<p>This study examined the relationship between social status and general aptitude in adolescents of two countries with the aim of evaluating whether the introduction of the variable culture—national origin—would change the well-known character of research results emanating from investigations of the first two variables mentioned above; that is, socio-economic level and general aptitude. To this end, the Raven Progressive Matrices was administered to a group of 320 subjects, Brazilian and North American, 14 years of age, divided by country, social status and sex. The data obtained indicate that when these three variables are jointly considered, the results differ markedly from those found in the literature concerning the relation between social status and aptitude, both in Brazil and in the United States. This fact suggests certain limitations on the use of data obtained with a given cultural group for the purpose of aiding in the interpretation of results associated with other cultural groups.</p>