Mensa wouldn’t have me................
My wife and I are both qualified to join MENSA but we’ve heard it’s a weird nerd prom.
Be wary of the online IQ Tests. Some are just trivia quizzes that keep you occupied while they ransack your computer for info...............
There are a few who SAY they qualify for MENSA, but
if you have to tell people how smart you are... you ain’t.
I’ve never trusted any of them.
They are not testing if you are intelligent, just if you can look at goofy patterns and pick which one comes next. Stuff that you use to do in elementary as “fun assignments” you would get at the end of the school year.
Have to take it with a grain of salt, but if the people I’ve met who say they’re in Mensa are representative, then Mensa is basically a club for high functioning autistics.
I was a member for 15 years. It's a nice social organization constructed around SIGs, "Special Interest Groups". Leftwing activists took over my local branch for a time and so I left. Please believe me, from long personal experience, it is not an organization of geniuses. Some nice people, though.
I belong to Densa.
I believe that IQ tests measure something. Probably something more akin to the ability to solve logic problems rather than intelligence in general.
I took the Mensa test and joined Mensa. I was an active member for a few years and attended mostly social and gaming events.
The people are generally geeky but nice. There are some big egos but every group has them. Political views fall all over the map from monarchists to socialists with a larger than average number of libertarians.
My general take was that these are people (like me) who are intelligent but not particularly ambitious. Ambitious people wouldn’t be wasting their time socializing with people just because they have similarly high IQs. They would be out in the world using their superior intelligence to make scads of money, acquire loads of power, or cure some disease or another.
Instead the members of Mensa exert their gray matter on solving puzzles, advancing game strategies, arguing about what the future will be like, arguing Star Wars vs Star Trek, arguing about what theoretical political or economic system is the best, practicing for Jeopardy, etc.
So if you have a high IQ and you want to goof off with other high IQ people then it might be fun to try Mensa out for a while. You’ll have more luck in bigger cities as far as the number of events to attend. They also have big regional and national meetings which I’ve never attended. They’re supposed to get a bit wild ... or as wild as nerds can get. Probably similar to what happens at a Star Trek convention.
I took a college course on testing back in 1967.
A lot of interesting things that I did not know.
First, multiple choice and true false are actually the most reliable means of testing. The least reliable is essay.
IQ tests have the highest reliability of any type in that whatever they test, the person will usually get the same or similar results from another test.
Essay type tests are extremely unreliable. They basically give the scorer carte blanch to give whatever score they want to.
IQ tests along with achievement tests are excellent predictors of academic success despite so many educators denying it.
With all that being said, I've known mensas that couldn't tie their own shoe laces. I've known average backroads people that are smart and clever and would never meet the standards set by the corporate system for a job even though they have the right skills.
IMO, an IQ test is not an ego inflator unless you are like Sheldon on BBT where he uses his IQ as a weapon against those he feels are intellectually inferior.
I qualified to join MENSA. I went to a few meetings. There were some interesting, seemingly humble people there who had successful careers, long marriages, and interesting (though unusual) hobbies.
There was a larger group of rather obnoxious people who lacked social intelligence.
I stopped going. That was 20 years ago.
I did it to show my little sister who was dating this a&&hole, but she was soooo impressed he was a Mensa member. I was like, "big deal, I could be one". She was like "Where is YOUR card?"... so a couple months later, I showed her my card, and the pretty magazine. She ended up dumping the guy, probably for other reasons.
The local monthly flyer was produced/written and/or edited by a flaming liberal. Big time turn off, so I allowed my subscription to lapse. But it did give me bragging rights for a while.
Howdy, I’m a member of Mensa. Originally joined a few decades ago to put on my resume as I don’t have a college degree and am a computer programmer.
Rejoined a few years ago to update my resume and got an invitation to a Bobbie Burns Birthday Bash. It was pretty fun, so I’ve been playing poker with them and hostessed a few new member events.
Some of us are weirder than others, it’s a pretty eclectic group. Their website has a free sample IQ test that I suspect is very valid. I don’t know if it is the full test from which you can apply for membership. I remember taking two different tests, one more language oriented and the other more logic oriented. They used the higher score of the two tests.
Also, if you check out some of Jordan Peterson’s youtube lectures on IQ, he says that is one of the 2 highest and most reliable indicators of success.
However, please note IQ has a little to do with creativity according to Dr. Peterson, but not much to do with personality. I discovered myself that it has nothing to do with character and further that almost anyone with an average IQ can think the same thoughts as a genius, it just might take a little longer and require higher interest level.
I think it was Albert Einstein who said “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”.
Best wishes for your friend.
IQ is valid and an accurate measure of capability.
However, it is all but useless in modern society. It has been effectively banned from a whole host of decision making situations, out of muddle-headed notions of egalitarianism.
That said, IQ societies are largely useless, populated by insufferable egotists. If you are smart, count your blessings and go about your business.
Recommending that he take an IQ test could backfire.
If he’s depressed he may not be thinking as well as he normally would or he could just have a bad day and not do well.
You’re a good friend to stand beside him while he’s going through this difficult time.
I’ll keep your friend in my prayers.
:-)
I got into MENSA when I was 14. I thought I was just so cool.
So I went to a meeting. It was all losers who had IQ that G-d gave them, and nothing to show for that raw talent. Lots of unhappy people in dead end jobs complaining they were just “so much smarter” than the next guy. Very insecure.
Mom (who could have been in MENSA, too, but knew better) picked me up after the meeting with a knowing smile.
Never went back.
Take him drinking instead. You kill fewer brain cells that way.
Don’t do IQ tests as pick-me-ups!
The results can be very surprising.
I’ve had multiple IQ tests from Mensa, to State level standard testing, to professional headshrinker types, to military and intelligence tests. The numbers are all over the board.
The fact is, only a personal with superior intelligence can measure those below them, and we have lots of dummy’s trying to measure those above them.
In one of my earlier lives, I administered IQ tests. They are valid within certain parameters, and have their uses.