The interaction of faith and science mindsets predicts perceptions of the relationship between religion and science

Abstract

Religion and Science are two cultural systems that have each played a critical role in shaping human thought, feelings, and behavior, and there is an ongoing debate about the relationship between the two systems. Religion and Science may be viewed as conflicting (if one is right, the other is wrong), in dialogue (differences can be discussed and reasonably resolved), or as separate domains of inquiry. Researchers studying people's attitudes toward conflict and dialogue have focused on the main effects of religious or science-minded variables only. In contrast, we made predictions regarding an interaction effect: As faith scores increase, a positive relationship between science mindset and conflict would be attenuated (H1); and the negative relationship between science mindset and dialogue would also decrease (H2). Using a sample of 669 U.S. participants, we found support for the hypothesized interaction effect. Among participants high in faith mindset, science mindset was negatively related to conflict and positively related to dialogue. In contrast, among participants low in faith mindset, science mindset was positively related to conflict and negatively related to dialogue. Thus, it is important to consider the joint effects of faith and science mindsets when predicting views of the relationship between Religion and Science. We also explored the relationships between mindsets and Religion and Science as separate domains and found that mindsets accounted for minimal variance. We discuss how science and faith mindsets may each contribute to well-being but that endorsing a cultural narrative of Religion and Science in conflict may be detrimental to well-being.