Which of the following claims are descriptive and which are normative? (a) On average, people save less than 10 percent of their income for retirement. (b) People do not save as much for retirement as they should. (c) Very often, people regret not saving more for retirement.

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

To determine which statements are descriptive versus normative, I will first restate the question and each option clearly.
Question: Which of the following claims are descriptive and which are normative?
Options:
- a) On average, people save less than 10 percent of their income for retirement.
- b) People do not save as much for retirement as they should.
- c) Very often, people regret not saving more for retirement.

Now, evaluating each option:
Option 1: "a and c are descriptive, and b is normative."
- Descriptive claims describe how things are or what is typical in reality. Statement a fits this: it reports a statistical finding about saving behavior.
- Statement c also fits descriptive analysis: it reports a common emotional or cognitive experience people have, namely regret about savings behavior.
- Statement b is normative because it introduces a value judgment about how much one should save (i.e., what is ideal or proper), not merely what is observed.
- Therefore, this option correctly classifies a and c as descriptive and b as normative.
Option 2: "all are descriptive."
- This would imply that statement b is descriptive, but b makes a judgment about what people ought to do, not just what they do or fail to do.
- Since b involves normative evaluation (what should be done), this option misclassifies b, making the statement incorrect.
Option 3: "a and c are normative, and b is descriptive."
- Here, a and c would be deemed normative, which is inaccurate because both a and c describe observed patterns or emotions rather than prescribing or valuing them.
- The mislabeling of descriptive statements as normative is the flaw in this choice.
Option 4: "a and b are descriptive, and c is normative."
- This option claims c, which describes regret over not saving enough, is normative. In fact, regret describes an experiential/descriptive phenomenon rather than a value judgment about how things ought to be.
- Additionally, it incorrectly labels b as descriptive when b asserts a judgment about adequacy relative to an ideal standard, i.e., normative.

In summary, the first option aligns with standard definitions of descriptive versus normative claims: a and c describe observed behavior or feelings, while b asserts a normative standard about what should be the case. The remaining options misclassify at least one statement by treating normative judgments as descriptive or vice versa.

Which of the following claims are descriptive and which are normative? (a) On average, people save less than 10 percent of their income for retirement. (b) People do not save as much for retirement as they should. (c) Very often, people regret not saving more for retirement.

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Which of the following claims are descriptive and which are normative? (a) On average, people save less than 10 percent of their income for retirement. (b) People do not save as much for retirement as they should. (c) Very often, people regret not saving more for retirement.

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