This is a survey of people who joined MENSA. I would posit that most normal, healthy, high-IQ folks never bother, and there's a selection bias at play.
I went to their meetings a couple times by invitation, and it never really "clicked" - for many of their members, their MENSA membership and related activities are a big part of their identity and their life, and I wasn't able to connect. I heard the same thing from a couple of friends who also met their entrance criteria, and there's certainly a lot of selection bias. Which is fine, but it's not representative by any means.
That's a bit too loose analogy. A more precise is like joining because one is tall.
While the principle still somewhat holds, the difference is in the consequences. One may join Mensa because they're likely to find people with similar tendencies/interests, as much as tall people may like certain sports.
The selection bias works the other way as well: people who are happy with their Mensa social group get their social contact from that and don't bother hanging out on HN.
But I thought membership was well worth it. Discussions about random arcane topics, meetings and conferences, contacts when traveling, dating, a fairly open and tolerant social circle, etc.
At least that was the only real benefit I remember seeing in my limited research years ago.
I used to go social dancing and the purpose of that group of people was to dance, and they would have various events all about dancing or improving your dancing. If you join a social justice or politically minded group, I imagine your purpose is to engage in activities to further your ideals. But to join a club where there are other smart people... your goal is to what? Share interesting puzzles with each other? :D Try to make other people smarter?
With smart people, I suppose any topic is on the table. It's not specific enough for me.
Most topics here might interest people for professional reasons. But they include things like "High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders" too. People love to debate politics. And "Is the Ship Still Stuck?"[1] is the top article right now.
I very rarely discuss IQ since so many people are hostile to it. A high IQ makes you different. Sometimes it's subtle, like as an adult you'll typically have different interests compared to a lot of peers, and other times it's far less subtle, like when you're a school aged kid and you're always made to feel different (FYI most school aged kids don't want to feel different).
That's the case for many people that join a club, though, be it chess, functional programming, golf, gardening, or what have you, and happens naturally if that's where you spend a good chunk of your free time.
The major change in 1994 was the allowance of calculators during the math portion. I don't know why MENSA couldn't make a similar score adjustment here.
https://web.archive.org/web/20161104152027/http://www.us.men...
There is so much correlation that the correlation of an aptitude test with an IQ test is basically equal to the correlation of one IQ test with another IQ test. (Around 0.8) By any definition other than "it can't be an IQ test unless that's part of its name", the aptitude tests are IQ tests. They do not differ in function.
Then show me some sources to support your argument, because repeating false statements doesn't further your point either.
https://www.theclassroom.com/intelligence-tests-vs-aptitude-...
>The many different kinds of IQ tests include a wide variety of item content. Some test items are visual, while many are verbal. Test items vary from being based on abstract-reasoning problems to concentrating on arithmetic, vocabulary, or general knowledge.
The SAT tests abstract reasoning (read a story and answer questions), arithmetic, vocabulary... It's an IQ test.
Not all standardized tests are IQ tests. Just as not all tests involving reasoning, arithmetic, and vocabulary are not IQ tests.
https://prepexpert.com/sat-to-iq/#
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/04/why-should-...
Mensa considers that scores from after January 31, 1994, "No longer correlate with an IQ test."
Second, and more substantially, here's an explicit clarification for one of them (LSAT):
"The LSAT is not an IQ test. It does not measure intelligence the way IQ tests are designed to measure innate ability. A person who is very smart can receive a low LSAT score."
You can find similar declarations for the others (non-IQ) tests listed.
The LSAT is not an IQ test. It does not measure intelligence the way IQ tests are designed to measure innate ability. A person who is very smart can receive a low LSAT score.
Maybe MENSA is a representative sample of smart people, but I have a lot of friends and colleagues I consider much smarter then me and none of us are in MENSA, so I'm skeptical.
There's a private Facebook group for members, which has some lively discussion from time to time, but that's about it. To be honest I just posted my earlier comment to stir the pot a little :)
Whereas, someone who is lonely, searching community, depressed, etc and _also_ has a high IQ would be more likely to apply and join.
The fact that you happen to be normal, healthy, and a Mensa member isn't particular important when speculating about the possible selection bias. Although, we are just speculating.
It's always interesting to read the general sentiment towards Mensa members — implying they join out of "loneliness" or "depression" is a hilariously unfounded assumption. I agree that Mensa is fairly pointless overall, but in my experience, its members are generally pretty representative of the general population.
- [...]
- Do you often fit poorly into a group?
- Do you sometimes feel desperate due to all those slow people around you?
- [...]
I think that says a lot.
>I am normal, healthy, and a Mensa member What exactly do you mean by that?
This is not very high-IQ :)
What conclusions can you draw from the following sentence?
"I would posit that most normal, healthy, high-IQ folks never bother, and there's a selection bias at play."
a) All Mensa members are unhealthy.
b) There may exist some normal, healthy, high-IQ folks in Mensa.
c) All Mensa members have high IQ.
d) No Mensa member has high IQ.The insecure, the underachievers, the lonely, the narcissistic, etc, might be more likely to join.
The confident, the successful, the popular, etc, probably are less likely to join.
At least they could stop calling themselves "scientific" american.
White people also invented "rolling coal", so we have both extremes.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-year-in-mensa/id149...
Just as joining a sports team doesn't mean you only hang out with members of that team because they enjoy the same sport - the same holds true for people who join mensa or any other group I'd imagine.