Misaligned Identities: Explicit and Implicit Identification with Science and Religion

When do declarative and nondeclarative forms of personal culture align or fail to align, and with what consequences? This article uses the case of identification with two central and potentially competing societal institutions involved in the construction of reality, science and religion, to understand identity misalignment—the lack of correspondence between explicit and implicit identification. Using novel data collected from a sample of 1,436 U.S. respondents, we compare explicit (declarative) identification as scientific and religious with implicit (nondeclarative) identification with science and religion using an Implicit Association Test. Identity misalignment is more common among those individuals who explicitly identify as scientific than it is among those individuals who explicitly identify as religious. Experiences with religious institutions, especially in families of origin, are associated with science identity misalignment. Accounting for the relationship between measures of explicit and implicit identity helps explain individuals’ attitudes toward science and religion and views on public policies that support science or expand religious rights, net of explicit beliefs alone. This article sheds new light on socialization by providing evidence of how the relationship between declarative and nondeclarative forms of culture varies by institutional domains.