Raven’s Progressive Matrices Test

An intelligence test that evaluates what is known as the "G factor".

There are few topics in the world of psychology that arouse as much controversy as the study and evaluation of human intelligence.. The dispute about whether it is possible to measure a person's intelligence on the basis of a single construct or whether there really is a general intelligence persists to this day.

Nevertheless, tests that attempt to measure human intelligence are among the most widely used in any field of evaluation. The Raven's Matrices test is one of the most acclaimed and used because of its ease of application and versatility.

What is the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test?

The Raven's Progressive Matrices Test is a well-known test used in the psychological and psycho-pedagogical field. This test was designed in 1938 by the English psychologist John C. Raven, was intended to calculate the "G" factor of intelligence and its administration was restricted to officers of the U.S. Navy.

The "G" factor of intelligence refers to the general intelligence that conditions any performance or problem solving, and is common to all skills that require an intellectual component.and is common to all skills that require an intellectual component. This factor evidences a person's ability to perform intellectual work.

The main characteristic of this test is to encourage analytical reasoning, perception and abstraction capacity. In addition, being a non-verbal test, it uses the comparison between forms and reasoning by analogies, without the need for the person to need a culture or previous knowledge.

Currently there are different versions of this test, which are administered according to the age and abilities of the person to be evaluated. These three versions are: The General Scale for people between 12 and 65 years old.

• Progressive color matrices for children between 3 and 8 years old with some type of intellectual functional diversity.
• Advanced Matrices for the evaluation of people with above-average abilities.

Test characteristics

There are a number of distinctive features that have made this test one of the most widely used. These characteristics are at the level of administration, objectives and reliability.

1. Objective

Another of the objectives of the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test is to measure the educational capacity of the person.This will be explained below, through the comparison of forms and the use of reasoning by analogy; all this independently of the knowledge previously acquired by the subject.

2. Material

It is a test that uses a series of abstract and incomplete geometric figures that are presented to the person in a that are presented to the person gradually and with ascending difficulty. The test can be administered by means of printed cards or virtually.

3. Administration

Another advantage of this test is that it can be self-administered, as well as administered both individually and collectively.

The application time of this test is between 30 and 60 minutes, however it is usually completed within 45 minutes of its start.

4. Reliability and validity

Finally, regarding the reliability and validity of this test, it presents a reliability index of 0.87-0.81, while in validity an index of 0.86 was obtained. These data were obtained with the Kuder-Richardson formulas and the Terman Merrill criteria.

In what contexts is this test administered?

The Raven's Progressive Matrices Test is used as a basic and applied assessment tool, and its administration can be extended to many different fields. However, the contexts in which this test is most commonly used are:

• Educational institutions
• Centers for job orientation and personnel selection
• Psychological clinics
• Psychological, sociological and anthropological research centers
• Military and defense contexts

Objective of the test: educational ability

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, one of the main objectives of the test is to test and measure the educational capacity of the person.

This educative capacity refers to the person's ability to find relationships and correlates within information that is presented in a disorganized and unsystematized way in which these relationships are not immediately evident.

The capacity of education is associated with the intellectual capacity for the comparison of images and representations, as well as with analogical reasoning, regardless of the level of culture or knowledge that the person possesses.regardless of the level of culture or knowledge possessed by the person.

This ability constitutes the most important spring in high-level cognitive functioning, which is involved in the various processes of abstraction. Also, if we compare it with other related concepts, the ability to educate is the one that most closely resembles fluid intelligence.

What is this test based on? Spearman's bifactor theory

The English psychologist Charles Spearman established the existence of a general intelligence in 10904. Based on his research, Spearman indicated that the "G" factor of intelligence was the main factor responsible for a person's general intellectual performance.

Spearman believed that if a person is able to Excel in certain cognitive areas or activities, he or she is likely to excel in almost all areas. For example, a person who scores well on numerical tests is very likely to also score high on logic or verbal tests.

As a result, he developed a theory known as the Bifactor Theory, according to which two fundamental parameters can be distinguished within human intelligence: the general factor or "G" factor and the special factor or "S" factor.

G" factor

The general factor refers to a personal and possibly hereditary quality.. It consists of a special attribute of the brain that differs from person to person but remains stable throughout a person's life.

S" factor

This factor encompasses the specific skills or abilities that a person possesses to cope with any type of task.. Unlike the "G" factor, it differs according to the person's previous education and cannot be extrapolated to other areas.

However, there is no little controversy surrounding these constructs, since some sectors maintain the idea that there cannot be an idea of general intelligence and that this is only a sample of the opportunities a person has had to learn certain skills or acquire certain knowledge.