Tyler wrote:
It sounds terribly dull (not to mention arrogant) to join a club of
people who are together only because of a high score on an IQ test.
Gerry wrote:
IMHO most people join Mensa for two reasons: 1. To see if they can. 2. Out
of curiosity. They stay if they find some of its varied activities
interesting and/or fulfilling.
Arrogance is seldom a characteristic of Mensans. Insecurity is a more
common trait.
Dullness, like beauty, seems to be in the eye of the beholder. There are
many "Special Interest Groups" which are popular:
http://www.us.mensa.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=SIG_List&Template=/customsource/SIGs-p.cfm
T: I think this is entirely bogus, since intelligence is such a fleeting
concept that is virtually impossible to define, not alone measure.
G: Many Mensans would agree with you, as would those (usually
psychologists) who study intelligence. The first intelligence tests were
created (over 100 years ago) for the purpose of identifying those persons
who should be put in an institution for the feeble minded. Then, during
WW-1, the army found it useful for identifying those who could be trained as
effective soldiers; especially artillerymen who had to calculate
trajectories. Currently IQ tests can quite accurately predict a persons
likelyhood of being successful in college. Mensans often define
intelligence as the ability to pass IQ tests.
T: The most common use of the word intelligent seems to occur when someone
who considers themselves intelligent refers to another person who thinks
similar to themselves. A third person, whose ideas are so advanced as to be
unintelligible to the first two, would probably be labeled stupid by them.
G: Not among most Mensans, which incidentally seems to be the reason those
with highly advanced (and seemingly unintelligible) ideas find happiness and
fulfillment in Mensa. In spite of their high intelligence (and often poor
social skills) they are accepted as ordinary members of Mensa, which is more
of a social group than anything else.
Note: I'm also a member of Densa, the society of the unintelligent; as are
a number of other Mensans. You may have noticed that both high and low
intelligence can exist together in the same person, depending on which
abilities you are measuring (such as fixing Mercedes; where I would probably
be ranked as a Densan. (o:] )
T: I've taken several IQ tests, and sometimes answered all of the
questions correct, placing me in the highest percentile the tests were
designed to measure. It's very easy for me to solve short abstract
logic problems even if they're fairly complicated, yet I have a short
attention span making it difficult for me to, say understand and solve
a complicated physics problem that takes days or weeks. Other people I
know can do such things very easily, even if they would get a lower IQ
score.
G: Short attention span is one symptom of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).
It's often correctible by taking the same drugs that are given to person
with full blown ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder). A
surprising number of Mensans have been diagnosed with ADD. I know a number
of Mensans who had the same problem as yours; almost word for word and
corrected it by taking the drugs. I've often wondered if there is some sort
of connection between ADD and high intelligence.
T: Many of the people I would consider most intelligent have minds
that work in such an unusual way, it's highly unlikely that an IQ test
would demonstrate their unique mental abilities accurately.
*G: Basic IQ tests, such as the Wechsler-Belleview, aren't designed to
measure unique mental abilities. They supposedly measure a persons
intelligence broadly. Some researchers in the field of intelligence think
that there is no such thing as general intelligence; that testing should be
broken down into special types of intelligence which would even include the
kind of intelligence that makes athletic excellence possible.
T: Most intelligent thought (in my opinion) comes from thinking differently
and creatively to come up with ideas and solutions that would probably
not have been discovered by the type of thought that allows for rapid
and accurate solving of IQ test problems.
G: If you offer the same problem to a person with high intelligence and a
person with low intelligence, which of the two will be most likely to come
up with the best solution? General IQ tests are designed to rank people
according to their likelyhood of being able to solve problems in general. A
person good at solving a wide range of problems is supposedly more likely to
be able to solve specific problems. General IQ tests do this quite well in
predicting academic success.
T: I've come to the conclusion that areas of intelligence among people
are very diverse, and IQ measures a narrow, almost meaningless aspect
of it.
Tyler
*G: This is in accordance with the contentions of the researchers mentioned
under the asterisk above. It's a perfectly valid hypothesis and many
Mensans agree with you.
Gerry
P.S. You sound like someone who might find Mensa membership useful and
entertaining. Look over the list of Special Interest Groups and see if
there aren't some that might interest you.
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