The complex and multi-faceted nature of the cognitive process of reasoning is discussed. The factor-analytic history of the isolation and definition of the three most important currently recognized reasoning factors (general reasoning, induction, and logical or deductive reasoning) is traced through the psychometric literature, and the…

The cognitive processes in a widely used, non-verbal test of analytic intelligence--the Raven Progressive Matrices Test (J. C. Raven, 1962)--were analyzed. The analysis determined which processes distinguished between higher-scoring and lower-scoring subjects and which processes were common to all subjects and all items on the test. The analysis…