https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220905661 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 1–18 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1368430220905661 journals.sagepub.com/home/gpi G P I R Group Processes & Intergroup Relations The number of nonreligious individuals in America has been steadily increasing over the past few decades (Zuckerman, 2011). The Pew Research Center (2015) distinguishes between three nonreligious identities: atheists, agnostics, and those who are “nothing in particular.” All three groups have increased in number in recent years. Most research on nonreligious individuals has focused on atheists, who are disliked at con- sistently high levels in the US (Edgell, Gerteis, & Hartmann, 2006; Edgell, Hartmann, Stewart, & Gerteis, 2016; Franks & Scherr, 2014; Gervais, Shariff, & Norenzayan, 2011). Atheists are well Concealment of nonreligious identity: Exploring social identity threat among atheists and other nonreligious individuals Cameron D. Mackey, 1 Christopher F. Silver, 2 Kimberly Rios, 1 Colleen M. Cowgill, 1 and Ralph W. Hood, Jr. 2 Abstract Negative attitudes toward the nonreligious persist in America. This may compel some nonreligious individuals to conceal their identity to manage feelings of social identity threat. In one correlational study and one experiment, we found evidence of social identity threat and concealment behavior among nonreligious Americans. Our first study showed that Southern nonreligious individuals reported higher levels of stigma consciousness and self-reported concealment of nonreligious identity, which in turn predicted lower likelihood of self-identifying as “atheist” in public settings than in private settings. Our second study successfully manipulated feelings of social identity threat by showing that atheists who read an article about negative stereotypes of their group subsequently exhibited higher concealment scores than did atheists who read one of two control articles. Implications for how nonreligious individuals negotiate social identity threat and future directions for nonreligion research are discussed. Keywords atheists, concealment, nonreligion, religion, social identity threat, stigma consciousness Paper received 29 May 2019; revised version accepted 20 January 2020. 1 Ohio University, USA 2 University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, USA Corresponding author: Cameron D. Mackey, Department of Psychology, Ohio University, 200 Porter Hall, Athens, OH 45701-2978, USA. Email: cm174018@ohio.edu 905661GPI 0 0 10.1177/1368430220905661Group Processes & Intergroup RelationsMackey et al. research-article 2020 Article