Dr Carissa Sharp

Department of Theology and Religion
Associate Professor in Psychology of Religion

Contact details

Email: c.sharp@bham.ac.uk

View my research portal

Address: University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Qualifications

PhD, Social and Developmental Psychology, University of Cambridge, 2013
MTS, Christianity and Society, Harvard Divinity School, 2008
BA (Hons), Psychology and Religious Studies, University of Oregon, 2006

Biography

I am a psychologist of religion, primarily focusing on people’s perceptions of the relationship between science and religion and how people think about God.

I have previously held positions as University of Oregon, Coventry University, and most recently Newman University, where I was associate director of the Centre for Science, Knowledge, and Belief in Society. I am currently co-investigator of the “Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum Global Perspectives" project, and co-principal investigator of the "International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society" project .

Postgraduate supervision

I am happy to supervise topics within the psychology of religion, including:

Perceptions of the relationship between science and religion
Social identities and intergroup relations, particularly relating to religion, nonreligion, and/or science
Stereotyping and prejudice
How people think about God (God representations)
The complexity of people’s religious ideas and/or identities

Research

Within the psychology of religion, my research tends to focus on two broad areas. The first is investigating perceptions of the relationship between science and religion from a social and experimental psychology perspective. This has involved examining the roles of belief systems and social identities relating to religion, nonreligion, and science. Additionally, my research investigates social cognition (how we think about the self and others), particularly focusing on how people think about God. This research has implications for outcomes such as intergroup relations, stereotyping, prejudice, and mental health.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Fitz Herbert, A, Sharp, C, Rivera, R & Pittaro, E 2026, 'Science and Belief in Argentina: Mapping Moral and Epistemological Conflicts Through Moral Foundations Theory', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.70028

Hughes, R, Sharp, C, Leicht, C, Hariharan, L, Premarathna, M, Mahees, M, Hettige, S & Elsdon-Baker, F 2025, 'Exploration of Religious Social Identity and Perception of Science/Scientists: The Sri Lankan Context', Archive for the Psychology of Religion.

Hughes, R, Sharp, C, Leicht, C & Elsdon-Baker, F 2025, 'Global Perceptions of Religious and Non-Religious Scientists', Archive for the Psychology of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1177/00846724251314496

Sharp, CA, Leicht, C, Rios, K, Zarzeczna, N & Elsdon-Baker, F 2022, 'Religious diversity in science: stereotypical and counter-stereotypical social identities', Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, vol. 25, no. 7, pp. 1836-1860. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220987598

Leicht, C, Sharp, C, LaBouff, J, Zarzeczna, N & Elsdon-Baker, F 2021, 'Content matters: perceptions of the science-religion relationship', The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2021.2003111

Sharp, C 2021, 'Measures of God representations: theoretical framework and critical review', Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 340–357. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000257

Davis, EB, Granqvist, P & Sharp, C 2021, 'Theistic relational spirituality: development, dynamics, health, and transformation', Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 401–415. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000219

Sharp, C & Johnson, K 2020, 'Assessing spirituality on two dimensions: closeness to God and focal orientation', The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 48-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2019.1633853

Sharp, C, Shariff, A & LaBouff, J 2020, 'Religious complexity and intergroup bias', The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 73-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2019.1635856

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Sharp, CA, Leicht, C & Hughes, RE 2025, Comparability vs. Relevance, and the Related Methodological Hurdles: Exploring Perceptions of Science and Religion Across Countries from a Psychological Perspective. in F Elsdon-Baker, SH Jones & J Riley (eds), International Perspectives on Science, Culture, and Belief: From Complexity to Globality. 1st edn, Routledge, pp. 210-227. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003476580-15

Sharp, CA, Brown, J & Farias, M 2025, Social psychological contributions to understanding the role of religion in human relationships. in SM Laham (ed.), Handbook of Ethics and Social Psychology. Research Handbooks on Social Psychology series, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 386-398. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035311804.00038

Sharp, CA & Collicutt, J 2025, The United Kingdom: The psychology of religion up to 2020. in KL Ladd, J Basu, V DeMarinis, Ü Ok, W Zangari & ML Ladd (eds), Cambridge International Handbook of the Psychology of Religion. Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, Cambridge University Press, pp. 591-600.

Sharp, C & Leicht, C 2020, Beyond Belief Systems: Promoting a Social Identity Approach to the Study of Science and Religion. in F Elsdon-Baker & B Lightman (eds), Identity in a Secular Age: Science, Religion and Public Perceptions. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.

Editorial

Sharp, C & Watanabe, S 2026, 'The 2025 IAPR Conference at the University of Birmingham: Highlighting the Cross-Disciplinarity of the Psychology of Religion', Archive for the Psychology of Religion.

Review article

Sharp, C 2026, '(Non)religious social identity and perceptions of science', Current Opinion in Psychology, vol. 68, 102230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102230

View all publications in research portal