Russell Hurlburt Explained

Russell T. Hurlburt (born 1945) is a professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the founder of the Descriptive Experience Sampling method, which aims to reveal the contents of consciousness over short spans of time.^[1]

Early life and education

Russell T. Hurlburt, the son of Richard G. Hurlburt and Ruth (neé Sherrard) Hurlburt, married Roberta Rochkar in 1967.^{[2] [3]} He earned his Bachelors of Science in engineering in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University. He received a M.S. in mechanical engineering in 1967 from the University of New Mexico.^{[4] [5]}

Hurlburt took up the study of psychology while playing trumpet at military funerals during the Vietnam War.^[6] He was frustrated by the lack of attention psychology gave to everyday experiences and decided to pursue this. He earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, with an unpublished dissertation titled Self-observation and self-control, at the University of South Dakota.^[7]

Career

Hurlburt started developing Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) in the 1970s. In 1973 he invented a beeper capable of delivering random beeps and patented it.^[8] Hurlburt's research started with the use of the beeper device in naturalistic settings. Originally he gave participants a questionnaire with a limited range of options. This facilitated quantitative comparison. Hurlburt reportedly grew frustrated at the limitations this placed on unveiling experience. He moved towards more in-depth qualitative interviewing.^[9] DES recommendations for how first-person reports could be more accurately obtained include 1) interrupting a process at the moment it is occurring, 2) alerting subjects to pay careful attention to their cognitive process, and 3) coaching them in introspective procedures.^[10]

When refining the method, Hurlburt at first sampled himself extensively for around a year. He then concluded that it would be better not to use himself as a subject. Phenomena that he observed in himself he might more easily attribute to others. For approximately the next 25 years, he declined to participate in DES as a subject until the urgings of his students convinced him to try.^[11]

Hurlburt is a professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Selected publications

Books

• Book: Hurlburt, Russell T. . Sampling Normal and Schizophrenic Inner Experience . 2012-12-06 . Springer Science & Business Media . 978-1-4757-0289-7 . en.
• Book: Hurlburt, Russell T. . Sampling Inner Experience in Disturbed Affect . 1993-06-30 . Springer Science & Business Media . 978-0-306-44377-0 . en.
• Book: Hurlburt, Russell T. . Comprehending behavioral statistics . Thomson Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. . 1994 . 978-1465201782.
• Book: Hurlburt . Russell T. . Exploring Inner Experience: The descriptive experience sampling method . Heavey . Christopher L. . 2006-03-15 . John Benjamins Publishing . 978-90-272-9387-9 . en.
• Book: Hurlburt, Russell T. . Investigating Pristine Inner Experience: Moments of Truth . 2011-06-27 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-139-49960-6 . en.
• Book: Caracciolo . Marco . A Passion for Specificity: Confronting Inner Experience in Literature and Science . Hurlburt . Russell T. . 2016 . Ohio State University Press . 978-0-8142-1320-9 . en.
• Book: Hurlburt . Russell . Schwitzgebel . Eric . August 9, 2011 . Describing Inner Experience? Proponent Meets Skeptic . 2024-06-20 . . 9780262516495 . August 19, 2011.

Articles

• Hurlburt . Russell T. . Alderson-Day . Ben . Kühn . Simone . Fernyhough . Charles . 2016-02-04 . Exploring the Ecological Validity of Thinking on Demand: Neural Correlates of Elicited vs. Spontaneously Occurring Inner Speech . PLOS ONE . en . 11 . 2 . e0147932 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0147932 . free . 1932-6203 . 4741522 . 26845028. 2016PLoSO..1147932H .
• Hurlburt . R. T. . Happé . F. . Frith . U. . May 1994 . Sampling the form of inner experience in three adults with Asperger syndrome . Psychological Medicine . en . 24 . 2 . 385–395 . 10.1017/S0033291700027367 . 8084934 . 1469-8978.
• Hurlburt . Russell T. . Heavey . Christopher L. . Kelsey . Jason M. . 2013-12-01 . Toward a phenomenology of inner speaking . Consciousness and Cognition . 22 . 4 . 1477–1494 . 10.1016/j.concog.2013.10.003 . 24184987 . 1053-8100.
• Heavey . Christopher L. . Hurlburt . Russell T. . 2008-09-01 . The phenomena of inner experience . Consciousness and Cognition . 17 . 3 . 798–810 . 10.1016/j.concog.2007.12.006 . 18258456 . 1053-8100.
• Hurlburt . Russell T. . Heavey . Christopher L. . September 1, 2001 . Telling what we know: describing inner experience . Trends in Cognitive Sciences . 5 . 9 . 400–403. 10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01724-1 . 11520705 .
• Hurlburt . Russell T. . Akhter . Sarah A. . 2006-12-01 . The Descriptive Experience Sampling method . Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences . en . 5 . 3 . 271–301 . 10.1007/s11097-006-9024-0 . 1572-8676.
• Hurlburt . Russell T. . Akhter . Sarah A. . 2008-12-01 . Unsymbolized thinking . Consciousness and Cognition . 17 . 4 . 1364–1374 . 10.1016/j.concog.2008.03.021 . 18456514 . 1053-8100. ^[12]

Patent

• 3986136. Random interval generators and method of behavior modification using same. 1976-10-12. Hurlburt. Russell T..

Additional sources

• Douglas, Kate. (2023). How are you thinking. New Scientist.
• Oakes, Kelly. (2019). What the voice inside your head says about you. BBC Future.

External links

• (1:21:35 hours)
• Interview with Russell T. Hurlburt, Pioneer of the Investigation of Inner Experience, by Dominique Musorrafiti, July 10, 2024.

Notes and References

1. Rothman . Joshua . 2023-01-09 . How Should We Think About Our Different Styles of Thinking? . 2024-06-20 . The New Yorker . en-US . 0028-792X.
2. News: 1967-07-02 . Roberta Rochkar Married to Russell Thomas Hurlburt . 2024-06-19 . The Plain Dealer . 84.
3. News: 1988-10-02 . Ruth Sherrard Hurlburt . 2024-06-19 . The Plain Dealer . 39.
4. News: Jaekl . Phil . 13 September 2018 . The Inner Voice . AEON.
5. Web site: Comprehending Behavioral Statistics Higher Education Author Bio . 2024-06-21 . he.kendallhunt.com.
6. News: Hoffman . Jascha . 2009-12-22 . Taking Mental Snapshots to Plumb Our Inner Selves . 2024-06-13 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
7. Hurlburt . Russell T. . 1980-06-01 . Validation and correlation of thought sampling with retrospective measures . Cognitive Therapy and Research . en . 4 . 2 . 235–238 . 10.1007/BF01173654 . 1573-2819.
8. Petersen . Karen . 2024-07-19 . Do you have an inner monologue? Here’s what it reveals about you. . . 2024-07-19.
9. Book: Fernyhough, Charles . The voices within: The history and science of how we talk to ourselves . Basic Books . 2016 . 978-0465096800 . 1st . Great Britain.
10. Wilson . Timothy de Camp . Nisbett . Richard E. . 1978 . The Accuracy of Verbal Reports About the Effects of Stimuli on Evaluations and Behavior . Social Psychology . 41 . 2 . 118–131 . 10.2307/3033572 . 0147-829X . 3033572.
11. Book: Hurlburt . Russell . Describing Inner Experience? Proponent Meets Skeptic . Schwitzgebel . Eric . August 9, 2011 . . 9780262516495 . August 19, 2011 . 268 . 2024-06-20.
12. Horgan . Terry . Timmons . Mark . Introspection and the phenomenology of free will: Problems and prospects . . 18 . 1 . 180–205.