Frank McAndrew

Knox College · Psychology

Previous studies have focused on why people use Facebook and on the effects of ‘‘Facebooking’’ on well being. This study focused more on how people use Facebook. An international sample of 1,026 Facebook users (284 males, 735 females; mean age = 30.24) completed an online survey about their Facebook activity. Females, younger people, and those not...

Men commit over 85% of all homicides, 91% of all same-sex homicides and 97% of all same-sex homicides in which the victim and killer aren't related to each other. These startling statistics are driven home with each new mass shooting (though the most recent tragedy in San Bernardino, California is a bit unusual in that a married couple were the sho...

This article explains how personality is involved in the experience of getting "creeped out."

This study was designed to explore the role played by ambiguity in the experience of creepiness, as well as the relevance of personality traits for predicting individual differences in susceptibility to getting “creeped out,” In an online study, a mixed sample of 278 college undergraduates and adults (60 males, 206 females, 12 nonbinary or chose no...

Source: ARENA Creative/Shutterstock KEY POINTS Students often struggle at the beginning of research projects-knowing how to begin. Research projects can sometimes be inspired by everyday life or personal concerns. Becoming something of an "expert" on a topic in advance makes designing a study go more smoothly.

Altruistic behavior has long posed a problem for evolutionary scientists. Belief that individuals sacrifice for the good of the species has been rejected by evolutionary scientists. Multilevel Selection Theory explains how sacrificing for a group can lead to evolutionary change. Find a Therapist (City or Postcode) Natural selection has often been m...

The naming of children

Human interaction would be chaotic if we were unable to exert control over the places where we live and work, and all societies have a system for recognizing human "territories" and enforcing rules that demand respect for the territorial rights of others. But what types of spaces, exactly, do we need to recognize and protect? INTL

All societies have laws and customs that acknowledge the importance of human territorial behavior. Our feeling of ownership over places generally increases with time. Territorial behavior is a key way of regulating privacy and communicating identity. Territorial behavior is essential for organizing social life.

Namesaking-the naming of a child after a parent or other person, usually a relative-is 1 of the most enduring of human traditions, and its importance is much underestimated in discussions of parenting behaviors. This review and synthesis of namesaking patterns across different times and places makes the argument that the namesaking of a child has l...

We easily fall into predictable cognitive traps when we blindly follow intuition and disregard new information. We can become more socially effective by becoming aware of the limits of our intuition.

It is widely accepted that exceptional success requires exceptional sacrifice, and this can undermine relationships and well-being. There are many examples of highly successful people who never seem to find happiness, but is this inevitable? Recent research finds very few downsides to being extraordinarily successful, and it may in fact confer he...

Humans are prewired to look into each other's eyes. Properly employing patterns of gaze is essential for effective social interactions. Eye contact turns up the volume on whatever feelings are inherent in an interaction.

How We Really Choose Our Friends 5 core components of "friendship chemistry." Posted August 25, 2022 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma Source: Dezy/Shutterstock KEY POINTS Defining the boundary that separates friends from acquaintances can be tricky. One's cultural background is a key factor in how friendships are managed. Because friendships require an invest...

Source: Stunning Art/Shutterstock KEY POINTS Only some individuals seem capable of the split-second decisions necessary for heroic action during emergencies. Men are more likely than women to engage in physically risky bravery to save the lives of strangers. Research shows that physically risky heroic behavior may be an evolutionary adaptation that...

Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster KEY POINTS College students often focus on the wrong things as they worry about choosing a career. Students overestimate the importance of having the "right" major and good grades but underestimate the importance of demonstrating skills. Find a Therapist (City or Zip) US

What makes a person se ghosts?

What makes conversations go smoothly?

Counterfactual thinking-or considering "what if" questions about one's past-has both positive and negative emotional outcomes. Considering that a negative event could've been much worse can help someone foster gratitude, regulate their emotions, and build resilience. But counterfactual thinking in an "upward" direction-that is, focused on how the i...

Understanding how one typically approaches workplace conflict can go a long way toward helping a person become a more satisfied and effective worker.

When asked to name their overall favorite day of the week, fewer people name Tuesday than any other day; it even comes in behind lowly Monday.

Deciding on the name for an adopted child can be quite complicated.

Why measure attitudes if people do not always do what they say they will?

Unique among the many puzzling things about human beings is our perverse attraction to the danger of extreme sports and our willingness to pay good money to expose ourselves to horror movies, commercial haunted houses, and other scary things. We may scare ourselves on purpose because it is an adaptive behavior that prepares us for dealing with poss...

Stories about conformity are all over the news these days. Why would several police officers go along with the actions of a fellow officer who was killing a man in broad daylight while bystanders filmed the tragedy? Why do most people in some places wear face masks, while most people in other locations do not?

For most of us, our home is a predictable and secure place where we feel in control and properly oriented in space and time. Why then, can it be so unpleasant to have to be there all of the time? When the so-called "lockdown" in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was first put in place, few of us grasped how long it might last and how difficult it w...

Wearing or not wearing a face mask has morphed into a surprisingly provocative act, and it is now one of the chief symbolic flashpoints in the culture wars. People who wear face masks berate and attack others who do not wear face masks, and those who do not wear face masks attack and berate individuals who do wear them. The mere request that someon...

One of the things that we rarely consider is the possibility that our own personalities are a major contributor to our frazzled state-of-being.

No one wants to believe that his or her house makes an inviting target for a burglary, and many of us think that we have done all the right things to make sure that it will never happen. Maybe we should think again.

Being adept with small talk is an important component of your arsenal of social skills. Knowing when to initiate small talk and also knowing when to move on and escalate the level of discourse beyond the mundane will make you a popular conversational partner.

The arsenal of human screams has been honed over millions of years of evolution

Why do legends about haunted houses persist long after they have been debunked?

What is the allure of haunted houses that creep us out?

Why creepiness and horror can be seductive

Why do some types of settings and some combinations of sensory information induce a sense of dread in humans? This article brings empirical evidence from psychological research to bear on the experience of horror, and explains why the tried-and-true horror devices intuitively employed by writers and filmmakers work so well. Natural selection has fa...

Why does the music from your youth seem superior to the music of today?

What explains our squeamishness about things that look too much like us?

As the 2020 presidential campaign gets underway, one of the key factors that shapes our perceptions is how the candidates use-or do not use-humor.

Ideologically driven mass shooters differ from other mass shooters in important ways.

Gossip is a more complicated and socially important phenomenon than most people think, and campaigns to stamp out gossip in workplaces and other social settings overlook the fact that gossip is part of human nature and an essential part of what makes social groups function as well as they do. This chapter takes the position that gossip is an evolut...

There are a lot of reasons behind the political polarization of the country and the deterioration of civic discourse. Is a lack of intellectual humility one of them?

The relationship between heat and aggression is complicated. During the 1960s, the civil disturbances and riots that raged throughout the United States during the summer months gave rise to the journalistic expression "long hot summer." This phrase reflected the common belief that hot weather made people behave aggressively and that the amount of v...

An online study involving 260 adults revealed that male children are more likely to be named after a parent or other relative than are female children, and that middle names are the most common vehicle for providing a namesake for a newborn child. While we also found that individuals without siblings scored significantly higher on a measure of roma...

Quasi-courtship enhances cooperation and creativity, but there are risks.

Most of the time, we are pretty good at reading the emotion in other people’s faces. So why do we sometimes get it wrong?

This is a literature review on costly signalling.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. With cryptocurrency fraud and IRS scams making headlines, I had thought Nigerian email schemes were a thing of the past, akin to the bygone days when a scammer might offer to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

How your sense of humor helps naviagte social life

Girls often get bullied because they have been sized up as serious competition by other girls.

Haunted Places

The best way to resolve the ambiguity surrounding death would (hypothetically) be to talk to people who have died. Consequently, there has long been a keen interest in finding a way to communicate with the dead.

Those of us who have loved a dog know the truth: Your pet is never "just a dog," which explains why we miss them so much when they pass away.