Karen Stenner is a political scientist specializing in political psychology. Stenner has studied the political activation of authoritarian personality types, as well as how that activation explains the innovative success of some authoritarian political figures as well as enduring conflicts between some individuals together with the broad tolerance that characterizes liberal democracy.
Stenner attended the University of Queensland, earning a BA in 1987. In 1995 she earned an MA from Stony Brook University, followed by a PhD there in 1997. In 1996 she became an assistant professor at Duke University, and then in 1998 she joined the faculty at Princeton University. She later transmitted to Australia, where she worked on behavioral economics and public policy at institutions including Griffith University.