Wade C. Rowatt, Ph.D.

Education

M.A., Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, University of Louisville, 1997

B.A., Psychology and Philosophy, William Jewell College, 1991

Biography

Dr. Rowatt joined the Baylor faculty in 1997. He completed his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology (social-personality specialization) and his B.A. in psychology and philosophy. Dr. Rowatt teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in social psychology, personality, and the psychology of religion. He enjoys running and basketball.

Dr. Rowatt uses an apprenticeship model to teach undergraduates and graduate students about psychological science (especially social-personality psychology). Along with his student collaborators*, Dr. Rowatt studies personality traits like humility, the relationship between dimensions of religiousness and prejudice, and deception.

Awards and Honors

Recipient of the 2017 IAPR Godin Prize for the Scientific Study of Religion.

2017 Distinguished Service Award; American Psychological Association (Div. 36):

2014 Virginia Sexton Mentoring Award; American Psychological Association (Div. 36):

Lab Website

https://waderowatt.wixsite.com/research

Extramural Grants

2022-2025: Templeton Religion Trust #0447, Measuring the (Im)Measurable in Real Life. Art Seeking Understanding program. (Co-PI), $1,228,511.

2020-21: Templeton Religion Trust #0345, Measuring the (Im)measurable.  Art Seeking Understanding program.  (Co-PI), $234,499.

2017-19: JTF via University of Connecticut, Collective Intellectual Humility: Investigating when and how IH enhances group outcomes. (Co-PI), $165,000.

2016-2019: John Templeton Foundation, Developing Humility in Leadership (#60622). (Consultant), PI Peter Hill. $1,895,048.

2017-18: JTF via University of Notre Dame, Psychology of World Religion Course and Electronic Resources. (Co-PI), $4,000.

2013-15: John Templeton Foundation, Measurement and Potential Benefits of Intellectual Humility. (Co-PI), $248,875; (subcontract from grant #29630, The development, validation, and dissemination of measures of intellectual humility and humility, Peter C. Hill, P.I., $1,527,276).

Representative Publications

Rowatt, W. C., Latendresse, S., Fergus, T. F., Kent, B….Shields, A. (in press). The Structure of Religion and Spirituality Among Six Cohorts in the United States: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

Foy, E. M., Weedman, M., Marr, J., Castanheira, B. G., Tsang, J. A., & Rowatt, W. C. (2025). We’re “awe” in this together: Collective solar eclipse viewing amplifies awe. The Journal of Positive Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2025.2587864

Zimmerman, J. A., D’Aoust*, N. M., Rowatt, W. C., Schnitker, S. A. (2024).  Neuroticism moderates the relation between inflexibility and mental health symptoms among Drum Corps International retirees.  Journal for Advancing Sport Psychology in Research.

Krumrei-Mancuso, E. & Rowatt, W. C. (2023). Humility in novice leaders: Links to servant leadership and followers’ satisfaction with leadership.  Journal of Positive Psychology, 18, 154-166. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2021.1952647

Al-Kire, R. L., Pasek, M. H., Tsang, J. A., Leman, J., & Rowatt, W. C. (2022). Protecting America’s borders: Christian nationalism, threat, and attitudes toward immigrants in the United States. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations.

Rowatt, W. C. & Al-Kire, R. L. (2021). Dimensions of religiousness and their connection to racial, ethnic, and atheist prejudices.  Current Opinion in Psychology, 40, 86-91.

Rowatt, W.C., Al-Kire, R. L., Dunn, H., Leman, J. (2020).  Attitudes toward separating immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border.  Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 20, 118-142.

Al-Kire, M., Pasek, M., Tsang, J.A., & Rowatt, W.C. (in press).  Christian no more: Christian Americans are threatened by their impending minority status.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Al-Kire, R. L., Pasek, M. H., Tsang, J. A., Leman, J., & Rowatt, W. C. (2021). Protecting America’s borders: Christian nationalism, threat, and attitudes toward immigrants in the United States. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations.

Meagher, B. R., Leman, J. C., *Heidenga, C. A., *Ringquist, M. R., & Rowatt, W. C. (2021).  Intellectual humility in conversation: Distinct behavioral indicators of self and peer ratings.  Journal of Positive Psychology, 16, 417-429. doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2020.1738536

Rowatt, W. C. (2019).  Associations between religiosity, political ideology, and attitudes toward immigrants: A mediation path-analytic approach.  Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 11, 368-381.

Haggard, M.C., Kaelen, R., Saroglou, V., Klein, O. & Rowatt, W. C. (2019).  Religion’s role in the illusion of gender equality: Supraliminal and subliminal religious priming increases benevolent sexism.  Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 11, 392-398.

Krumrei-Mancuso, E. J., Haggard, M. C., LaBouff, J. P., & Rowatt, W. C. (2019). Links between intellectual humility and acquiring knowledge. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1-16.

*Haggard, M., Rowatt, W. C., *Leman, J. C., Meagher, B., *Moore, C., Fergus, T., ... & Howard-Snyder, D. (2018). Finding middle ground between intellectual arrogance and intellectual servility: Development and assessment of the limitations-owning intellectual humility scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 124, 184-193.

*Hoyland, M. A., Rowatt, W. C., & Latendresse, S. J. (2017). Prior delinquency and depression differentially predict conditional associations between discrete patterns of adolescent religiosity and adult alcohol use patterns. Substance abuse: research and treatment, 10, 1178221816686060.

Meagher, B. R., Leman, J. C., Bias, J. P., Latendresse, S. J., Rowatt, W. C. (2015). Contrasting self-report and consensus ratings of intellectual humility and arrogance. Journal of Research in Personality, 58, 35-45.

Fergus, T. A. & Rowatt, W. C. (2014). Personal uncertainty strengthens associations between scrupulosity and both moral appraisals of intrusive thoughts and beliefs God is upset with sins. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 33, 51-74.

Johnson, M. K., Rowatt, W. C., & LaBouff, J. P. (2012). Religion and prejudice revisited: In-group favoritism, out-group derogation, or both? Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 4, 154-168.

LaBouff, J. P., Rowatt, W. C., Johnson, M. K., Tsang, J., & McCullough*, G. (2012). Humble people are more helpful than less humble persons: Evidence from three studies. Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 16-29.

LaBouff, J. P., Rowatt, W. C., Johnson, M. K., & Finkle*, C. (2011). Differences in attitudes towards out-groups in religious and non-religious contexts in a multi-national sample: A situational context priming study. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 22, 1-9.

*Johnson, M. K., Rowatt, W. C., Petrini, L. (2011). A new trait on the market: Honesty-humility as a unique predictor of job performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 857-862.

*Johnson, M. K., Rowatt, W. C., & *LaBouff, J. P. (2010). Priming Christian religious concepts increases racial prejudice. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1, 119-126.

*LaBouff, J. P., Rowatt, W. C. et al. (2010). Development and initial validation of an implicit measure of religiousness-spirituality. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 49, 439-455.

Rowatt, W. C., *LaBouff, J. P., *Johnson, M., Froese, P., & Tsang, J. (2009). Associations among religiousness, social attitudes, and prejudice in a national sample of American adults. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 1, 14-24.

Rowatt, W. C., *Powers, C., *Targhetta, V., *Comer, J., *Kennedy, S., & *LaBouff, J. (2006). Development and initial validation of an implicit measure of humility relative to arrogance. Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 198-211.

Rowatt, W. C., *Franklin, L., & *Cotton, M. (2005). Patterns and personality correlates of implicit and explicit attitudes toward Christians and Muslims. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44, 29-43.

Rowatt, W. C., & *Franklin, L. (2004). Christian orthodoxy, religious fundamentalism, and right-wing authoritarianism as predictors of implicit racial prejudice. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 14, 125-138.

Rowatt, W. C., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2002). Two dimensions of attachment to God and their relation to affect, personality, and religiosity constructs. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41, 637-651.

Rowatt, W. C., Cunningham, M. R., & Druen, P. B. (1998). Deception to get a date. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 1228-1242.

Complete list of publications can be seen on Google Search. 

Ph.D. Graduates

Joseph Leman
Linda Kang
Jordan LaBouff (Associate Professor, University of Maine)
Megan Johnson Shen (Current: Associate Professor of Psychology in Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College; previously post-doc, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
Megan Haggard, (Department Chair & Associate Professor of Psychology, Francis Marion University)
Hilary Alwood (Lecturer, Texas A&M University)

Psy.D. Graduates

Craig Bryan
Amanda Parsons
Ruth Nam Bueschel
Angela Beard
Will Hunter
Halle Ross

Current Ph.D. Students

MacKenzie Paul

Emily Foy (co-mentored with Dr. Sara Perry)

Kassidy Conrad (co-mentored with Dr. Thomas Fergus).

Courses Taught at Baylor:

• PSY 3310 - Social Psychology
• PSY 3399 - Positive Psychology & Well-Being
• PSY 4327 - Personality Psychology
• PSY 4339 - Psychology of Religion
• PSY 4V96 - Social-Personality Psychology Research
• PSY 5339 - Advanced Social Psychology
• PSY 5350 - Advanced Personality Psychology