Heroes help us cope with fears of dying – that’s why we love them

First paragraph: Our appetite for stories about heroes never lets up. While the remake of Ben-Hur does battle at the box office, 20th Century Fox is making an adventure film about Stan Lee, the man behind the Marvel superhero comics. Meanwhile, we recently commemorated human heroes in anniversaries for the September 11 attacks and the Battle of the Somme.  Access this article on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/heroes-help-us-cope-with-fears-of-dying-thats-why-we-love-them-6544

The debt of heroism : an initial test of the legacy attained by social transaction (last) model

Rhetoric surrounding heroes suggests their contributions create a sense of indebtedness and that they deserve to be awarded a legacy for such contributions. Utilizing a novel theoretical framework, coined the legacy attainment by social transaction (LAST) model, the psychological reality of these claims are submitted to empirical scrutiny. The question concerning heroes' potential to elicit indebtedness and efforts to clear such debt are explored via three studies. Study 1 examines whether heroic contributions that are unrepaid result in greater tolerance of a transgression. Study 2 examines whether thinking about a hero and being led to feel indebted to them prompts repayment via a legacy, and whether such indebtedness has negative consequences for self-esteem and negative affect. Finally, Study 3 examines whether heroic contributions that are unrepaid promote a greater recall of information pertaining to the hero, potentially facilitating their legacy

Seeing a daily coronavirus death toll might actually make us take more risks

First paragraph: People are currently being bombarded with reports of the daily death toll from coronavirus. Practically every news website and channel displays the number prominently at all times. These figures provide important data to statisticians but what effect are they having on the rest of us?https://theconversation.com/seeing-a-daily-coronavirus-death-toll-might-actually-make-us-take-more-risks-13551

Scoping exercise on fallers’ clinics : report to the National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R & D (NCCSDO)

The National Service Framework for Older People has stated the need for fall-prevention programmes. An appraisal of fallers’ clinics launched by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was suspended because of a lack of information regarding existing services and typology. This project aimed to determine the feasibility of conducting economic modelling to appraise fallers’ clinics. To achieve this a national survey of services and reviews of the evidence of effectiveness of various models of fallers’ clinics and screening tools were undertaken

The enduring influence of death on health: insights from the terror management health model

The terror management health model suggests targeting sources of self-esteem or identity, in conjunction with mortality salience, offers a pathway for health behavior promotion. To date, however, empirical evidence has been limited to single time point studies. Two studies assessed whether similar processes impact behavior over time. In Study 1, mortality salience was paired with exercise (i.e., riding a recumbent bike); two weeks later, individuals primed with mortality reported more exercise than those not primed with death, and this increased fitness-contingent self-esteem and exercise intentions. In Study 2, when smokers visualized a prototypical unhealthy (vs. typical) smoker after mortality salience, they reported more attempts to quit smoking (over three weeks) than participants not primed with mortality. This facilitated continued quit attempts and decreased smoker identification three weeks later. Implications are discussed for a longitudinal process model in which mortality salience catalyzes a reinforcing relationship between behavior and esteem/identity, potentially sustaining health behavior change over time

The role of mortality awareness in hero identification

Three studies examine hypotheses derived from terror management theory to investigate the relationship between mortality concerns and hero identification. Study 1 found reminders of death, followed by a distraction task and a self-prime, led to greater inclusion of heroes in the self. Study 2 found that writing about a personal hero, but not other’s heroes or acquaintances, led to lower death-thought accessibility after being reminded of mortality. Finally, Study 3 found that after death reminders, participants led to identify with a hero exemplifying traits of legacy and/or sacrifice showed lower death thought accessibility. Findings are discussed as generative for heroism research, informing a previously overlooked motivation underlying hero identification and the existential function of such identification

MAGNITUDE OF MAXIMUM SHOULDER AND HIP ROLL ANGLES IN BACK CRAWL AT DIFFERENT SWIMMING SPEEDS

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of maximum shoulder and hip roll angles in back crawl at different swimming speeds. Ten male elite swimmers performed back crawl at four different swimming speeds. The swimming trials were filmed by a total of six digital video cameras and three-dimensional coordinates of swimmer's anatomical landmarks were calculated using the three-dimensional direct linear transform. The data were input to a MATLAB programme to calculate linear and angular kinematics. Among the four speed trials, maximum shoulder and hip roll angles were unchanged, and maximum shoulder roll angle was significantly larger than maximum hip roll angle in all trials. In conclusion, the swimming speed does not affect swimmer's shoulder and hip roll angles in back crawl swimming

Magnitude of maximum shoulder and hip roll angles in back crawl at different swimming speeds.

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of maximum shoulder and hip roll angles in back crawl at different swimming speeds. Ten male elite swimmers performed back crawl at four different swimming speeds. The swimming trials were filmed by a total of six digital video cameras and three-dimensional coordinates of swimmer's anatomical landmarks were calculated using the three-dimensional direct linear transform. The data were input to a MATLAB programme to calculate linear and angular kinematics. Among the four speed trials, maximum shoulder and hip roll angles were unchanged, and maximum shoulder roll angle was significantly larger than maximum hip roll angle in all trials. In conclusion, the swimming speed does not affect swimmer's shoulder and hip roll angles in back crawl swimming