Spearman’s hypothesis tested comparing Korean young adults with various other groups of young adults on the items of the Advanced Progressive Matrices

Abstract

AbstractSpearman’s hypothesis tested at the subtest level of an IQ battery states that differences between races on the subtests of an IQ battery are a function of thegloadings of these subtests, such that there are small differences between races on subtests with lowgloadings and large differences between races on subtests with highgloadings. Jensen (1998) stated that Spearman’s hypothesis is a law-like phenomenon. It has also been confirmed many times at the level of items of the Raven’s Progressive Matrices. This study hypothesizes that with concern to Spearman’s hypothesis, subtests and items function in fundamentally the same way, and tested whether Spearman’s hypothesis is confirmed at the item level for White–East Asian comparisons. A group of Korean young adults (N=205) was compared with other groups of young adults from Canada, the US, Russia, Peru and South Africa (totalN=4770) who took the Advanced Progressive Matrices. Spearman’s hypothesis was strongly confirmed with a sample-size-weightedrwith a value of 0.63. Computing thegloadings of the items of the Raven with either the Raven-gor the Wechsler-gled to the same conclusions. Tests of Spearman’s hypothesis yielded less-strong outcomes when the 36-item Advanced Progressive Matrices were used than when the 60-item Standard Progressive Matrices were used. There is a substantial correlation between sample size and the outcome of Spearman’s hypothesis. So, all four hypotheses were confirmed, showing that a part of the subtest-level nomological net replicates at the item level, strengthening the position that, with concern to Spearman’s hypothesis, subtests and items function fundamentally the same. It is concluded that Spearman’s hypothesis is still a law-like phenomenon. Detailed suggestions for follow-up research are made.