Religious identity as stereotype threat: Understanding effects of the science-religion conflict on the self-concept and academic performance

There is a widespread lay perception that religion (particularly Christianity) and science are two opposing schools of thought. No research, however, has examined whether this lay perception affects Christian students' self-concepts and performance on scientific tasks, due to these students' fears of confirming negative stereotypes about their scientific ability. The goals of the present research are twofold: (1) To test whether making Christian students aware of negative societal stereotypes about Christians in science lowers their scientific interest and performance; and (2) To test possible ways to mitigate the effects of this stereotype - for example, by describing Christianity and science to students as compatible. These studies will advance understanding of which groups of students (i.e., those who self-identify as Christian) are especially susceptible to the detrimental impact of stereotypes about their identities, and of how to address such stereotypes in educational contexts.