Selective encoding in the interpretation of topographic maps

In two experiments, practised adult map users compared three-dimensional landsurface drawings against previously and separately studied contour maps. In the first experiment, adding extra contour levels, or marked drainage patterns, led to increased map study and decreased judgement times, whereas adding both led to no further increase or decrease respectively. In the second experiment, removing minor surface details from the drawings produced no overall variation in judgement times. These findings were taken as suggesting that map users selectively encode features from the map in task-determined fashion.     

The effects of food deprivation,aggression, and isolation on infanticide in the male Mongolian gerbil

Male Mongolian gerbils show an increase in infanticide and pup-cannibalism after 24-hr food deprivation, suggesting that food acquisition is a function of this activity. Dominant animals show high levels of infanticide, but subordinate animals are inhibited from this activity. An increase in infanticide is seen when males from a single sex group are isolated; this increase resembles that observed when a male is separated from his pregnant mate [Elwood, 1980]. These results suggest a mechanism whereby males are normally brought into a noninfanticidal state during cohabitation with their pregnant mates owing to subordination by the latter. In this manner males are able to utilize strange pups as food but avoid harming their own offspring.     

Building and sustaining work engagement – a participatory action intervention to increase work engagement in nursing staff

This study evaluated whether a participatory action research intervention with nursing staff on acute care older people National Health Service wards in the United Kingdom was effective for increasing work engagement. Mediation analyses between job resources (social support, influence in decision-making), job demands, work-related needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness), and work engagement explored the presumed psychological mechanisms underlying the intervention. A non-randomized, matched control group, pretest, post-test design involved three intervention and five control wards. A significant decrease in relatedness, and a borderline significant decrease in competence, was observed in the intervention group compared to the control group, with no effect on work engagement (N = 45). Work-related needs mediated between resources and work engagement, supporting the job demands-resources model and self-determination theory as an underlying explanatory theory. Intervention implementation was difficult, highlighting the need for participant and organizational readiness for change, and strong management support. This is the first known study to apply participatory techniques to increase work engagement in nursing staff and explore the underlying explanatory psychological mechanisms, offering a novel means of taking work engagement research forward. Crucially, it highlights the challenges involved in intervention research and the importance of including evaluations of intervention implementation alongside statistical evaluations to avoid erroneous conclusions.