experiences and how they mitigated the challenges posed by this mystical game. This project summarizes and integrates recent empirical and theoretical research on sustained performance and performance enhancement in sport and draws comparisons between these findings and the impressions of a pro golfer actively participating in golf. The need to view performance as a multi-faceted construct made up of cognitive, psychological and physiological aspects was emphasized as well as the importance of understanding the theories behind these factors. Influences on performance enhancement and detraction were separated into two categories, namely internal and external. The theoretical contributions, research into and intervention strategies relating to these elements were identified and discussed. It should be noted that there is no finite list of elements influencing performance in sport; the elements discussed were chosen to explore some of the elements identified by the research participant involved in the case study. It was concluded that the professional golfer makes use of similar practices as is evident and recorded in academic studies in the field and has experienced similar feelings as the author but has managed to mitigate the influence of it on his game by employing various mental and bio-mechanical methods on a regular basis. The author was particularly fascinated by the research participant's recollections of play while in flow state and feel that more research in this field would benefit the understanding of this furtive state which could potentially enable the attainment of flow state more easily and therefore potentially enhance performance in all spheres of life – not just sport.

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Face to Face with Prosopagnosia

Our visual world is created in the Ventral Visual Processing Stream, in an elegant compositional ... more

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Papers by Corna Olivier

Lay community healthcare workers' perspectives concerning the origins, dynamics and recovery from substance addiction

This research report focuses on lay community healthcare workers' perspectives on the origins and... more This research report focuses on lay community healthcare workers' perspectives on the origins and dynamics of substance addiction and recovery. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five lay healthcare workers from a rural community on the West Coast of South Africa. These individuals were recruited using purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was used to render six central themes, relating to the origins and dynamics of, and recovery from substance addiction as a presentation of unresolved historical or intergenerational trauma, seen against Engel’s biopsychosocial model. These were related to the importance of the formative years, trauma exposure and contributing stressors, catalysts, both inhibiting and acting as incentives to change, motivational elements, resilience characteristics and conscripted silence. The last theme, conscripted silence, not exclusively, but specifically, strongly supports a relationship between alcoholism or substance dependence and unresolved historical trauma. These findings are in line with the results of the literature review.

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Taking a Swing at Sport Psychology: A case study of an athlete participating in Golf

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Face to Face with Prosopagnosia

Our visual world is created in the Ventral Visual Processing Stream, in an elegant compositional ... more

Download

Lay community healthcare workers' perspectives concerning the origins, dynamics and recovery from substance addiction

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Corna Olivier

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