PT56, S2, Q14 Psychologist: We asked 100 entrepreneurs

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

14. (D)
Question Type: Strengthen the Argument
This question is tricky. It concludes that people who are especially overconfident are more likely to attempt to start a business than people who are less confident. The evidence for this is that entrepreneurs were more likely to be confident than business managers. This question relies on a matter of degree. The conclusion discusses those people who are especially confident versus those who are less confident. In answer choice (D), business managers who were most overconfident are discussed. The fact that they are most overconfident ties in perfectly with the conclusion about those who are especially overconfident. Answer choice (D) is correct. If the business managers who were most overconfident were found to have attempted to start businesses in the past, then that lends support to the conclusion.

(A) is completely irrelevant to whether those who were especially overconfident were most likely to start businesses.
(B) actually undermines the argument. If some entrepreneurs had accurately determined the chances of success before starting their own business, then it wasn’t their overconfidence, but rather their knowledge of future success, that led them to launch their businesses.
(C) muddles the difference between the correlation with overconfidence and starting your own business and the correlation with overconfidence and success in business. This argument is about the former correlation while this answer choice is about the latter.
(E) is incorrect. We are looking for an answer that strengthens the correlation between general overconfidence and the likelihood of starting your own business. Whether or not these people are particularly confident in their own business abilities is irrelevant.