Abstract: Different moral judgment tendencies reflect individuals’ different moral norms, especially in the face of moral dilemmas. Utilitarianism entails that only consequences of moral actions matter and consequences which lead to maximization of well-being for maximum number of agents ought to be preferred. According to previous studies, objective social class can positively predict utilitarian moral judgment, but there is no study about the relationship between subjective social class and utilitarian moral judgment. According to the social rank theory, the psychological root of the class difference is caused by comparing with others, which shaped the individual’s subjective social class. Thus, this study aims to investigate how the subjective social class affect sutilitarian moral judgment, which is helpful to better understand their relationship and extend the relationship to subjective social class. The theory of social cognitive suggests that class-based social cognitive patterns are shaped by the pervasive social goals, values, and expectations. Different subjective social class construct social cognition and belief differently. For example, the person who holds higher subjective social class tend to form independent self-construction, and prefer competition more than cooperation, which is the core of zero-sum game beliefs. Therefore, this study assumed that these innate cognition and intuition-based beliefs may play a mediating role between subjective social class and utilitarian moral judgment. In this study, independent self-construal and zero-sum game belief have been introduced as two mediating variables to explore their effects in the relationship between subjective social class and utilitarian moral judgment. In sum, this paper aimed to explore the relationship between subjective social class and moral judgment, and to examine the serial mediating role of independent self-construal and belief of zero-sum game.
We recruited 523 participants and utilized the moral judgment questionnaire, the MacArthur Scale of subjective social class, the self-construal scale, and the zero-sum game belief scale. Results show that: (1) The subjective social class can predict the utilitarian moral judgment positive significantly. (2) The independent self-construal and belief of zero-sum game plays a chain mediating role in the relationship between subjective social class and moral judgment. (3) Belief of zero-sum game plays a suppressing effect between the relationship of subjective social class and the utilitarian moral judgment. After controlling for the self-construal, the belief of zero-sum game can weaken the direct effect between subject social class and the utilitarian moral judgment.
The results of this study reveal a continuous mediating model, which is the basis of the relationship between subjective social class and moral judgment. We know that subject social class is formed by comparing with others, which is a sense of relationship between self and others. The belief of zero-sum game, on the other hand, is one’s belief about the world. Both are social factors that can affect our moral judgment. The findings extend the relationship between objective social class and moral judgment to subjective social class and support the hypothesis that there is a complex connection between subjective social class and utilitarian moral judgment. This conclusion contributes to a better understanding of how social factors affect moral judgment.

Key words: subjective social class, self-construal, belief of zero-sum game, moral judgment

摘要： 本研究选取523名被试,进行道德判断、主观社会阶层、自我构念与零和博弈信念的测量,以探讨主观社会阶层与道德判断之间的中介机制。结果表明：（1）主观社会阶层显著正向预测功利型道德判断;（2）独立型自我构念和零和博弈信念在主观社会阶层预测功利型道德判断中起到链式中介作用;（3）零和博弈信念在主观社会阶层和道德判断中起遮掩作用。本研究有助于研究者深入了解社会性因素影响道德判断的机制。

关键词: 主观社会阶层, 自我构念, 零和博弈信念, 道德判断