(no subject)

[novapsyche]

Would you join (or have you joined) MENSA or some other "high IQ society"?

Comments

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I belonged to Mensa for two years. It almost cured me of elitism.

[atdt1991.livejournal.com]

That's a good point - there isn't too much in the way of humility or a sense of balance, from what I've seen.

[atdt1991.livejournal.com]

My friend K.T. is in MENSA.

I'd consider it, particularly for the challenge. However, her experience regarding meetings/parties pretty much typifies the stereotype of high-intelligence/low-social-skills.

If I were to pinpoint an organization for more savvy individuals, I'd be more interested. That said, I -do- sometimes find those groups - IQ, though, isn't the factor by which they identify. It's an indirect result.

[o-lucky-man.livejournal.com]

I'm probably too innumerate to ever qualify, but I'm not losing any sleep over it.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd qualify. Even if I did, I'm not sure I'd join. I'm rather utilitarian-- how would joining MENSA benefit me? I can't see that it would. Also, from people I know who have joined, they tend to think people who join MENSA are wankers (or, more charitably, lacking some social skills).

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

To clarify: when I got my IQ tested, I was right on the cusp of what MENSA allows as a qualifying IQ, so I'm not sure whether I'd qualify or not if I was to be retested today.

[rikhei.livejournal.com]

I would not.

MENSA (and other high IQ societies) have at their philosophical core the idea that their members are superior to another group of people. I have a gut response against elitist groups. While I hardly think playing chess and sudoku are on par with, say, lynching, I find myself thinking MENSA to be similar to the KKK, simply because they're both elitist groups.

I think that at worst, forming an elitist group will end in some sort of violence against those people believed to be inferior. At best, I think it ruins one's sense of empathy. I can't help but think that I'd be a horrible reference librarian if I sat around believing myself to be smarter and better than every person who approached the desk to ask me a question. Certainly the reference interactions that are the least successful, in my mind, are the ones where I find myself flabbergasted by the stupidity of the patron and their question. (I think this would apply to any position that involves customer service, actually.)

I know that I do prefer the company of intelligent persons, but I do not believe that this makes our interactions or discussions inherently better than that of other social groups. I simply believe that I, like most people, prefer to spend time with people whose interests and abilities are similar to mine. I also prefer the company of science fiction geeks. :) It's not better, just different.

Furthermore, a test can only measure a few moments in time. I'm more interested in seeing what a person does with his or her intelligence over the long term. A person who shows an abiding interest in learning is of more interest to me than someone who scored well on a test. This is not to say that you can't be a life-long learner and someone who scores well on tests. I'm just saying that if I had to pick between the two measures to decide whether I considered someone to be intelligent or not, I'd rather base it on observation of their learning habits than on their test results.

Besides, you know, IQ tests wouldn't fit in my purse very well.

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

I could cram one in your utili-purse, but it would be a tight fit.

[tomluffman.livejournal.com]

I thought about it a few years ago... but in a way I think groups like that seem to ironically be filled with people who are unsure of their intellect. They join to feel better about themselves. I don't need a group or anything of the like to know what I've got going on upstairs.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

I've pondered it (i am not concerned about elitism when it comes to intelligence), but i doubt i'd be interested in expending my time that way, and i don't think my IQ is high enough anyway.

[bonerici.livejournal.com]

im such an elitist. If I know someone who's really intelligent, but a fucking asshole, I'll give him or her ten chances with my friendship, and keep trying and keep forgiving.

If on the other hand, I have a friend who's not very smart, I'll dump him or her without a glance back.

So sue me, I'm an elitist. Now as for Mensa, that organization is shit. There are so many idiots in Mensa, you see what they do is have you take this test that well according to their organization only 1% of the population could pass, but the truth is, if you prep yourself, basically anyone of average intelligence can pass a Mensa test. Passing a Mensa test, basically means you are good at taking Mensa tests, it doesn't tell you if someone is smart or stupid as a stack of bricks.

So Mensa people get all the elitism without any of the intelligence. Screw them.

As for how I can tell if someone is stupid or smart, well, since I don't believe in Mensa tests, I guess it's more of a personal evaluation, people I think are smart, you might not, and that's ok.

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

Mensa has their own tests?

It's not as easy to to "fool" an IQ test as you might think. Even with familiarity (I've administered both WISC-III and the Standford) you'd still only be able to boost your verbal side by knowing most of the answers. The difference between the upper ranges is only a few questions.

You can't fake processing speed or agility, two of the qualities tested on the performance side of these tests, though you'd be able to boost them a bit with practice.

[bonerici.livejournal.com]

you can do things like appropriately scheduling your time, knowing how to eliminate bad answers, strategies on how to guess, practice with the type of questions used to increase the speed of your ability to figure out the questions, practice with particular types of logic questions and methods to solve them, all of these can increase your "IQ" test that Mensa uses by 20 or 30 points, enough to change your "IQ" from 90 to 125 or so.

Go look at the Princeon Review information. They are able to boost their students SAT scores an average of over 200 points.

Unless you are trying to tell me that taking a Princeton Review course actually boosts your actual intelligence?