Visible religious markers such as headscarves and beards can reduce how trustworthy a person appears to strangers, according to new research conducted in Turkey.
The study, co-authored by Dr Ozan Aksoy and published in PNAS, challenges the common assumption that religious markers are interpreted as signals of trustworthiness.
Instead, researchers found that, in many cases, overt markers associated with religion lowered perceived trustworthiness – even among highly religious respondents.
In the experiment, over 2,000 adults were asked to evaluate photographs of strangers. Each respondent viewed six images randomly selected from a set of male and female faces that had been digitally altered to reflect three different levels of visible religiosity.
Participants rated their first impressions of the strangers on a scale from 0 to 10. Trustworthiness was measured by asking them to imagine losing a wallet in a public place and to estimate the likelihood that the person pictured would return it intact.
The findings revealed that religious markers often reduced trust ratings. The effect was stronger for more conservative markers of faith, such as the chador for women or a distinctly Islamic-style beard for men.
Dr Aksoy explained:
Religious symbols do not operate in a vacuum. While they may communicate piety, they also signal other social and political identities that shape how people are perceived.
Perceptions also varied depending on the respondents’ own religiosity. Religious participants were more likely to view women wearing a moderate marker (i.e. the türban) as more trustworthy than those who did not cover their heads or wore a more conservative marker (i.e. the chador).
Among men, the pattern was clearer: profiles with any type of beard included in the study were generally viewed as less trustworthy, regardless of the observer’s own religious beliefs.
The study suggests that this occurs because religious markers signal multiple attributes – not only faith, but also perceived political orientation and physical attractiveness.
While religiosity itself may be associated with higher trust, these other inferred characteristics appear to outweigh any positive effect.
Co-author Dr Johanna Gereke from the University of Mannheim said:
What I find most interesting is that our study in Turkey uncovers a surprising pattern: in a predominantly Muslim society, visible religious badges, such as headscarves and beards tend to reduce rather than enhance perceived trustworthiness.
By showing that these markers act as bundled social signals conveying social and political meanings, not simply religiosity, our results uncover how religious markers carry complex social meanings that influence everyday judgements in contexts where public religious expression is contested.
Dr Aksoy added:
To the extent that religious badges signal devotion, they can increase perceptions of trust. But in our study, those positive signals were often overshadowed by assumptions about political leanings or perceived attractiveness.
The study contributes to wider debates about religion in public life, suggesting that visible expressions of faith do not uniformly promote trust or social cohesion.
The researchers conclude that religious markers should be understood not as inherently trust-enhancing, but as complex symbols whose interpretation depends on the social context in which they are displayed.
