Are you creepy? How would you know? What’s “creepy” as opposed to scary or eerie? We talk to the pioneer of this research, Serpopsychologist, Dr. Frank McAndrew, a professor emeritus at Knox College. We chat: dates that give you the willies, Weary Willie the Clown, haunted dolls, college goths, dark alleyways, evolutionary neurobiology, what NOT to get Oprah, the line between horror and comedy, the phobia of balloons, dating tips, and why you should re-evaluate your bathmat. Welcome to Spooktober 2025. We have more waiting in the wings for you this month.A donation went to More episode sources and linksOther episodes you may enjoy: 400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topicSmologies (short, classroom-safe) episodesSponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!Follow Ologies on Instagram and BlueskyFollow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTokEditing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake ChaffeeManaging Director: Susan HaleScheduling Producer: Noel DilworthTranscripts by Aveline Malek Website by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Full Episode
Hello. Hi. It's the old to-do list you found tucked in a book, haunting and taunting you like a creep. Let's talk creepiness. Is this a study? This is a study. Sure it is. Did it have a name? No, it didn't. It's too niche. So listen, we very, very rarely here at Ologies have to coin an ology. Usually there's something in the literature, but in this case I had to do it and it took me a
So serpo means to creep in Latin, like a serpent. And this expert kind of blazed a shadowy overgrown trail to study what makes something creepy. Why are some dolls creepy? Why does AI creep you out? How do you know if you are creepy? When is an aversion to creepiness unfair and when is it warranted? And where does this come from in our lineage? So we're going to get to that in just a sec.
But first, thank you to the patrons at patreon.com slash ologies who contribute as little as a dollar a month to support the show and they leave their questions even in audio before we record. Thank you to everyone out there wearing ologies merch from ologiesmerch.com. Also, thank you for lifting our spirits out of the muck with your sweet reviews, which I read every week.
such as this just-left one from It's Rosa Reading, who wrote, Pottery, have I ever cared before? No. Was I riveted to your latest episode? Yes. Rosa also said in their review that it was so nice to meet you recently in Reno, where I had given a talk and agreed it's always wonderful to hang out with oligites before or after a keynote or show or during. Also, fun surprise.
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Also, thank you to sponsors of the show for making it possible for us to donate to a cause of Theologist Choosing every week. Okay, let's get into it. This guest is a professor emeritus of psychology at Knox College in Illinois and studied psychology at King's College, got a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Maine.
They focus on human social behavior from an evolutionary perspective. why do we feel what we feel? And yes, for this episode, we'll talk about their work in creepiness. So let's dive into that as we kick off a month of spooktober episodes, just to delight and keep active the hairs on the back of your neck, but it's fun.
Okay, let's learn what's creepy and why with professor, experimental psychologist, ick authority, and thus, let's just say serpo-psychologist, Dr. Frank McAndrew. When I got the note back that you had said yes to this, I remember I was on the freeway and I was like, my husband was driving. I was like, we got the creepy guy.
Well, it is what it is, right?
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