Effects of Social Demand on Reports of Self-Monitored Blood Glucose in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that social demand could substantially affect reports of self-monitored blood glucose (BG) in adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Of 34 patients initially enrolled in the study, 10 were excluded because they did not bring any BG records with them to an outpatient clinic appointment. The remaining 24 patients were randomly assigned to either a low or high social demand condition that provided instructions for monitoring of BG for the week following the appointment. The subjects' BG records were quantified to provide frequency of measurement and mean reported BG for the week prior to and after the clinic visit. Five subjects did not return their BG records for the week following the intervention. The analyses were therefore based on the 19 subjects from whom complete records were obtained. The 12 subjects in the low social demand group and 7 subjects in the high social demand group were equivalent with regard to age, duration of diabetes, socioeconomic status, and glycosylated hemoglobin. Frequency of BG measurement was similar in both groups during both weeks. The mean BG value reported in the week prior to intervention was similar for the groups. However, analyses of the post-intervention BGs revealed that subjects in the low-demand group reported significantly higher BGs compared to pre-intervention and to subjects in the high-demand group. These findings suggest that self-monitoring and reporting of BG is a social behavior that is affected by the demand characteristics of the interpersonal patient-health provider relationship. Because optimal treatment planning for individuals with diabetes requires accurate BG records, care must be taken to interpret them in light of the social demand characteristics associated with clinical assessment.     

The Chancellor's memory: Rhetoric and truth in discursive remembering

This paper explores the notion of truthfulness in research on conversational remembering. It argues that people's accounts of past events, before they can be taken as data on the cognitive workings of memory, need to be examined as contextualized and variable productions that perform pragmatic and rhetorical work; no one version can be taken as a person's real memory. The consequences of this discourse-analytical perspective are examined first through a critical discussion of Ulric Neisser's study of John Dean's testimony to the senate ‘Watergate’ committee. The issues are then explored more deeply in an analysis of reportings of a different event, in which similar (Watergate-like) issues of memory, truth and accuracy are also at issue. It is argued that: (a) all of Neisser's three kinds of memory–verbatim, gist and ‘repisodic’–involve problematical assumptions concerning their relation to some true, original event; and (b) that Dean's accounts of his memory and his displays of memory should be approached as occasioned productions oriented pragmatically to the assignment of guilt and avoidance of scapegoating. Through an analysis of newspaper reports (based on memory) of a controversial briefing given by the then British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, we then examine: (a) how discourse about what could be used as an arbiter of truth was rhetorically organized; (b) how participants' versions of events were constructed rhetorically, as parts of arguments; (c) that both sides in the dispute maintained the coherence of their positions by a form of error accounting similar to that used by Neisser with respect to Dean. It is suggested that cognitive psychologists, whether working in the laboratory or attempting to do real-world studies of everyday remembering, need to avoid simplistic notions of true original events, and can do so by addressing the rhetorical organization of participants' memory accounts.     

Book reviews and notes

GENERAL.

READINGS IN THE QUR'AN. Selected and translated by KENNETH CRAGG. London: Collins Liturgical Publications, 1990. 389pp. Pb. £8.95. ISBN 0–00–599087–4.

DER KORAN UND DIE JUDEN: DIE GESCHICHTE EINER TRAGODIE. By Johan Bouman. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buch‐gesellschaft, 1990. 130pp. Pb. n.p. ISBN 3–534–80123–7.

ISMAIL HAKKI BURSEVPS TRANSLATION OF AND COMMENTARY ON FUSUS AL‐HKAM. VOLS. 3 and 4. By Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi. Translated by Bulent Rauf with the help of R. Brass and H. Tollemache. Oxford: Muhyiddin ibn ^cArabi Society, 1989, 1991. 254pp, 353pp. Hb. £40.00, £50.00. ISBN 0–9509527–2–9; 0–9509527–4–5.

SCIENCE AND MUSLIM SOCIETIES. By Nasim Butt. London: Grey Seal Books, 1991. 135pp. Pb. £5.95. ISBN 1–85640–023–9.

THE MUSLIMS OF AMERICA. Edited by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. 249pp. Hb. £35.00. ISBN 0–19–506728–2.

TURNING POINTS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES. By URSULA KING. Edinburgh: T & T Clark Ltd, 1990. 329pp. Hb. £19.95. ISBN 0–567–09564–9.

THE SEPARATED ONES: JESUS, THE PHARISEES AND ISLAM. By Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood. London: SCM Press, 1991. 194pp. Pb. £9.95. ISBN 0–334–02498–6.

WHO NEEDS AN ISLAMIC STATE! By Abdelwahab El‐Affendi. London: Grey Seal Books, 1991.115pp. Pb. £5.95. ISBN 1–85640–022–0.

‘MULTI‐FAITH WORSHIP'? QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FROM THE INTER‐FAITH CONSULTATIVE GROUP. By The. General Synod Board of Mission. London: Church House Publishing, 1992. 66pp. Pb. £3.50. ISBN 0–7151–5530‐X.

WAS SAGT DER KORAN ZUM HEILIGEN KRIEG? By Adel TheodorKhoury. Giitersloh: Gutersloher Verlaghaus Gerd Mohn, 1991. 95pp. Pb. DM12.80. ISBN 3–579–00787–0.

REGIONAL.

Africa.

RELIGION AND CUSTOM IN A MUSLIM SOCIETY: THE BERTI OF SUDAN. By Ladislav Holy. Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. 243pp. Hb. £30.00; $49.50. ISBN 0–521–39485–6.

POPULAR ISLAM IN TUNISIA. By Kees Schilder. Research Reports 1991/44. Leiden: African Studies Centre, 1991. 171pp. Pb. DFL.12.50. ISBN 90–70110–85–7.

A POEM CONCERNING THE DEATH OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD UTENDI WA KUTA WAFUNABII. Edited by J.W.T. Allen, Rland Allen, N.Q. King, Jan Knappert Et Al. African Studies, 26. New York/Ontario/Larnpeter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991. 161pp. Hb. n.p. ISBN 0–7734–9705–6.

SACRED VOID: SPATIAL IMAGES OF WORK AND RITUAL AMONG THE GIRIAMA OF KENYA. By David Parkin. Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 259pp. Hb. £35.00. ISBN 0–521–40466–5.

PEOPLE AND EMPIRES IN AFRICAN HISTORY: ESSAYS IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL CROWDER. Edited By J.F. Ade Ajayi and J.D.Y. Peel. London and New York: Longman, 1992. 254pp. Hb. £36.00. ISBN 0–582–08997–2.

Asia.

MUSLIMS IN CENTRAL ASIA: EXPRESSIONS OF IDENTITY AND CHANGE. By Jo‐ANN GROSS. Durham: Duke University Press, 1992. 224pp. Pb. $18.95. ISBN 0–8223–1190–9.

Europe.

ISLAM IN DUTCH SOCIETY: CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. Edited by W.A.R. Shadid and P.S. Van Koningsveld. Kampen. Kok Pharos Publishing House, 1992. 205pp. Pb. n.p.ISBN 90–242–3047–0.

VAN MAT TOT MINARET. By Nico Landman. Amsterdam: VU Uitgeverij, 1992. 387pp. Pb. n.p. ISBN 90–5383–086–3.

DE ISLAM IN WEST‐EUROPA, IN HET BIJZONDER IN NEDERLAND. By HuUG Van Ooijen, Rinus Penninx, Jan Rath and ThulSunier. Nijmegen: Reeks REcht & Samenleving, 1991. 76pp. Pb. n.p. ISBN 90–71478–20–3.

MUSLIMS IN WESTERN EUROPE. By Jorgen S. Nielsen. Islamic Surveys 20. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1992. 186pp. Hb. £25.00. ISBN 0–7486–0309–0.

NATIONAL PROBLEMS IN THE BALKANS: HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENTS. Edited by V. Mincheva. Sofia: Arges Publishing House for the Institute of Balkan Studies, 1992.247pp. Pb. LV20,00. No ISBN.

THE BALKANS: MINORITIES AND STATES IN CONFLICT. By Hugh Poulton. London: Minority Rights Publications, 1991. 244pp. Pb. £8.95. ISBN 1–873194–05–6.

THE SATANIC VERSES: BRADFORD RESPONDS. Edited by David G. Bowen. Bradford: D.G. Bowen and Bradford & Ilkley Community College, 1992. 82pp. Pb. .n.p. ISBN 0–947–851–25–9.

THE KINGDOM OF CYPRUS AND THE CRUSADES 1191–1374. By Peter W. Edbury. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.241pp. Hb. £27.50, $44.50. ISBN 0–521–26876–1.

DIE MIGRANTEN AUS SUBAY: TURKEN IN DEUTSCHLAND: EINE ETHNOGRAPHIE. By Werner Schiffauer. Stuttgart: Klett‐Cotta, 1991. 388pp. Hb. n.p. ISBN 3–608–93170–8.

Middle East.

POLITICAL ISLAM: RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE ARAB WORLD. By Nazih N. Ayubi. London and New York: Routledge, 1991. 291pp. Hb. £40.00. ISBN 0–415–05442–7.

THE ARAB CHRISTIAN: A HISTORY IN THE MIDDLE EAST. By Kenneth CRAGG. London: Mowbray, 1992. 336pp. Pb. £9.95. ISBN 0–264–67257–7.

ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM AND THE GULF CRISIS. Edited by JAMES PISCATORI. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991. 267pp. Pb. £7.95; $11.50. ISBN 0–9629608–0–2.

RACE AND SLAVERY IN THE MIDDLE EAST. By BERNARD LEWIS. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. 184pp. Hb. £22.50. ISBN 0–19–506283–3.

THE IRAQI REVOLUTION OF 1958: THE OLD SOCIAL CLASSES REVISITED. Edited by Robert A. Fernea and Wm. Roger Louis. London: I.B. Tauris, 1991. 232pp. Hb. £35.00. ISBN 1–85043–318–6.

CULTURE, HISTORY AND IDEOLOGY IN THE FORMATION OF BA'THIST IRAQ, 1968–69. By AMATZIABaram. New York: St Martin's Press, 1991. 196pp. Hb. £35.00. ISBN 0–312–04805‐X.

THE PALLESTINIAN UPRISING: A WAR BY OTHER MEANS. By F. Robert Hunter. London: I.B. Tauris, 1991.292pp. Hb. £17.95. ISBN 1–85043–325–9.

POLITICS IN AN ARABIAN OASIS: THE RASHIDI TRIBAL DYNASTY. By Madawi AL Rasheed. London: I.B. Tauris, 1991. 300pp. Hb. £35.00. ISBN 1–85043–320–8.

THE LION OF EGYPT: SULTAN BAYBARSI AND THE NEAR EAST IN THE TfflRTEENTH CENTURY. By Peter THORAU. London: London and New York, 1987. 319pp. Pb. £13.50. ISBN 0–582–06823–1.

HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF LIBYA. By RONALD BRUCE ST JOHN. African Historical Dictionaries, 33.2nd Edition. Metuchen, NJ & London: Scarecrow Press, 1991. 192pp. Hb. £18.75. ISBN 0–8108–2451–5.

ACCOMMODATING PROTEST: WORKING WOMEN, THE NEW VEBLING AND CHANGE IN CAIRO. By ARLENE ELOWE MACLEOD. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. 206pp. Hb. $37.50. ISBN 0–231–07280–5.

FEZ: CITY OF ISLAM. By Titus Burckhardt. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1992. 175pp. Hb. £24.95; $39.95. ISBN 0–946621–17–9.

CHRISTIAN‐MUSLIM RELA TIONS.

ROBIN LAMBURN — FROM A MISSIONARY'S NOTEBOOK: THE YAO OF TUNDURU AND OTHER ESSAYS. Edited by NOEL Q. KING and Klaus Fiedler with Gavin White. Social Science Studies on International Problems, no. 164. Saarbriicken; Fort Lauderdale: Verlag Breitenbach, 1991. 240pp. Pb. n.p. ISBN 0584–603‐X.

MATERIAUX POUR SERVIR A L'ETUDE DE LA CONTROVERSE THEOLOGIQUEISLAMO‐CHRETIENNE DE LANGUE ARABE DU Vffle AUX Xlle SIECLE. By PAUL KHOURY. Religionswissenschaftliche Studien 11/2. Wurzburg: Echter Verlag and Altenberge: Oros Verlag, 1991. 633pp. Pb. $633.00; DM99.80. ISBN 3–429–01410–7 (Echter); 3–89375–039–8 (Oros).

THE CONQUEST OF CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM SPAIN 1031–1157. By Bernard F. Reilly. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992. 284pp. Hb. £40.00. ISBN 0–631–16913‐X.

ISLAM IN A WORLD OF DIVERSE FAITHS. Edited by Dan Cohen‐Sherbok. Library of Philosophy and Religion. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1991. 218pp. Hb. £45.00. ISBN 0–333–52612–0.

LA FOIE EN MARCHE: LES PROBLEMES DE FOND DU DIALOGUE ISLAMO‐CHRETIEN. By PONTIFICIOISTITUTO Dl STUDI Arabie D'islamistica. Collection ‘Studi Arabo‐Islamici del PISAF, no.4. Rome: PISAI, 1990. 235pp. Pb. n.p. ISBN 88–85907–05–9.

DIPLOMATARIUM II: DOCUMENTS 1–500: FOUNDATIONS OF CRUSADER VALENCIA: REVOLT AND RECOVERY 1257–1263. By ROBERT I. Burns. Princeton: New Jersey, 1991. 440pp. Hb. $69.50. ISBN 0–691–05435–5.

ANTI‐CHRISTIAN POLEMIC IN EARLY ISLAM: ABU ‘ISA AL‐WARRAQ'S ‘AGAINST THE TRINITY’. By David Thomas. University of Cambridge Oriental Publications 45. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 218pp. Hb. £40.00; $74.95. ISBN 0–521–41244–7.

INCULTURATION ET LIBERATION EN AFRIQUE AUJOURDHUI: MELANGES EN L'HONNEUR DU PROFESSEUR ABBE MULAGO GWA CKALA. Revue Africaine de Theologie, 27–28, April‐October 1990. 336pp. No ISBN number.

STRIVING TOGETHER: A WAY FORWARD IN CHRISTIAN‐MUSLIM RELATIONS. By Charles Kimball. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1991. 132pp. Pb. n.p. ISBN 0–88344–691‐X.

INTERWINED WORLDS: MEDIEVAL ISLAM AND BIBLE CRITICISM. By Hava Lazarus‐Yafeh. Princeton University Press, 1992. 178pp. Hb. £22.50; $29.95. ISBN 0–691–07398–8.     

The applicability of verbal mnemonics for different populations: A review

The main aims of this review were to assess(1) the likelihood of learners making spontaneous use of verbal mnemonics, and (2) the extent to which learners will benefit from using verbal mnemonics. Over 60 investigations of verbal mnemonics were reviewed, most of which concentrated upon sentence mnemonics or first-letter mnemonics; although many of the studies used students as subjects, the review also considers the value of verbal mnemonics for schoolchildren, mentally handicapped people, brain-injured patients, and the elderly. On the whole, verbal mnemonics are relatively popular internal memory aids and, when compared to standard control conditions such as rehearsal, appear to be effective learning strategies for most of the populations studied, although mentally handicapped people and schoolchildren may find it difficult to produce effective mnemonics themselves; additionally, students and schoolchildren can benefit from the use of mnemonic sentences as part of more complex techniques. Comparisons between verbal mnemonics and other memory-aiding strategies have, however, given more equivocal results. A number of areas for future research are identified. In particular it is hoped to see a development of recent trends to use non-student subject, and to investigate the applicability of verbal mnemonics outside the laboratory.     

Catastrophe theory applications in clinical psychology: A review

Catastrophe theory is a new mathematical science that permits some insight into the way in which sudden changes or discontinuities of behavior may occur even though the underlying causative forces are essentially continuous. This article aims to present a nonmathematician’s view of catastrophe applications in clinical psychology. Areas covered include anorexia nervosa, binge eating and drinking, affective disorders, schizophrenia, aggressiveness, and prison disturbances. Where appropriate, therapeutic implications and possible physiological correlates are offered. Examples are given of catastrophe theory’s ability to explain previously inexplicable findings. Attention is drawn to its refutability and predictive value, and hence its scientific respectability.     

Phonology, lexical access in reading, and articulatory suppression: A critical review

Considerable confusion exists in the literature on visual word recognition and reading with respect to the effects of articulatory suppression upon phonological recoding. The authors of a large number of journal articles, chapters, cognitive psychology textbooks, and books devoted to reading processes have concluded that suppression interferes with phonological receding of print and have used this supposed fact as a basis for determining when phonology is involved in various reading tasks. Others have concluded that suppression need not interfere with phonological recoding (e.g. Besner, Davies and Daniels, 1981; Besner and Davelaar, 1982). The present review concludes that a phonological code can be derived from printed English and used for lexical access without interference from suppression. However, operations performed upon a phonological code—e.g. post-assembly phonemic segmentation and deletion, maintenance in working memory—are disrupted by suppression. A review of the literature supports this distinction; some implications of these views are noted.