Andrew Franks, PhD
Core Faculty
Office phone: 248.476.1122, ext. 103
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Andrew Franks was born in Saginaw, Michigan and earned each of his academic degrees at Central Michigan University. He joined MSP in 2024 as the first ever non-clinician in a Core Faculty position. Prior to that, he held faculty positions at University of Michigan, University of Washington, and Princeton University.
Dr. Franks’ research program applies social psychological principles to contexts such as politics & public policy, criminal justice, public health, and economics. As of September 2024, he has authored 23 peer-reviewed publications, the majority of which are as primary or sole author.
Outside of academia, Dr. Franks has worked in the field of AI development and was a member of the Education Committee and the Advisory Committee for Voters Not Politicians during the effort to pass Michigan Proposition 2 (2018), which ended partisan gerrymandering in our state. He is also the former chair of the Secular Coalition for Michigan.
Education
- Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology – Central Michigan University
- M.S. in Experimental Psychology – Central Michigan University
- B.S. in Psychology – Central Michigan University
Areas of Expertise
- Statistics
- Research Methods
- Social Psychology & Social Cognition
- Evolutionary Psychology
Selected Publications
Franks, A.S., Roupe, G., & Otani, H. (2023). (A)symmetries in the directed forgetting of political stimuli. Experimental Psychology.
Franks, A.S., Xiao, Y.J., & Hesami, F. (2022). Racial framing of pandemic outcomes has conditional indirect effects on support for COVID‐19 mitigation policies: Examining moral and threat‐based mediating mechanisms. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy.
Franks, A.S. (2020). The conditional effects of candidate sex and sexism on perceived electability and voting intentions: Evidence from the 2020 Democratic primary. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy.
Franks, A.S. & Scherr, K.C. (2019). Economic issues are moral issues: The moral underpinnings of the desire to reduce economic inequality. Social Psychological and
Personality Science.
Personality Science.
Q&A
- Describe your research interests.
My research applies social psychological theory to politics & public policy, criminal justice, public health, and economics. Much of my research focuses on social justice related outcomes.
- Describe your clinical philosophy.
As a social psychological researcher and non-clinician, I seek to promote psychological science as a tool for understanding the social conditions and phenomena that affect mental health outcomes and for engaging in evidence-based efforts to improve such outcomes at the individual, community, and society levels.
