Jensen Effects and African/Coloured/Indian/White differences on Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices in South Africa

A test is made to determine whether various ethnic group differences on tests of cognitive performance in South Africa are like the Black/White differences in the United States in being positively associated with a tests' g loadings, where g is the general factor of intelligence. A non-parametric re-analysis is made of data from 1056 White, 1063 Indian, 778 mixed-race “Coloured,” and 1093 Black 14 year olds on the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices Test in South Africa, given without time limits by Owen (1992) [Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 149]. The new analyses showed that the more highly correlated an item was with g, the more it predicted the White/Indian/Coloured/African differences on the test (Spearman's rhos from 0.35 to 0.85; all Ps<0.01). The effects remained regardless of which group g was extracted from. Understanding group differences around the world requires new research on the nature and nurture of g.