Both the Biden and Trump administrations oversaw periods of robust growth. Since Biden’s inauguration, GDP has increased by 8.4 percent when adjusted for inflation. Under Trump, GDP grew 6.8 percent – but that includes the plunge in economic activity that occurred during the first year of the pandemic. Excluding 2020, Biden comes out slightly ahead, with an annualised growth rate of about 2.9 percent, compared with just under 2.7 percent for Trump.
Under Biden, the economy has added about 15.7 million jobs. By contrast, Trump left office with some three million fewer jobs – although that figure was skewed by the pandemic. However, even before the pandemic, job creation grew at a slower pace during Trump’s administration than it has under Biden.
Extracted from Power (2024).
Essay: Part A (55 marks) – 750-word limit
According to Picchi (2024), “65% of Americans remember the economy under former President Donald Trump as being good, compared with 38% giving the current economy under President Joe Biden the same positive assessment.”
Considering the extract by Power (2024), examine how basic principles underlying how we form social beliefs and judgments account for the reported discrepancy between facts and perception. Describe at least four psychological concepts in your response, alongside providing relevant empirical support.
Essay: Part B (40 marks) – 550-word limit
Develop a better understanding of human fallibility in judging, perceiving, and explaining our social worlds as you analyse the extent your arguments in Part A apply to the Singapore context.
To this end, you shall apply at least three of the four principles you cited in Part A to at least one local example to discuss the applicability of these concepts to local culture.
References (5 marks)
Note on use of referencing software
Reference lists created by referencing software have formatting restrictions and your instructor will not be able to insert comments within the list. If you wish to receive feedback on errors in your reference list, prepare this without using any referencing software.
The References lists the full reference of all sources cited or referred to in your assignment. In-text citations also need to be presented accurately in APA format.
- 5 marks: In-text citations and the reference list are presented in APA format with no errors. None of the sources cited in-text are missing from the reference list and vice-versa. A minimum of 5 academic sources are cited.
- 4 marks: In-text citations and the reference list are presented in APA format but there may be one or two minor stylistic errors. There may be sources cited in-text that are missing from the reference list and vice-versa. A minimum of 5 academic sources are cited.
- 3 marks: Formatting errors are evident in the in-text citations and/or the reference list. There may be sources cited in-text that are missing from the reference list and vice-versa. A minimum of 5 academic sources are cited.
- 2 marks: Major formatting errors are evident in the in-text citations and/or the reference list. There may be sources cited in-text that are missing from the reference list and vice-versa.
- 1 mark: Effort was made to present a reference list even though there may only be one item listed and it contains formatting errors; in-text citations may be missing.
- 0 marks: In-text citations and the reference list are missing