It is widely assumed that people need to engage in intellectual activi

Staying Sharp

Step 1: Identify the Question

The word weakens in the question stem indicates that this is a Weaken the Argument question.

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument

Assump: intell activities nec to stay sharp w/ aging

BUT: study shows + social contact → + mental skills

© social contact is enough to stay sharp

Step 3: Pause and State the Goal

In a Weaken problem, the right answer will make the conclusion less likely to be correct. In this case, the right answer will suggest that social contact alone isn’t enough to maintain mental sharpness as one ages. It might suggest that the study’s conclusions were faulty, or that something else is needed in addition to social contact.

Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right

(A) This answer choice describes a suggestion that some people give to older people. The suggestion is based on a particular assumption: that older people need mental exercise in order to stay sharp. However, even though people buy into this assumption and even give advice based on it, it could still be incorrect. The well-meaning advisors could actually be basing their advice on incorrect information.

(B) CORRECT. The argument clams that social contact causes better mental skills. This might not actually be the case. If illness limits both social contact and mental acuity, then the study would be correct in noting that social contact is associated with better mental skills. However, it would be wrong to conclude that one causes the other, since a third factor—good health—actually causes both of them (i.e. healthy people are more likely to have strong mental sharpness and significant social interactions).

(C) This doesn’t weaken the link between social contact and mental sharpness. The answer choice doesn’t specify whether these proficient people are or aren’t mentally sharp. If they do maintain their mental sharpness, it could still be attributable to social contact, mental exercise, both, or neither. (Also, note that someone who is proficient in solving mathematical problems doesn’t necessarily solve math problems regularly.)

(D) This answer choice attacks the methods used by a study, rather than that study’s conclusions. Typically, as in this case, these answer choices are incorrect. The issue is that, only using the information in the argument and the answer choice, there’s no way to know whether studies that analyze data are less accurate than studies that collect original data. You may have personal beliefs about the matter, but the right answer to a Critical Reasoning problem will only ever use information found within the argument, with very few exceptions.

(E) The conclusion states that social contact improves mental skills. This could be true regardless of how mental skills are tested. Perhaps social contact improves performance on math problems.