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Mensa for Dummies
I decided to write an informational piece about Mensa. You know, the fabled seat of high intelligence, whose members strive toward excellence and the betterment of mankind. Or something like that.
[Edit: if you examine the comments you'll notice quite a few - I assume - Mensans who prove my point much better than anything I could ever write. "Waaa, he's talking crap about Mensa! He must be a reject!" For these people I might as well spell it out in bold letters: I AM a member of Mensa.]
What is Mensa?
Mensa, according to the homepage, “provides a forum for intellectual exchange among members. Its activities include the exchange of ideas by lectures, discussions, journals, special-interest groups, and local, regional, national, and international gatherings; the investigations of members’ opinions and attitudes; and assistance to researchers, inside and outside Mensa, in projects dealing with intelligence or Mensa.”
Personally, I would say that Mensa provides a forum for self-loathing individuals to attempt to receive some self-esteem, and exchange inane ideas with other semi-intellectual members who also lack the ability to produce something fruitful instead of debate useless details.
Who can join Mensa?
In order to join Mensa you need to have attained an official IQ score at or above the 98th percentile; you need to be among the “smartest” 2% in the world. In case you’re wondering: no, online IQ tests aren’t acceptable – you need to take tests that are graded by professionals in order to qualify. Online tests often test things that aren’t strictly IQ-related, and they also often show a better result than a proper test. Remember that the next time you get an IQ of 152 on an online test.
One common rebuttal against IQ tests is that they measure nothing at all, except the ability to take IQ tests. It’s a relatively valid claim: IQ tests measure a form of logical thinking, but skips many other types of intelligence. However, what they measure is one type of thinking that is quantifiable. It’s not easy to measure, for example, how socially intelligent a person is, so IQ tests simply ignore those bits and measure what they can measure instead. Does that make the tests irrelevant? Most of the time, yes, but they still measure something comparable.
What kind of people join Mensa?
To quote the Mensa homepage: “Mensans range in age from 4 to 94, but most are between 20 and 60. In education they range from preschoolers to high school dropouts to people with multiple doctorates. There are Mensans on welfare and Mensans who are millionaires. As far as occupations, the range is staggering. Mensa has professors and truck drivers, scientists and firefighters, computer programmers and farmers, artists, military people, musicians, laborers, police officers, glassblowers–the diverse list goes on and on. There are famous Mensans and prize-winning Mensans, but there are many whose names you wouldn’t know.”
I can elaborate a bit on that. Mensans can theoretically be of any profession and any personality, but most of the time you tend to see:
- People out to prove something to themselves or the world (The Insecure)
- Complete and utter introverts with bad social skills (The Nerds)
- Accomplished people who seek new groups to impress (The Braggers)
- Relatively normal persons just looking for something new (The Bored)
Note that this list isn’t complete, and the choice isn’t binary. (Ehm. Qaternary I mean.) Sometimes you encounter a person who completely fulfills a stereotype, but most people have a fuzzy level for all four archetypes. (I wonder if I can use the word archetype in this context; either way it looks cool.)
What can you expect from Mensa?
Again, to quote the homepage: “The society welcomes people from every walk of life whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population, with the objective of enjoying each other’s company and participating in a wide range of social and cultural activities.”
In reality, what you get is pretty much what you’d expect from a group of semi-self-claimed highly intelligent people:
- Mailing lists with a mix of insanely stupid comments, insightful knowledge and Asperger-like anal retentiveness
- Small social gatherings where people discuss nerdy topics and drink beer, and either watch each other with a “how the hell could this guy pass the test” look, or genuinely try to find common topics in order to become friends with the others
- Large social gatherings where… Hm. I really don’t know. I guess everyone listens to lectures and try their best to impress others with their
useless triviainsightful knowledge
All cynicism aside, I do think that Mensa is a great place for some people. You know that the others who have joined have passed a decently difficult test of logic, so they can’t be really stupid per se (just irritating). And given the spread of people who become members you’re bound to run into many new and exciting faces whom you never would have met otherwise (although there’s a great risk that you’ll mostly see college students). And the gatherings actually provide an excellent way to meet new people (unless you’re…you know…able to go to normal parties and be charming and interesting to normal people).
“Why are you so full of contempt for Mensans,” you may wonder. “Who are you to judge people like that?” I judge all the Insecure and Nerdy people, because – Dog help me – I’m the biggest Insecure Nerd of them all. Feel free to e-mail me at karja@mensa.se if you want to complain about my hypocrisy.
Some final anecdotes
I have a friend who’s one of the smartest people I know. He once insinuated that he wouldn’t want to take the Mensa test, because the blow to his confidence would be too great if he failed. Another extremely intelligent friend of mine routinely ridicules Mensa for only containing wannabes out to prove something. An ex of mine scored quite well on an IQ test, but she simply sees no reason to join Mensa. All three people are – I regret to admit it – probably more intelligent than me. The point of all of this? Don’t assume that people in a high IQ society automatically are more intelligent than non-members.
Once I was having a stroll with a girl, and for some reason we ended up discussing intelligence. No, that usually doesn’t happen, but she was interested in the topic. We talked about our opinions of ourselves and I made a suitably modest comment, along the lines that I have verified that I’m a pretty intelligent person. Her reply was, “you don’t seem like it.” That’s a very interesting comment. Personally, I’m of the opinion that the ability to fit in and adapt oneself is a better measure of intelligence than showing off knowledge and/or quick thinking. (But, of course, opinions are like arseholes.)
Sometimes it’s easy to get fooled by numbers. 2% doesn’t sound like much, but that’s just one person in fifty. I work with IT, and I would hazard a guess that not many people in my department would fail to qualify for those two per cents. Whenever one gets the urge to feel proud of one’s supposed intelligence, one only has to think of all others who ought to qualify in one’s surroundings. (I love the word “one.”)
March 27th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I’m glad to hear someone else thinks that IQ and Mensa are stupid. I have a friend that I used to work with, very smart person. To contrast, they’re too stupid to do anything useful with their intelligence. It’s actually a miracle they got in to the games industry, since they have to be the laziest person I even met. Rarely ever actually working unless someone was actually figuratively holding their hand. To my amazement, they kept their job for well over 2, maybe 3 years.
I admit though, I became lazier myself, but I attributed to a general burn out of working far too many hours in 6 years. I left the mainstream because it was my problem, not theirs.
The concept of IQ to me, is an arbitrary measurement designed to confuse people stupid enough in to thinking it’s meaningful in to believing they’re stupider then you. Reciting Pi to 200 places, or various forms of heavy number crunching in your head strikes me as just as stupid, if not more, than the people you’re trying to impress by claiming IQ supremacy. None of it has any practical use in a world where it can be automated by a toy (i.e. computer).
Common sense, and the motivation or ability to motivate ones self to complete something meaningful I think is the only truly worth while item of note for people. That’s how things get made. That’s how games get made. Use it, or it goes to waste.
March 29th, 2007 at 8:48 am
“Quite”, eh?
March 30th, 2007 at 5:58 am
What about the option that it is just a place for people with common skills/interests to get together? I think that it may be similar to a club or other common interest group.
I mean, if I felt like being so cynical about it, I could say that a racquetball club is for people who think they’re so awesome at some random sport to get together and talk about playing their random little sport. The evening news is just for nerds who like to wow others with their meaningless knowledge of current events.
Or maybe people are just doing things that interest them with people who care about the same things.
May 14th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Did someone get a Mensa rejection letter recently?
May 15th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Did someone miss the line “Feel free to e-mail me at karja@mensa.se if you want to complain about my hypocrisy” above? Maybe I need to spell it out in big shiny letters for some people.
August 9th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
No, we missed the line right after that that read, “But don’t post comments.” We Mensans are in the bottom 2% of the stupidity scale, after all, so please pardon our failure to read your mind.
Zac’s comment has made me realize something: I’ll never know what a Mensa rejection letter actually looks like. So, ironically, 98% of the population will have the opportunity to know something that I don’t. That should make you feel better.
The contempt you show for Mensans would be more appropriately directed at groups like Triple-Nine, ISPE, Prometheus, and similar organizations. Those are the people who are insecure and only out to prove something. (Incidentally, my scores do qualify me for membership, but I feel no need to join.) Mensa is the least exclusive of the legitimate high-IQ societies.
With only one exception, every single Mensan that I’ve ever met joined because they wanted to socialize with other highly intelligent people. We are well-adjusted, gregarious people who enjoy being in the company of the same. Then again, those who go to the local gatherings tend to be a self-selecting group, so I’m sure there are plenty of introverted Mensans who stay home and watch [insert stereotypical nerdy TV show name here]. The one exception I mention only joined to have something impressive to put on his application to med school.
I joined for three main reasons: 1. So people would stop telling me I should join Mensa; 2. To have the chance to hang around with people who can string four words together and don’t blink when one of them is polysyllabic; 3. Because being a “pretentious bastard” isn’t limited to those with poor taste in music.
Being intelligent is not a liability. Try it some time. And, next time you write something on a particular group, would it kill you to ask a few of the members about it before deciding you know everything about it already? The closest thing that came to being correct (besides the copy-and-paste bits) was Bpr’s comment–something you didn’t even write.
August 11th, 2007 at 10:18 am
There seems to be some confusion here. I thought it was bleeding obvious but this line made me unsure:
“And, next time you write something on a particular group, would it kill you to ask a few of the members about it before deciding you know everything about it already?”
As I insinuated not only in the text but in the comment above as well: I am a member of Mensa. I joined. I critizise Mensans because I am one of them. I have been to the social gatherings. I don’t need to ask any members about it, because I’ve played board games, had political discussions and had beers with Mensans. I still post occasional e-mails to the lists.
Good for you that you find Mensa an intellectual haven! Personally I find that (most of) my friends who’re not in Mensa are smarter and/or more interesting (in various combinations). Chuck it up to anything you like – I have horrible taste, I fear competition, my town is filled with the dull parts of Mensa…or maybe you’re a pretentious bastard in denial. I know which one I’m betting on.
August 28th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Having qualified for the mensa prenuptual agreement, I think I can, as a reluctant genius, say, iq tests are for dummies. I.Q. is actually based on skills and abilities which can carry a person through life. Many morons have the kinds of skills which can grant them opportunities to buy things like light bulbs to lighten their houses. Some analytical geniuses are hopeless in stringing together a shopping list. (They even come home without toilet paper) So, we are left with the smart and the dumb. The smart are those who know how to live life and be happy, the dumb are contrary to the previous. I am somewhere in between. I neither concentrate my energies on trivia nor do I neglect to wipe my ass. So, I am fairly happy and trying to get better. Someone tell me, am I a genious or a moron? Does it really matter?
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I know I’m a little late on this, but I think this is the right moment to share my experience with Mensa members. While in grad school, I had a weekend job waiting tables. Every Sunday, the local Mensa chapter met to do what they do, which appeared to be gorging on fried food and complaining excessively. I have no problem with that. It’s not my business what people do with their spare time. The first time I waited on them, I was taken aback by many things, but the thing that surprised me the most was that when I brought them the check, they were wretched. They demanded separate checks and were quite nasty about it as if I should have somehow read their minds. I’ve never taken a Mensa test; I don’t need such a test to give me any news about myself. I do know that I am capable of working out the math on a restaurant bill without throwing a fit. Is there a club for that?
February 24th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Hey, you can’t expect Mensans to do menial work like basic arithmetic! That’s for the peasants – for the ones not in their splendid club.
But seriously… They sound like complete dicks; but at the same time it can be a pain in the backside to coordinate a large restaurant check. It’s like a universal rule: there are always (at least) two people who don’t have any cash, and want to pay by credit card instead.
May 18th, 2008 at 9:27 am
I just attended my first Mensa meeting. I went to a great pub I would not have otherwise discovered. I played pool, drank beer and went home with a hot blonde who is sooo not Mensa. Now I’m going back upstairs for more “intellectual intercourse”. Later I will contemplate the deeper meaning of Pi. I hope the result is either peach or cherry.
July 28th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Miro-
Thanks for relieving me of some of my sense of guilt. I thought I had unfairly judged Mensa by the three members I had met. It appears I may not have done so. I took, and passed, the Mensa eligibility test a few years ago, but was so put off by the “pretentious bastards” that I decided it just wasn’t the kind of group I felt like socializing with. I’ve always enjoyed stimulating debate and intelligent company, but I’d rather share a bottle of hooch with a carpenter that still knows how to think, than a self-proclaimed genius that acts like he’s God’s gift to the universe!
September 21st, 2008 at 7:34 pm
It never ceases to amaze me how many of the people who comment on how stupid Mensa is always claim to have tested and passed… Sheldon, get a life. You are the exact same insecure nerd and Miro, and myself. You just either got shot down because you couldn’t make it, or are much too closed minded and judge an organization based on 3 people. Yes a lot of us are assholes. A lot of us are really nice people. THATS LIFE.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:52 am
I detect a whiff of sour grapes. Besides, you misspelled “quantifiable.” You yourself sound like a “semi-intellectual.” Anyhow, I have multiple degrees, work fruitfully and productively in my field, am a bona fide intellectual (not PC, and no big male ponytail) and I also belong to Mensa. I highly doubt I’m the exception that proves your half-baked rule. In fact, I take exception to you and your pissy half-witted arrogance. I have the right to affirm my genius IQ; it is nothing to hide or be ashamed of.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
The only thing this forum has proved is that assholes exist with all levels of intellegence. Pity! maybe one day someone will develop an EgoIQ test so you people can then strive on becomming humble and relizing intellect by no means is a measure of whether or not you’re a good person.
In fact, they’re often the opposite, many of the most destructive minds ever to live have been highly intellegent. Is it really a bragging right, or a warning?
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:12 am
Ah, the ranting neophyte minds of the unacceptable rejects. It must really suck being on the outside looking in at the geniuses of the world! HA! Mensa Minds Rule!
May 26th, 2009 at 7:12 am
smart guy: I honestly believe that you are the exception to the rule. You do sound like an intelligent and productive person – but I can’t say the same for most Mensans I’ve met. Half-witted arrogance or not, I’ll keep my beliefs until I’m proven wrong.
…I know that it’s a feeble defense, but I’ll fall back on the old “English isn’t my first language” response. My spelling and grammar leaves a bit to be desired. Working on it!
August 23rd, 2009 at 11:27 pm
90% of the people who join Mensa like to fart a lot, smell other people’s farts, scratch their anuses so they can smell their fingers all day long, and masturbate while somebody is farting in their faces.
Don’t get mad at me–it’s not my fault that you’re 40 years old and still have seen a real vagina.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Interesting. Here is a short 1-question quiz to all Mensa members:
1. Is intelligence a genetically aquired quality or an achieved quality?
If you answered genetically aquired- yay for you!!! If intelligence is determined by the same factors that determine your eye and hair color, then what great thing did you actually accomplish? Hmmm, sorry to tell you that you aren’t that special.
If it is an achieved quality- CONGRADULATIONS, you’re a genius!!! Now is the perfect time to admit that, since it is not a genetically aquired trait, absolutely anyone could have accomplished this, and, that in reality you aren’t not that special!
Anyway… I’ve never seen anyone marvel at blade of grass that was slightly longer than the rest. We’re all humans, and in case you missed 100% of history class, we really aren’t that great.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Interesting. Here is a short 1-question quiz to all Mensa members:
1. Is intelligence a genetically acquired quality or an achieved quality?
If you answered genetically acquired- yay for you!!! If intelligence is determined by the same factors that determine your eye and hair color, then what great thing did you actually accomplish? Hmmm, sorry to tell you that you aren’t that special.
If it is an achieved quality- CONGRADULATIONS, you’re a genius!!! Now is the perfect time to admit that, since it is not a genetically acquired trait, absolutely anyone could have accomplished this, and, that in reality you aren’t not that special!
Anyway… I’ve never seen anyone marvel at blade of grass that was slightly longer than the rest. We’re all humans, and in case you missed 100% of history class, we really aren’t that great.
November 7th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Flawed logic at its best. People marvel at “longer blades of grasses” all the time – football players, basketball players, good-looking celebrities, etc etc. If intelligence is a genetic thing then it makes just as much sense to admire intelligent people as it does admiring anyone else who got a lucky break with regards to genetics.
If it’s an acheived quality it makes even MORE sense to admire intelligent people: everyone could have accomplished it, but the intelligent people are the ones who actually put some effort into it.
Either way, the obvious answer (to the rhetorical question) is probably a mix of both.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
There are two undercurrents here…first, whether intelligence is real and second, why do people need Mensa. To the first point: the extreme left does not like it, but a society needs identification and nurturing of excellence. Here in Canada, they are doing away with testing completely for kids at the middle school level – don’t want to break the hearts of poor kids who are rather “learning-challenged”. Another group of people is complaining about identification of Down’s Syndrome as a disability – they want the “normal” class room and “normal” treatment for their kids. Everyone wants the rest of the world to slow down (dumb down) to their level of (in)competence and (in)ability. The result is self-evident…J C Fields was a Canadian and no Canadian has won the Fields Medal in its history. Canadians survive by selling natural resources and taxing their people to to the bone in order to feed a gargantuan bureaucracy. I have sympathy for you if you are not a Mensan and I am all for taking care of people who fall behind, but I will be very frustrated if you expect me (and the rest of the world) to slow down alongside you.
To the second point, i.e., why people join Mensa…I think it’s 50/50 self-affirmation and quest for company. Both needs are seldom satisfied.
April 28th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
M.S!!!!
You are a typical Mensan Moronic Asshole!!!! You people are the most superficially intelligent assholes in the world. When some person of unknown intelligence of complete studpidity. You make believe that such an incident could never happen to you. And you do equally and even stupider things. You’re just a bunch of pseudo-intellectual “NEW World OBAMA Reich people”. Personally, I think you are a bunch of accidents. I can tell you are a Fucking Canadian. You are so Fucking rude.
April 29th, 2010 at 12:06 am
Nighthawk808!!!!
Or Nuthawk000
I can’t believe you animousity directed at the rest of the world. Get over yourself two-bit IQ test taking jockey!!! I love the defensive comments that the Mensans have made on this website. You like a bunch of children. You are a bunch of Hokey group of losers!!
May 6th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Hello?
Can I make a case here that I have not seen yet?
How about the person who joins Mensa (or even a higher level group such as Triple 9, or 1 in a Thousand) because she is continually treated as “less than” by her co-workers and completely overlooked for promotions and advancement — and why? Because she (who is ME if you haven’t already guessed) is from a working class background and went to the state university because that’s what my family could afford, while everyone I work with is Ivy League and rich. There are other factors – it’s a largely male environment; my more soft-spoken and feeling-filled contributions just don’t get through the way the loud and rather insensitive speakers get their points across. I know I am every bit as smart and potentially productive as ANY of them – I have passed the same industry tests and have the same licenses they have — yet I am not treated as someone of high intelligence and I am SICK of it. I welcome being able to connect with others who may be able to relate to me and my experience and that is why I am going to join one of these societies. It’s not my fault that sommetimes you have to shove things like test scores and society memberships and degrees, etc., into someone’s face before they will admit that you are as smart and capable as they are.
May 26th, 2010 at 3:05 am
I’m so stupid that I had to prove to myself and others that I’m smart. So, I took and passed a Mensa test. Others were not impressed.
June 11th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
I have a partner that is mensan. She’s easily the rudest, most condescending person I have ever met. Her biggest flaw is her complete contempt for knowledge or learning anything new. She’s going on 60 and stuck with her stupid piece of paper over her desk. Probably the worst thing that ever happened to her was taking that test. She’s nothing short of a miserable wretch. I can’t believe this thread has gone so long…there must be some truth.