John Edens

About

John Edens is a Professor at Texas A&M University College of Arts and Sciences within the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences. His research broadly spans the interaction between psychology and the legal system, often referred to as forensic psychology. His work primarily addresses the utility of psychological data, such as tests and evaluation procedures, to inform important mental health and legal questions within the criminal justice system. This includes violence risk assessment, adjudicative competence, and personality assessment in correctional settings. Professor Edens's research focuses on the development and improvement of psychological assessment techniques and instruments, with particular emphasis on personality measurement in forensic and correctional contexts. He has a specific interest in the construct of psychopathy and its impact on forensic and correctional decision-making worldwide. His work investigates the assessment and measurement of psychopathic traits, their role in evaluating various populations such as children and minorities, and the potential stigmatizing effects of the label 'psychopath.' Additionally, he conducts research on human aggression, especially related to assessing and managing violence risk, emphasizing the clinical utility of various violence risk factors in identifying individuals most or least at risk for engaging in aggressive behavior.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Medicine
• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Computer Security
• Social psychology
• Medical emergency
• Law
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• Statement of concerned experts on the use of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist—Revised in capital sentencing to assess risk for institutional violence.

  Psychology Public Policy and Law · 2020 · 57 citations

  PublisherDOI

• The Personality Assessment Inventory in U.S. Case Law: A Survey and Examination of Relevance to Legal Proceedings

  Journal of Personality Assessment · 2021-09-10 · 12 citations

  article

  (PAI), a popular measure of personality, psychopathology, and interpersonal functioning, has demonstrated utility to address various psycholegal questions. This case law review examines a large sample of randomly selected published U.S. case law decisions to ascertain how the PAI has been applied and considered by legal decision makers. The review indicates the instrument is popular in criminal and civil legal settings, particularly in preadjudication forensic mental health evaluations (e.g., co…

  PublisherDOI

• Personality assessment inventory (PAI) in forensic and correctional settings: A comprehensive review

  Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine · 2024-03-05 · 10 citations

  reviewOpen access

  As Forensic Psychology continues to expand as an independent field, professionals regularly resort to psychological assessment tools to assess people involved within the justice system. The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is a 344-item, self-report inventory that aims to provide meaningful information for diagnosis and clinical decision-making, specifically relating to psychopathology, personality, and psychosocial environment. Its applicability in forensic settings has been increasingly…

  PublisherDOI

• Taking “the boss” into the real world: Field interrater reliability of the Short‐Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version

  Behavioral Sciences & the Law · 2021 · 9 citations

  There is emerging evidence that the performance of risk assessment instruments is weaker when used for clinical decision-making than for research purposes. For instance, research has found lower agreement between evaluators when the risk assessments are conducted during routine practice. We examined the field interrater reliability of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV). Clinicians in a Dutch secure youth care facility completed START:AV assessments…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Dark triad traits are associated with a weaker morally-good true self bias in self-perceptions

  Self and Identity · 2023-01-23 · 8 citations

  article

  We examined whether Dark Triad (DT) traits moderate people’s tendency to associate moral traits with their true self. We hypothesized that people high in DT traits would show a weaker tendency to view moral (vs. immoral) characteristics as central to their identity. Undergraduate participants (N = 345) rated the perceived identity centrality of positive/negative traits in domains of morality/competence, and completed measures of psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. Positive moral (vs.…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01MH081069

  NIH · $827k · 2012

Frequent coauthors

• Norman G. Poythress

  63 shared

• Kevin S. Douglas

  41 shared

• Shannon Toney Smith

  FACE Foundation

  41 shared

• Scott O. Lilienfeld

  37 shared

• Jennifer L. Skeem

  29 shared

• Shannon E. Kelley

  William James College

  25 shared

• Jennifer Cox

  University of Alabama

  21 shared

• Jared R. Ruchensky

  19 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Psychology

  Texas A&M University

Awards & honors

• APS Fellow

Similar researchers at Texas A&M University

• Gerianne Alexanderh-58
• Brian Andersonh-41
• Mindy Bergmanh-28