Summary: Christians and nonreligious individuals emphasize different interpersonal traits. Christians see themselves as more warm than competent, indicating an emphasis on communal traits, which are related to consideration of others (e.g., warmth; Abele & Wojciszke, 2007). Conversely, nonreligious individuals see themselves as more competent than warm, indicating an emphasis on agentic traits, which are related to the advancement of the self (e.g., assertiveness; Rios et al., 2015). Christians’ emphasis on communal traits may partially explain their underrepresentation in science: Christians may see science as a bad “fit” for their communal values, as people who emphasize communal goals exhibit more disinterest in science (Diekman et al., 2011) and science is related to accomplishing agentic values (Ramsey, 2017). Furthermore, nonreligious individuals may see people who do not share their values (i.e., agentic traits) negatively, which may be one reason nonreligious individuals stereotype Christians (who emphasize communal values) as incompetent in science (Rios et al., 2015).

We propose two preregistered studies to assess how perceptions of science as agentic vs. communal can predict 1) Christian college students’ interest, trust, and feelings of belonging in science and 2) nonreligious college students’ (reduced) endorsement of stereotypes about Christians as unscientific or unintelligent. Study 1 will manipulate the perceived agency vs. communality of a science laboratory. We predict that a science lab presented as communal will increase Christians’ interest, trust, and sense of belonging in science. Exploratory analyses will examine if agentic vs. communal laboratories influence nonreligious participants’ endorsement of stereotypes about Christians as incompetent in science or as unintelligent. Study 2 will involve a Christian scientist exemplar (Francis Collins) or an atheist scientist exemplar (Richard Dawkins) acting in either agentic or communal ways (Scheitle & Ecklund, 2017). We predict that Christians who read about Francis Collins will report greater trust, interest, and belongingness in science compared to Christians who read about Richard Dawkins, especially when Collins is presented as communal. For nonreligious participants, we predict that reading about Francis Collins will reduce their endorsement of negative stereotypes about Christians’ scientific and intellectual abilities. We will also explore whether reading about the scientist exemplars’ communal (vs. agentic) traits reduces nonreligious individuals’ endorsement of negative stereotypes about Christians.

If funded, this project will produce two datasets that will enable us to test the above predictions. We will also prepare a manuscript for publication and present our findings at a major conference.