Frank McAndrew is regarded as one of the key individuals in the history of environmental psychology by researchers in that field. He is a winner of the Caterpillar Faculty Achievement Award, and he has also been nominated for the prestigious CASE U.S. Professor of the Year Award. He is an elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and he is a Charter Fellow of the Midwestern Psychological Association.
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Professor McAndrew is well-known as a purveyor of psychological science to lay audiences. His Psychology Today Magazine blog and other op-ed articles have attracted over twenty million readers, and many of his essays have been used in SAT prep courses or appeared in textbooks and online teaching resources as models of engaging writing for students looking to improve their English language skills. One of his essays has even appeared in the program of a play performed in London's West End at the Vaudeville Theater. McAndrew also serves as an expert contributor for PsychWire and The Conversation and as an adviser to KNIT: Your Virtual Meeting Place.
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Over the course of his career his research has been featured in thousands of media outlets such as Time, The New Yorker, PBS, NPR, FOX News, the BBC, CNN, the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NBC's TODAY Show -- and it has been shared on Twitter by journalists such as Arianna Huffington and lampooned by comedians Jay Leno & Conan O'Brien. McAndrew is a frequent guest on TV & radio news/talk programs, and he has lectured widely throughout the United States and in countries ranging alphabetically from Denmark to Tanzania.
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Frank has been deeply engaged with the life of the college during his 40-plus years at Knox. Among other things, he founded the environmental studies program and chaired the psychology department for a decade; on the side, he also worked with the McNair Scholars Program and coached the wrestling team for many years. Frank has twice been honored with Knox College's highest teaching award, the Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for distinguished teaching, and he is particularly proud of the fact that more than 100 of his former students have completed a doctoral degree in psychology or a closely related field.
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You can follow Frank on Twitter @FTMcAndrew
Professor McAndrew's Psychology Today Magazine blog and his op-ed articles have attracted more than 15 million readers, and several of his essays have been used in SAT prep courses or appeared in textbooks and online teaching resources as models of engaging, high quality writing for students looking to improve their English language skills.
Over the course of his career his research has been featured in thousands of media outlets such as The New Yorker, PBS, NPR, the BBC, CNN, the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NBC's TODAY Show -- and it has been shared on Twitter by journalists such as Arianna Huffington and lampooned by comedians Jay Leno & Conan O'Brien. McAndrew is a frequent guest on TV & radio news/talk programs, and he has lectured widely throughout the United States and in countries ranging alphabetically from Denmark to Tanzania.
Frank has been deeply engaged with the life of the college during his 40 years at Knox. He founded the environmental studies program and chaired the psychology department for a decade; on the side, he also worked with the McNair Scholars Program and coached the wrestling team for many years. He has twice been honored with the Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for distinguished teaching, and he is particularly proud of the fact that more than 100 of his former students have completed a doctoral degree in psychology or a closely related field.
You can follow Frank on Twitter @FTMcAndrew
*Identified in a survey of over 300 researchers in 2005.
Recent Op-Ed Articles
Why losing a dog can be harder than losing a relative or friend
- Wall Street Window, February 11, 2019
- also in OregonLive.com
Why losing a dog is so hard - The Irish Examiner, January 2, 2019
- also in SitNews (Ketchikan, Alaska)
Selected Television, Podcast, & Radio Appearances (Click on the link or image to see/hear the episode; click HERE for a more extensive list of appearances)
The "Next Truth" Podcast - February 24, 2021
Why Tuesday is No One's Favorite Day of the Week (BYU Radio)
- February 2, 2021
The psychology of horror
- Voice America, June 11, 2020, rebroadcast on October 29, 2020
The Perks of Gossip - attn:, September 11, 2020
The Science of Gossip - Mornings with Leon Compton,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Tasmania), August 4, 2020
Fear of Clowns - Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, May 6, 2020
The effects of quarantine on mental health
- Ahval Podcast, March 24, 2020
The violence of young men
- The Unlatched Mind Podcast, March 21, 2020
The Science of Love - The 21st Show
- NPR/Illinois Public Radio, February 13, 2020
Time After the Internet - What's Your Story 2020, February 11, 2020
Haunted Houses
- Wisconsin Public Radio (NPR), October 28, 2019
Why Clowns Creep Us Out
- NPR/Northern Minnesota Public Radio, October 25, 2019
Why do clowns creep us out? - Brut Media, October 9, 2019
Heat and Violence - September 22, 2019
Mass Shootings and the Violence of Young Men
- FOX News (The Story with Martha MacCallum),
August 6, 2019
The Psychology of Gossip - Voice America
- May 31, 2018; rebroadcast July 11, 2019
What is Creepiness? - May 20, 2019
The Psychology of Mass Shootings
- KABC, Los Angeles, April 8, 2018
What do we know about the Las Vegas gunman?
(Video has expired, but HERE is McAndrew's clip)
- ITV News, London, October 2, 2017
Do Movies Give Clowns a Bad Name?
- Radio Perth, September 12, 2017
Getting over Rover: Why losing a dog is so hard
- The Matt Townsend Show (BYU Radio), March 27, 2017
The creepiness of clowns - NPR's "All Sides,"
- October 25, 2016
Creepiness - The Kaye Adams Show, October, 2016
The breakup of Brad & Angelina
- CTV News, September, 2016
The psychology behind why clowns creep us out
- PBS NewsHour, September 29, 2016
Alpha males, precarious manhood, and the violence
of young men - Lecture at the C. G. Jung Institute,
Santa Fe, NM, September 16, 2016
Why high school never ends
- NPR's "Academic Minute," September 6, 2016
Why high school never ends
- Wisconsin Public Radio - NPR, June 29, 2016
Gossip - NPR's "Innovation Hub," June 2, 2016
Creepiness - WQAD TV, May 12, 2016
Creepiness - May 8, 2016
WSBT TV - Creepiness, April, 2016
Creepiness, April 15, 2016
WMUR TV - Creepiness, April, 2016
Creepiness - Canadian Broadcasting Company,
- April 15, 2016
What is Creepiness? - Central Illinois Proud, April,
2016. This lengthy interview was divided into
segments that were carried by ABC, CBS, & FOX TV
affiliates nationwide.
Comedian Conan O'Brien spoofs McAndrew's
creepiness research - April 12, 2016
NBC's "Today Show" chose McAndrew's creepiness
research as its "Trending Topic of the Day" in April
of 2016, and it produced three different segments
about this research.
Gossip - The BBC's "The Why Factor," August, 2014
This is a trailer from a documentary titled "The Real
Dirt on Gossip." It aired on the Canadian
Broadcasting Company's national program
"Doc Zone" in October, 2012.
Office Gossip - WBBM Chicago (CBS Channel 2),
- April 25, 2012
The human brain is wired for gossip
- NPR's "Morning Edition," May 20, 2011
NBC's Today Show did a lengthy segment on McAndrew's gossip research on July 25, 2007. McAndrew was a guest on the show, but the video is no longer available.
The Family Home
- Saturday Extra with Geraldine Doogue, March 5, 2005
Selected Popular Press
(Click HERE for a more extensive list of Popular Press articles)
What is your "Style" for Dealing with Conflict at Work?
- Psychology Today, January 25, 2021
There's no place like home for the holidays -- and that's what makes the pandemic's winter surge so devastating.
- The Conversation, December 10, 2020
(also in The Everett Daily Herald (Washington), The Columbia Missourian, The Marin Independent Journal (Ohio), & Business Mirror)
Q & A about Creepiness - Psychwire, October 30, 2020
Q & A about the Psychology of Gossip
- Psychwire, October 24, 2020
Why Losing a Dog can be so Devastating
- The Next Truth: Young People Science, September/October 2020
Why You Underestimate How Much Other People Like You
- The Minds Journal, September 24, 2020
How the God You Worship Influences the Ghosts You See
- The Next Truth, August 1, 2020
Why face masks give us the creeps - Psychology Today, June 1, 2020
Why we love big, blood-curdling screams
- Big Think, Time Magazine, Ladders, Discover Magazine,
The Conversation, Science 2.0, The Apopka Voice,
LiveScience, & many other media outlets, October, 2019.
Fear of clowns explained by a psychologist
- Mic, October 28, 2019
Why haunted Houses Terrify Us
- Fast Company, October 23, 2019
Houses of Horror - Aeon Magazine, October 21, 2019
Why losing a dog can be harder than losing a relative or friend
- RawStory, October 4, 2019
Why old people hate new music
- Psychology Today; also in LiveWire, October 1, 2019
Could a lack of intellectual humility be at the root of what ails America? - Blavity, September 27, 2019
Curious Kids: Why do old people hate new music?
- The Conversation, The Associated Press, Quartz, ActivelyLearn.com,
Curiosity.com, & many other media outlets - September 26, 2019
"The Best Days of Our Lives?" An essay about high school included in the playbill for Groan Ups, which ran in London’s Vaudeville Theatre - opened September 20, 2019
The psychology behind why clowns creep us out
- CNN, Quartz, The Conversation, Popular Science,
RTL TV, WKRC TV, Snopes.com, Inverse, The Wire,
& The Oneonta Daily Star; also appeared in more than three dozen
other news outlets between September 4th & 10th, 2019
Politicians don't seem to laugh at themselves as much anymore
- The Conversation; also in Intellectual Takeout, Wall Street Window,
alternet, Skagit Valley Herald, SFGate, &
The Utica College Center of Public Affairs and Election Research
- August 21-22, 2019
Could the lack of humility be at the root of what ails America?
- Salon, June 1, 2019 (also in Libertarian Republic)
America is facing an intellectual humility crisis
- Newsweek - May 24, 2019
(also appeared in more than three dozen other news outlets)
When do personality traits predict behavior?
- Psychology Today, October 2, 2018
Why "Nigerian Prince" Scams Continue to Dupe Us
- Salon, August 18, 2018
Why the Death of a Dog Hurts so Much - Quartz, April 26, 2018
How the God You Worship Influences the Ghosts You See - The Big Think, April 25, 2018
Why Pretty Girls Get Bullied
- Psychology Today Magazine, April 22, 2018
Why men will always be more disgusting than women
- Psychology Today, January 9, 2018
The science behind why there's no place like home for the
holidays - The Chicago Tribune, December 22, 2017
Beauty cues: Four traits men unknowingly seek in women
- Psychology Today Magazine,
- November/December 2017, Vol. 50, #6, pp. 42-43
- also in Questia & Your Tango
Why some people see ghosts and other paranormal presences
- Your Tango Magazine, October 31, 2017
How the God you worship influences the ghosts you see
- Raw Story, October 26, 2017
Creeped out by clowns? This might be why
- CNN, September 8, 2017
How to avoid creeping women out
- Psychology Today, July 4, 2017
For restaurants looking to boost profits, it's often about everything but the food - The Conversation, April 24, 2017
- also in The New Influencer & Hospitality Magazine
Why losing a dog can be harder than losing a relative or friend
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 15, 2017
- also in MamaMia & The Observer
Why you will always be haunted by high school
- Quartz, March 3, 2017
The surprising factor that can predict your life span
- Your Tango Magazine, January 5, 2017
The perils of a life in isolation
- Intellectual Takeout, November 17, 2016
Why clowns creep us out
- The Washington Post, October 27, 2016
The psychology behind why clowns creep us out
- Time Magazine, September 29, 2016
- also in PBS Newshour, Quartz, Scientific American, Salon, The Daily Mail, The New Republic, Yahoo News, & others
Here's why you're terrified of creepy clowns
- The Daily Beast, September 28, 2016 (also in The Conversation)
Happiness doesn't last, and here's why that's OK
- CNN, August 25, 2016 (also in Reliawire)
Don't try to be happy. We're programmed to be dissatisfied
- The Guardian, August 17, 2016 (also in The Sydney Morning Herald)
Why you shouldn't want to always be happy
- Time Magazine, August 12, 2016
- also in IFL Science, The Conversation, & Intellectual Takeout
The evolutionary psychology behind mass shootings
- CNN, July 8, 2016
Gossip in your office probably does more good than harm
- HRZone, June 10, 2016
This is why you're still thinking about high school
- The Washington Post, June 6, 2016 (also in Raw Story)
Why are high school memories burned into our brains?
- The Guardian, June 2, 2016 (also in Business Insider)
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How gossip can help you - Time Magazine, January 21, 2016
Gossip isn't a flaw - It's a necessary social skill
- The New Republic, January 20, 2016
- also in Mashable, The Conversation, Steam Register, & BizCatalyst360.com
The making of a murderer (mass shootings)
- The Daily Mail, January 4, 2016
Why are shooters invariably young men?
- Newsweek, December 7, 2015
You should know how the male brain reacts to handling a gun
- The Huffington Post, December 4, 2015 (also in The Conversation)
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Why do haunted houses creep us out?
- Newsweek, October 31, 2015 (also in Mashable)
This is why haunted houses creep us out
- Time Magazine, October 30, 2015
- also in LiveScience, Business Insider, Raw Story, The Conversation, & others
Nothing says "Old Dude" like getting a motorcycle
- Psychology Today, July 8, 2015
Can gossip be good?
- Scientific American Mind Magazine,
- October/November, 2008, pp. 26-33 (cover story)
Where McAndrew's Research Is Published
Psychology
Teacher
Network
