Stephanie Cardenas

Stephanie Cardenas

Assistant Professor of Psychology
Cross Icon

Education

  • Ph.D. Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
  • M.A. Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
  • B.A. Psychology and German, Williams College

Faculty Research Interests

I am an experimental psychologist interested in the application of social and cognitive psychology to matters of social justice and law. Using an array of rich behavioral methods, such as live and virtual interactions, longitudinal reporting of naturalistic events, and high-stakes laboratory experiments, as well as both qualitative and quantitative measurements, my research seeks to understand how psychological biases operate across the criminal justice system — from alibi generation and lay perceptions of police-civilian altercations to plea decision-making and prosecutorial ethics.

For up to date information about the Psychology and Law Lab, please visit stephanieacardenas.github.io.

Recent and Representative Publications

Cardenas, S.A. Sanchez, P.Y., & Kassin, S.M. (2023). The "Partial Innocence" Effect: False guilty pleas to partially unethical behaviors. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672231185639Open Access Version

Cardenas, S.A. (2023). Charged up and anchored down: A test of two pathways to judgmental and decisional anchoring biases in plea negotiations. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7s4vzOpen Access Version

Cardenas, S.A., Crozier, W.E., & Strange, D. (2020). Right place, wrong time: The limitations of mental reinstatement of context on alibi-elicitation. Psychology, Crime, and Law. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2020.1798424

Recent Courses Taught

  • PSYC 359 Psychology and Law
  • PSYC 299 Advanced Methods in Social Psychology
  • PSYC 209 Social Psychology

Contact