The majority of Americans are Christians, but the majority of American scientists are not. A 2009 survey found nearly half of scientists had no religious affiliation. Only 31 percent identified as Christian. What causes the disconnect between science and Christianity?

New research suggests that negative stereotypes about the scientific competency of Christians may be a contributing factor. The research in Social Psychological and Personality Science found negative stereotypes cause Christians to underperform on scientific reasoning tests and drives them away from science.

The study adds to a growing body of research on “stereotype threat ” — an insidious self-fulfilling prophecy in which the risk of confirming a negative stereotype undermines a person’s performance.

“Unlike women and ethnic minorities, on whom much research about negative intellectual stereotypes has focused, American Christians are a dominant majority group (77% of the population) and not one generally perceived as disadvantaged. Yet context matters, and in scientific domains, different proportions and a potentially very different climate exist,” lead researcher Kimberly Rios and her colleagues wrote in the study.

“Christian underrepresentation in science may be caused by self-selection (choosing not to enter science-related fields) as well as underperformance (not succeeding in said fields), both of which are exacerbated by negative stereotypes.”

An initial survey of 169 participants confirmed that non-Christians believe that Christians are inferior at and distrustful of science. Christians themselves, however, believe they are as competent in and trusting of science as the average person.

Rios and her colleagues also found that negative stereotypes cause Christian college students to identify less with science than non-Christians unless they are given information that contradicts this antiscience stereotype.

An experiment with 93 psychology undergraduates found that Christians reported weaker identification with science than did non-Christians overall, and reading that most people thought Christians were bad at science made them identify even less. However, the difference between Christians and non-Christians disappeared when they read that most people thought Christians were good at science.

In two additional experiments of 295 participants, the researchers found that Christians performed worse on logical reasoning tests after being exposed to negative stereotypes about their scientific abilities. A final experiment of 90 participants found that Christians performed worse on the logical reasoning test if they took it in the physical sciences building than if they took it in the divinity school.

“Although the differences between Christians and non-Christians disappear when the stereotypes are explicitly removed, the overall effects of these stereotypes are pernicious. As with other groups, Christians may face a perpetuating cycle whereby they underperform due to the existing stereotypes, thereby confirming those original stereotypes,” Rios and her colleagues said.