Frank McAndrew

Meet Professor McAndrew

To the extent that there is a common theme tying my research together, it is that I study human social behavior from an evolutionary perspective. I am especially interested in understanding the psychology of everyday life. Why do we enjoy gossip about celebrities? Why do some people name their children after themselves while others do not? 

My current research projects are concerned with aggression, gossip, and creepiness, and I write a blog for Psychology Today Magazine titled “Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind.” I am also interested in environmental psychology, which is the study of the relationship between people and their physical environments, both natural and human-made. I have written a successful textbook in this area, Environmental Psychology, that has been translated into several languages.

Years at Knox: 1979-2025

Email Professor McAndrew: fmcandre@knox.edu

Education

Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, 1981, University of Maine.

B.S., Psychology, 1974, King’s College.

Teaching Interests

Introductory psychology, social psychology, industrial psychology, organizational behavior, statistics, evolution and human behavior, environmental psychology, history and systems of psychology.

Full Curriculum Vitae - (PDF)
Professional Web Page

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Professional Recognition

Profiles of McAndrew’s research have been featured in over 2,000 popular print and internet outlets.  His research has also been featured in several documentary films and more than 100 radio and television appearances including: FOX News, ABC, CBS, & FOX TV affiliates nationwide, Radio Health Journal,  “The Why Factor” (BBC) WGN (Chicago), Morning Edition (NPR), The Academic Minute (NPR),  WBBM TV (CBS - Chicago), ITV (London), Innovation Hub (NPR), The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Brut Media, CNN, CTV News Channel (Canadian TV), NBC’s Today Show, attn:, “The Ologies Podcast,” and PBS Newshour. His research has even been lampooned by Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien on their late night talk shows.

Honors/Grants

• Fellow: Society for Personality and Social Psychology
• Who’s Who in Science and Engineering
• Who’s Who in American Education
• Who’s Who in America
• Who’s Who in the World
• University of Maine Fellow
• Charter Fellow, Midwestern Psychological Association
• Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
• Fellow, Society of Experimental Social psychology
• Invited to be Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Environmental Psychology (2016)
• Knox Faculty Exceptional Achievement Award, 1999, 2009, 2013, 2019
• Named “Outstanding Reviewer” by the Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2015
• Identified as one of the “key individuals” in the history of environmental psychology by a survey of over 300 researchers in the field, 2005
• Nominee, CASE Professor of the Year, 2005
• Caterpillar Faculty Achievement Award, 2003
• Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Distinguished Teaching, 1983, 2000
• The Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award
• Knox Mellon Faculty Career Enhancement Grant - Collaborative Research Grant: International Collaboration In Evolutionary Psychology at Vrije University in Amsterdam, 2016-2017.

Publications

“Why Do Some People Believe in Ghosts?” Psychology Today Magazine, 59(5), 43. (Print edition, September/October 2026).

“Perceptions of the Personalities of Namesaked Children as a Function of Their Gender and Birth Order.” Psychological Reports, 128(6), 4379–4394, McAndrew, F. T., & Sbai, Z., 2025.

“Explorations in Creepiness: Tolerance for Ambiguity and Susceptibility to ‘Not Just Right Experiences’ Predict the Ease of Getting ‘Creeped Out.’” Journal of Psychology, 159(1), 36–55, McAndrew, F.T., Doriscar, J.E., Schmidt, N.T., & Niebauer, C., 2025.

“Heroic Behavior as Costly Signaling.” In Allison, S. T., Goethals, G., Beggan, J., & Kinsella, E. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies, pp. 902–906, Springer, Cham, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48129-1_83

“Ghosts.” In T. Shackelford (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Religious Psychology and Behavior, Berlin: Springer, 2024. DOI.

“You Can’t Be Happy All the Time, but Don’t Stop Trying.” In L. Gaetz & D. Pelaez Gaetz (Eds.), Avenues 1 - English Skills (3rd ed.). Montreal: Pearson ERPI, 2023. ISBN 9782766153794.

“If You Give a Man a Gun: The Evolutionary Psychology of Mass Shootings.” In J. Densley (Ed.), The Conversation on Guns, pp. 54–61. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023.

“How to Have a Great Conversation.” Psychology Today, 56(3), 44–45, May/June 2023.

“The Namesaking of Children as a Strategy for Managing Kin Relations and Bonding Fathers to Their Children.” Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 16(3), 220–228, 2022. 

“Costly Signaling Theory.” In T. Shackelford & V. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science, pp. 1525–1532. New York: Springer International Publishing, 2021.

“Heroic Rescue in Humans.” In T. Shackelford & V. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science, pp. 3677-3683. New York: Springer International Publishing, 2021.

“There’s no place like home for the holidays––and that’s what makes the pandemic’s winter surge particularly devastating.” The Conversation, 2020: December 10. (This article also appeared in Business Mirror and more than a dozen American newspapers.)

“Environmental Psychology.” Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C: Wu-Nan Book Inc. (ISBN: 9780534193089) (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.” Next Truth Magazine, (2020): August 1.

“Reading faces: Why we sometimes get it wrong.” Art in Real Life, (2020): June 3.

“Why Caring About Celebrities Can Be Good for You.” Idzikowski (Ed.), Introducing Issues with Opposing Viewpoints: Celebrity Culture. Plymouth, MA: Greenhaven Publishing, 2021.

“The Psychology, Geography, and Architecture of Horror: How Places Creep Us Out.” Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 4, (2020): 47-61.

Presentations

“The Science of Creepiness & Horror.” Discover Science Lecture Series - University of Nevada - Reno, McAndrew, F. T., 2026, October 15.

“Why Your Neighborhood Needs Gossip.” TEDxArlington Heights, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 2025, October 4. (This talk was selected for the TED Editor’s List and elevated for inclusion on TED.com)

“Why Do Old People Hate New Music?” NPR’s Academic Minute, 2025, April 11.

“Disseminating Scientific Output: Connecting Your Gossip Research with the Public.” Force of Gossip Conference, VU University, Amsterdam, 2023, July 6 & 7.

“Why Do Some People See Ghosts While Others Don’t?” The Academic Minute, National Public Radio (NPR), 2022, October 31.

“Is Physically Risky Heroism a ‘Guy Thing’?” The Academic Minute, National Public Radio (NPR), 2022, September 6.

“Why some people are more likely to have paranormal experiences.” Invited talk delivered at “When Fear is Fun 2022,” a workshop on recreational fear sponsored by the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University, Denmark, 2022, June 14.

“The Psychology of Haunted Houses.” Invited class lecture (virtual) at Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, 2022, January 4.

“Why people see ghosts.” Invited virtual lecture to the “Rationality Enhancement Group” at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany, 2021, December 9.

“Encounters with Ghosts.” Invited lecture delivered as part of the Profs and Pints Lecture Series, 2021, October 20. (Virtual Presentation)

“Academic Careers in the Liberal Arts College.” Annual presentation sponsored by the graduate school of the University of Missouri - Columbia as part of their Preparing Future Faculty program. Presentations were made each year from 2011 through 2020.

“The Effects of Race and Friendship Affiliation on Occupational Perceptions. Poster presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), New Orleans (2020, February). Co-authored with Knox student Khanh-Linh Duong, '20.

Campus & Community Involvement 

• Faculty Personnel Committee
• Chair, Knox College Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• Faculty Tutorial Director, Ronald E. McNair Program
• Head Wrestling Coach, Knox College; Assistant Coach
• Interim Associate Dean, Knox College
• Chair, Psychology Department
• Founder & Chair, Knox College Environmental Studies Program
• Consultant, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Florida Department of Community Affairs on the causes and consequences of population growth and development in the Florida Keys
• Visiting Professor, University of Pretoria and University of the Western Cape, South Africa
• Member, Editorial Review Board, Environment and Behavior  
• Member, Editorial Review Board, The Journal of Mind and Behavior
• Member, Editorial Review Board, The Journal of Environmental Psychology
• Member, Editorial Review Board, Journal of Social Psychology
• Guest Editor, Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences