Renate Ysseldyk
Program
Junior Fellow Academy
Appointment
Junior Fellow, Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being
Institution
University of Exeter
Country
United Kingdom 
Renate Ysseldyk began her CIFAR Junior Fellowship in March of 2010 under the supervision of Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being Fellow Alex Haslam in the School of Psychology at the University of Exeter, UK. She will also be working closely with Scholar Irene Bloemraad in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and program Advisory Committee Member Kimberly Matheson in the Department of Psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa. In 2009, Renate completed her PhD at Carleton, under the supervision of Dr. Matheson and Dr. Hymie Anisman, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Neuroscience. Renate also holds an M.A. from Carleton University and a B.A. in Psychology from Brock University, through which she minored in French Language and Literature at the Université de Perpignan, France. Among numerous awards and honours, Renate has been the recipient of an NSERC Master’s Scholarship (2003-2005) and a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship (2005-2008).
Renate’s research focuses on the roles of group identification, stressor appraisals, and coping strategies in determining both individual well-being and intergroup responses, particularly among divergent religious groups. In her PhD thesis, she found that greater identification with a religious group facilitated adaptive coping in an effort to deal with traumatic stressors, and more positive psychological health ensued. However, in a series of studies involving religious discrimination as the stressor, highly-identified group members reported counter-productive coping strategies and more negative emotional outcomes, but were more likely to take action (both normative and confrontational) to diminish the threat. Moreover, the effects of religious discrimination exceeded those following ethnic discrimination, suggesting that religious threat acted as an assault on the very belief system used to cope with stressful encounters. Renate is currently extending this line of research to examine how minority religious group members cope with stressful life transitions, including migration from collectivist cultures, given that identification with such groups may be a source of both threat (e.g., discrimination) and comfort (e.g., social support). Her research will increase our understanding of how attitudes toward religious diversity influence immigration policy across several nations, with the aim of identifying factors that may lead to both improved individual health and more harmonious and productive intergroup relations.
Renate’s research focuses on the roles of group identification, stressor appraisals, and coping strategies in determining both individual well-being and intergroup responses, particularly among divergent religious groups. In her PhD thesis, she found that greater identification with a religious group facilitated adaptive coping in an effort to deal with traumatic stressors, and more positive psychological health ensued. However, in a series of studies involving religious discrimination as the stressor, highly-identified group members reported counter-productive coping strategies and more negative emotional outcomes, but were more likely to take action (both normative and confrontational) to diminish the threat. Moreover, the effects of religious discrimination exceeded those following ethnic discrimination, suggesting that religious threat acted as an assault on the very belief system used to cope with stressful encounters. Renate is currently extending this line of research to examine how minority religious group members cope with stressful life transitions, including migration from collectivist cultures, given that identification with such groups may be a source of both threat (e.g., discrimination) and comfort (e.g., social support). Her research will increase our understanding of how attitudes toward religious diversity influence immigration policy across several nations, with the aim of identifying factors that may lead to both improved individual health and more harmonious and productive intergroup relations.