Psychologists use the term personality mainly to refer to characteristics and behaviors that

Ais a group of people living and working under a set of rules and traditions.

It is widely assumed that people need to engage in intellectual activities such as solving crossword puzzles or mathematics problems in order to maintain mental sharpness as they age. in fact, however, simply talking to other people—that is, participating in social interaction, which engages many mental and perceptual skills—suffices. evidence to this effect comes from a study showing that the more social contact people report, the better their mental skills. which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the force of the evidence cited? (a) as people grow older, they are often advised to keep exercising their physical and mental capacities in order to maintain or improve them. (b) many medical conditions and treatments that adversely affect a person's mental sharpness also tend to increase that person's social isolation. (c) many people are proficient both in social interactions and in solving mathematical problems. (d) the study did not itself collect data but analyzed data bearing on the issue from prior studies. (e) the tasks evaluating mental sharpness for which data were compiled by the study were more akin to mathematics problems than to conversation.

Before they can be published, scientific papers must be peer-reviewed. this means that: a) some other scientific experts read the papers and guarantee that they are true. b) some other scientific experts read the papers and provide quality control by eliminating many mistakes. c) an editor reads the papers, to make sure that all the semicolons are in the correct places. d) everyone in the world is given the opportunity to comment on the papers through a specially maintainedblog. e) government bureaucrats read the papers, to be sure that the papers do not insult the political positions ofthe current officeholders.