astronomy

Laurence D. Smith

Laurence D. Smith is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Laurence D. Smith rather than just read about it. In short: Laurence D. Smith (October 28, 1950) is an American psychologist, historian of psychology, philosopher of science, and emeritus professor at the University of Maine.

Key takeaways

Laurence D. Smith belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Laurence D. Smith to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Laurence D. Smith from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Laurence D. Smith (October 28, 1950) is an American psychologist, historian of psychology, philosopher of science, and emeritus professor at the University of Maine. He was trained in history and philosophy of science at Indiana University (M.A., 1975) and history of psychology at the University of New Hampshire (Ph.D., 1982). Smith is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. Smith's work on the history of behaviorism showed that the major American neobehaviorists flirted with logical positivism as an allied movement, but wound up rejecting it in favor of their own psychologistic epistemologies that grew out of American pragmatism. Along with the psychologists D. Alan Stubbs and Lisa A. Best, he later investigated the use of "inscription devices" (graphs, tables, and diagrams) by psychologists and other scientists. The finding that the use of graphical inscriptions in various disciplines is highly correlated with measures of their scientificity (their "hardness" as sciences) served to confirm Bruno Latour's thesis that graphs are essential to the practices and successes of science, largely due to their communication efficiency and rhetorical power.

Selected publications Smith, L. D. (1986). Behaviorism and logical positivism: A reassessment of the alliance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Smith, L. D., & Woodward, W. R. (Eds.). (1996). B. F. Skinner and behaviorism in American culture. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press. Smith, L. D. (1992). On prediction and control: B. F. Skinner and the technological ideal of science. American Psychologist, 47, 216–223. Smith, L.D., Best, L. A., Stubbs, D. A., Johnston, J., & Archibald, A. B. (2000). Scientific graphs and the hierarchy of the sciences: A Latourian survey of inscription practices. Social Studies of Science, 30, 73–94. Smith, L. D., Best, L. A., Stubbs, D. A., Archibald, A. B., & Roberson-Nay, R. (2002). Constructing knowledge: The role of graphs and tables in hard and soft psychology. American Psychologist, 57, 749–761.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Laurence D. Smith

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Laurence D. Smith claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Laurence D. Smith before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Laurence D. Smith ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Laurence D. Smith

In research: Laurence D. Smith appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Laurence D. Smith in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Laurence D. Smith is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1950 births, 20th-century American psychologists, 21st-century American psychologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Laurence D. Smith outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Laurence D. Smith in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Laurence D. Smith means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Laurence D. Smith out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Laurence D. Smith in simple terms?

Laurence D. Smith (October 28, 1950) is an American psychologist, historian of psychology, philosopher of science, and emeritus professor at the University of Maine.

Why does Laurence D. Smith matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Laurence D. Smith?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Laurence D. Smith.