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.  McAndrew is the Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.    (*Identified in a survey of over 300 researchers in 2005)

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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, high quality 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.

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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.

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 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                   

RECENTLY IN THE NEWS:

(Click HERE for a more extensive list)

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, and 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 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.

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.  McAndrew is an elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and the Midwestern Psychological Association (Charter Fellow).

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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 Popular Press Essays

  (Click HERE for a more extensive list of Popular Press articles)

Why small talk is a big deal - Psychology Today, January 18, 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 do we intentionally scare ourselves?

     - Psychology Today, October 8, 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)

Why you underestimate how much other people like you  

     - Psychology Today Magazine, December 11, 2018 (also in MAPO)

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

     - also in StandUptoBullying.net

Why men will always be more disgusting than women

     - Psychology Today, January 9, 2018

The Freudian symbolism in your dreams

     - Psychology Today, January 1, 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 (also in Psychology Today)

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, January 5, 2017 (also in Psychology Today)

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 (also in Psychology Today)

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)

​

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)

​

​

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)