Describe what psychologists have discovered about temporal conditions of work environments.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2020). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [3] Shiftwork: Involves non-regular work patterns (e.g., changing shifts weekly). Rapid rotation (metropolitan/continental rotas) involves frequent changes, while slow rotation means infrequent changes (e.g., 3 weeks of twilight shifts). Pheasant (1991) suggests slow rotation is physiologically better due to adjustment time, and permanent night shifts are preferable to continental for circadian rhythm disruption.
2. [3] Knutsson (2003) review on shiftwork and health: Found little/no correlation with mortality, but a significant increase in gastrointestinal diseases (peptic/duodenal ulcers) and cardiovascular disease among shiftworkers. Also noted increased breast cancer risk for women on night shifts and some link to increased BMI/diabetes risk.
3. [2] Gold et al. (1992): Hospital survey of 635 female Massachusetts nurses found rotators experienced more sleep/wake cycle disruption and nodded off more at work, with twice the odds of nodding off while driving and reporting accidents/errors due to sleepiness, highlighting the need for circadian-informed schedules.
4. [4] Named issue – Demand characteristics: These were quite high in Gold et al.'s (1992) study due to its reliance on self-reports for sleep hours and nodding off, which participants might have distorted. In contrast, Knutsson's (2003) review article had low demand characteristics as it synthesized existing research on verifiable health conditions.
5. [2] Reductionism: Evaluating whether explanations of shiftwork effects oversimplify complex physiological and psychological processes.
6. [2] Determinism: Discussing whether the findings suggest that temporal conditions rigidly determine health outcomes, with little individual agency.
7. [2] Other evaluative points: Correlational nature of research (difficulty in establishing cause-and-effect), individual/situational factors (e.g., chronotype vs. schedule), sampling/generalisability (e.g., nurses to other industries), nature/nurture, or usefulness for policy/schedule design.