94 PRETEND INTELLIGENCE
of rules can then be used to identity the missing ele ment from the given
options. Th is is sometimes called conditional reasoning. Th e nature of
the rules varies from item to item. And the complexity of the items varies
by, for example, having more ele ments changing with greater depths of
conditioning.
Most psychologists seem to be utterly convinced of the validity of the
Raven, supposing it to be invulnerable to criticism. Surprisingly, though,
as with other IQ test items, there has actually been little in- depth analy-
sis of the cognitive demands of the Raven. Th e rules— such as adding or
subtracting ele ments along a row— describe the arrangement of ele ments
in the items and not actual cognitive pro cesses.
Indeed, what analy sis there has been suggests that the Raven is sur-
prisingly un- complex in its cognitive demands. Th e items may be unfa-
miliar in appearance, but the cognitive demands turn out to be simple
compared with the complex cognition children and adults use in solving
their everyday prob lems in social contexts. Just think of cooking,
FIGURE 3.1
A 3 × 3 matrix typical of Raven test items (the matrix is completed by replacing the
blank space with an item to be chosen from fi ve given alternatives).
This content downloaded from 139.184.14.159 on Tue, 17 Oct 2017 13:52:12 UTChttp://www.ebook3000.com