Senior management is assembling a committee to evaluate proposals for new product lines, which are necessary for the continued growth of the company. Although Humphries, one candidate for the committee, has extensive experience with the launch of new products, his past behavior shows that he strongly favors risky ventures, which offer the potential for spectacular growth but also have a higher chance of failure than do more conservative ventures. The committee must be able to objectively consider the merits of each proposal and provide an unbiased recommendation.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest basis to counter a conclusion based on the argument above that Humphries would not be an appropriate selection for the committee?


A person with a strong preference derived from past experience usually has encountered success from following that preference or failure from not following it.

The decisions made by a committee composed of one person with a strong preference and other people with weak preferences usually will be dominated by the opinions of the person possessing the strong preference.

Risky ventures are objectively preferable to conservative ventures if and only if the magnitude of the potential reward is great enough to offset the greater probability of failure.

A committee composed of experienced people with strong but conflicting preferences is more likely to make an unbiased recommendation than is a committee composed of people with unknown or weak preferences.

The most successful products are generally those that were considered risky by objective evaluators at the time they were initially proposed.