Standard Progressive Matrices
Introduction
The Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM), developed by John C Raven is a
non verbal, multiple-choice test which was originally constructed in 1936 and published
in 1938. It is used to assess the mental ability associated with abstract reasoning, which
Cattell (1963) termed fluid intelligence (Bilker et al., 2012).
Definition of the Construct
The Raven's Progressive Matrices (SPM) was developed to assess the "g factor" of
intelligence, a concept introduced by Charles Spearman in 1904. The "g factor" refers to
a broad mental capacity that influences an individual's performance across a range of
cognitive tasks. One key component of the g factor is eductive ability—the capacity to
make sense of unfamiliar or confusing information. This ability, derived from the Latin
word educere meaning "to draw out," involves the process of extracting meaning from
ambiguity or confusion. The Raven's Matrices, as noted by Kaplan and Saccuzzo (2012),
is one of the most well-known tools for measuring this form of intelligence.
Theoretical Background of the Construct
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In the beginning of the 20th century Spearman discovered that different
cognitive abilities correlate highly with each-other and came to the conclusion
that a common factor – the general cognitive ability (“g”) - must be responsible
for this phenomena (Spearman, 1924). He proposed that g consists of two very
distinct abilities that complement each other: – “meaning making ability” which
he called eductive ability, referring to the Latin “educere” word meaning draw or
take out, – and the ability to reproduce previously learned information, which he
termed “reproductive ability” (Spearman, 1927). Similarly to Spearman, Cattel
(1987) and Horn (1994) also proposed a two factor model of intelligence: – fluid
intelligence is the ability to solve new problems (independently from knowledge
accumulated in the past) while – crystallized intelligence is the ability to recall
and utilize past knowledge and experience. Though it is important to emphasize
that reproductive ability is not a crystallized form of eductive ability and the two
abilities have different origins, are affected by different aspects of the
environment, are related to different brain functions predict different outcomes
in life and change differently with age, in the literature “fluid intelligence” is
often used as a synonym of “eductive ability” while “crystallized intelligence” is used
for “reproductive ability” (Raven, 2008 a).
History and Development - record
Description of the tool
The test consists of increasingly difficult pattern matching tasks and has little
dependency on language abilities (Bilker et al., 2012).
Originally published in 1938 (unpublished thesis; Raven, 1936, 1938), the standard form
(RSPM) consists of five sets of 12 matrices presented in black and white. In total,
the psychometric properties of the 60 RSPM items have been thoroughly
analyzed and are used as an indicator of general intelligence throughout the
world (Raven, 1989, 2000).
The booklet comprises five sets (A to E) of 12 items each (e.g., A1 through A12), with
items within a set becoming increasingly difficult, requiring ever greater cognitive
capacity to encode and analyze information. All items are presented in black ink
on a white background (Vanta, 2024).
Standardisation Methods and Procedures
Limitation
Although there are many advantages in using a well tested psychometric instrument
such as the RSPM, one limitation is the amount of time required for administration of
the full set of items.
References
Raven, J. C. (n.d.). STANDARDIZATION OF PROGRESSIVE MATRICES, 1938.
British Journal of Medical Psychology.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.1941.tb00316.x
Bilker, W. B., Hansen, J. A., Brensinger, C. M., Richard, J., Gur, R. E., & Gur, R. C.
(2012). Development of abbreviated Nine-Item forms of the Raven’s
Standard Progressive Matrices Test. Assessment, 19(3), 354–369.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191112446655
Klein, B., Raven, J., & Fodor, S. (2018). Scrambled Adaptive Matrices (SAM)–a
new test of eductive ability. Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling,
60(4), 451.
Kaplan, R., Saccuzzo, D. (2012). Psychological testing: Principles, applications,
and issues. Cengage Learning.
Curto, A. (n.d.). Raven’s Test: What it is and how to interpret the Raven’s
Progressive Matrices Test. Neuronup.
https://neuronup.us/neuropsychology/neuropsychological-testing/ravens
-test-what-it-is-and-how-to-interpret-the-ravens-progressive-matrices-tes
t/
Vanta, B., PhD. (2024, May 31). Psychological Testing: Raven’s Progressive
Matrices. MentalHealth.com.
https://www.mentalhealth.com/library/psychological-testing-ravens-prog
ressive-matrices
Neisser, U., et al. (1996). "Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns." American
Psychologist, 51(2), 77–101.
Frearson, W., & Eysenck, H. J. (1986). "Intelligence, reaction time, and
stimulus-response compatibility." Personality and Individual Differences, 7(1),
807–817.
● This study links SPM scores with average cognitive abilities,
demonstrating that participants with average intellectual capacity show
balanced problem-solving performance and reaction time.
Jaeggi et al. (2008): Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., & Perrig, W. J.
(2008). Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(19), 6829–6833.
Goleman (1995): Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter
More Than IQ. Bantam Books.
