Ixtab
03-04-2007, 06:51 PM
Raven's Matrices has a very low cultural loading. The test-taker does not have to recall any piece of information which is specific to his culture, era, or locality in order to arrive at the correct solution. He has only to educe relationships, recognise patterns, and manipulate abstract elements mentally. The elements used to construct test items are virtually universal - up/down, left/right, larger/smaller, many/few, full/empty, etc. Many complicated problems demanding a high level of relational eduction can be constructed using these practically universal elements.
Whilst the solutions to culture-loaded items depend upon previously acquired information, information which may be specific to a particular culture, and the difficulty level increases in proportion to the obscurity of that piece of information, the difficulty level of culture-reduced items, such as those used in Raven's Matrices, depends upon the complexity of the mental operations required to arrive at the solution. Essentially all you have to be able to do is to educe relationships, make logical inferences, and recognise patterns.
Now, are these abilities 'intellectual' - are they what we mean by 'intelligence'? That, I think, is a semantic question, not a scientific one. In Terms mean whatever they are defined as in a given context. 'Intelligence' is used in the sense of psychometric g, or general mental ability - I happen to think it corresponds quite nicely with what most people mean by the word 'intelligence'. If that's not what you mean by intelligence, that's all well and good; I just won't use the word intelligence when talking about psychometric g. That is why I have been using terms such as 'general cognitive ability,' or 'psychometric g', or simply 'g', or [insert specific mental ability that is subsumed by 'g'], instead of using the word 'intelligence'. Also, wherever possible, I use the terms 'mental test' or 'psychometric test' or 'cognitive test' instead of 'intelligence test' or 'IQ test'. I suggest others do the same.
Whilst the solutions to culture-loaded items depend upon previously acquired information, information which may be specific to a particular culture, and the difficulty level increases in proportion to the obscurity of that piece of information, the difficulty level of culture-reduced items, such as those used in Raven's Matrices, depends upon the complexity of the mental operations required to arrive at the solution. Essentially all you have to be able to do is to educe relationships, make logical inferences, and recognise patterns.
Now, are these abilities 'intellectual' - are they what we mean by 'intelligence'? That, I think, is a semantic question, not a scientific one. In Terms mean whatever they are defined as in a given context. 'Intelligence' is used in the sense of psychometric g, or general mental ability - I happen to think it corresponds quite nicely with what most people mean by the word 'intelligence'. If that's not what you mean by intelligence, that's all well and good; I just won't use the word intelligence when talking about psychometric g. That is why I have been using terms such as 'general cognitive ability,' or 'psychometric g', or simply 'g', or [insert specific mental ability that is subsumed by 'g'], instead of using the word 'intelligence'. Also, wherever possible, I use the terms 'mental test' or 'psychometric test' or 'cognitive test' instead of 'intelligence test' or 'IQ test'. I suggest others do the same.