● Prestige is a better predictor of moral foundations than dominance.
Plain Language Summary
According to moral foundation theory, moral judgment is rooted in moral intuitions (including harm/care, fairness/ reciprocity, loyalty/subversion, authority/respect, purity/sanctity, and tendency to progressivism). Social status is considered something, which people eager to achieve in any society. Prestige and dominance have been delineated as two main social status-seeking styles. Prestige is a way of status achievement through developing moral virtues or gaining authentic and high-quality skills in a specific job, whereas dominance is regarded as an aggressive and intimidating strategy to achieve social status and rank. This study aimed to explore the relationship between social status seeking styles and moral foundations and explain clinical implications for those possible associations. A total of 150 participants were asked to respond to the moral foundation questionnaire and dominance-prestige scale. Findings revealed that prestige and dominance were associated with some of the moral foundations. Besides, if a deficiency in moral behavior or moral judgment is deemed as the manifestation of personality disorder or other mental disorders, it can be argued that prestige and dominance may be the right candidate for discriminating maladaptive personality patterns or some kind of mental disorders