# Are any of you in Mensa?



## affezwilling (Feb 1, 2011)

DeductiveReasoner said:


> On a side note, I read somewhere that 54% of Americans consider themselves above average intelligence. So if you're American, and think you have above average, you're part of the majority, and therefore, average. Kinda ironic, yeah?


Technically only 9% (5 out of 54%) of those people would be wrong considering the 50th percentile is the "average" IQ score. Of course if you look at the bell curve normally anywhere from about the 16th percentlile to the about the 84th percentile is still considered average intelligence. Above average is really anywhere above the 84th - 85th percentile range. Of course there's also the factor that well over 70% of the worlds population live in Southeast Asia I would really think that it depends on if you're comparing an individual American's IQ to other Americans, to people in North America, to western society at large, or to the world populace.

I read somewhere that people who are highly intelligent and skillful are more likely to underestimate their abilities, while people who are less intelligent or skilled are more likely to overestimate their abilities. So people of below average or average intelligence are more likely to think of themselves as being of superior, maybe even gifted or genius level, intelligence while people who actually are gifted or near-genius level intelligence are more likely to think of themselves as having average intelligence. Not sure what that says about me since I consider myself to be above average, but definitely below gifted level. The only IQ tests I've ever taken to verify is the online ones, which we all know are basically crap. 

I've never bothered looking into Mensa since I honestly don't think that I would score quite high enough to get in. I do know a number of people IRL that I'm pretty sure could get in if they really wanted to though. I'd honestly be surprised to find out that more than a couple people that I typically accosiate with are below the 50th percentile. The only real curiosity I have with Mensa is the same curiosity that I have with the Free Masons or any of the numerous secret societies out there, I want to know what they know.


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## MNiS (Jan 30, 2010)

The Great One said:


> Awesome avatar you have there.


hahaha I was thinking the same thing. 

About Mensa, I'm not sure if I'd join as I'm pretty sure I'm around the borderline for acceptance. From what I've read though, it seems most Mensa clubs go on activities that you could normally do on your own or with non-Mensa members, such as going to cooking classes, ballets etc. Assuming the members are socially well-adjusted, which most intelligent people tend to be, I'm sure the conversations are better though.


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## Amonite (Feb 5, 2012)

> Mensa is a waste of money. Not interested in paying for people to tell me I'm smart. I know I am, and would likely never go to their "meetings" anyway. I'm sure that conversation during the meetings is along the lines of how many yachts everyone owns, all of their intellectual pursuits, and other various bourgeois banter; as such, I'm not interested anyway.


I am not in mensa, but I was invited to join/asked out by a mensa group when I was visiting in Oregon. I can tell you that the conversation was anything *but* talk about yachts. (In fact, they scared the waiter. As the most extroverted person in the group, I had to inform the waiter that the discussion of the most efficient disposal of dead bodies was a theoretical excercise brought up by the cop (and not any indication that we were actually planning on cutting people up and putting them into little tiny bags *cough*).

While I cannot say every mensa group would be the same, the group I had dinner with was friendly and strange (in the good way). Most had aspergers or other quirks, and so topics tended to be either geeky, theoretical, or bizarre. It was quite fun. There wasn't any "look at this amazingly impossible brain teaser problem I have found!" talk (although, that would have been cool), but there wasn't any time wasted on "small talk" either. Had I been planning on staying in Oregon longer than three months, I probably would have officially joined.


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## affezwilling (Feb 1, 2011)

> In fact, they scared the waiter. As the most extroverted person in the group, I had to inform the waiter that the discussion of the most efficient disposal of dead bodies was a theoretical excercise brought up by the cop and not any indication that we were actually planning on cutting people up and putting them into little tiny bags *cough*.


With the type of friends I keep this conversation topic, along with the topic of what the most excruciatingly painful way to die / kill someone, seems to pop up (in depth) at least once or twice a year for the last couple decades. I've heard some pretty creative ways to dispose of dead bodies in that time. I also seem to find myself surrounded by people who measure the dimensional capacity of the trunk of their car by the number of dead bodies it would hold. I guess I forget sometimes that these types of topics for conversations are not really normal.


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## The Great One (Apr 19, 2010)

MisterNi said:


> hahaha I was thinking the same thing.
> 
> About Mensa, I'm not sure if I'd join as I'm pretty sure I'm around the borderline for acceptance. From what I've read though, it seems most Mensa clubs go on activities that you could normally do on your own or with non-Mensa members, such as going to cooking classes, ballets etc. Assuming the members are socially well-adjusted, which most intelligent people tend to be, I'm sure the conversations are better though.


Really? You think that most intelligent people tend to have great social skills? I would disagree with that. The smartest people that I know have the worst social skills.


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## Vaka (Feb 26, 2010)

DeductiveReasoner said:


> No, are there any real benefits to being a mensa member? Don't you have to contribute financially or something? But damn, I bet I could get some good scholarships through that.
> 
> 
> On a side note, I read somewhere that 54% of Americans consider themselves above average intelligence. So if you're American, and think you have above average, you're part of the majority, and therefore, average. Kinda ironic, yeah?


LOL, 54% of people I meet are not above 'average' in intelligence at all....


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## TheBoss (Oct 27, 2011)

The Great One said:


> Really? You think that most intelligent people tend to have great social skills? I would disagree with that. The smartest people that I know have the worst social skills.


Indeed, social skills is not our area of expertise. Though some famous ones (perhaps exactly because of that) can become people magnets.

It is funny, even strange in a way, why actual, factual, proven, high IQs that have the ability to process/analyze effectively so many things and act upon deductions, fail - to some degree - socially.


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## MNiS (Jan 30, 2010)

The Great One said:


> Really? You think that most intelligent people tend to have great social skills? I would disagree with that. The smartest people that I know have the worst social skills.


Care to provide examples?


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## amanda32 (Jul 23, 2009)

They keep begging me to join their little club..._So_ annoying.


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## Niccolo Machiavelli (Aug 7, 2011)

I was going to join, but then I'd be one of those idiots that joined MENSA. :laughing:

Even though I could get in, I see absolutely no value in it. If I wanted a self-esteem boost, I could just lie and tell people that I was a member. If I wanted to waste money on membership, I could waste it elsewhere. If I wanted to mentally masturbate, I do not require an audience. If I wanted to talk to morons that think they are brilliant, I would visit a Sociology department. If I wanted to go on any activities, I could do them without their group. I honestly don't see why anybody would want to join, unless they just wanted to brag to people that are stupid enough to think it is impressive. I'm sure there probably are a few people there who are cool, but I suspect that most of them would kinda suck. :laughing:


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## TheBoss (Oct 27, 2011)

Niccolo Machiavelli said:


> If I wanted a self-esteem boost, I could just lie and tell people that I was a member.


Like most do, even in this very thread, you mean? :wink:

Let's face it, most posts scream about sour grapes.


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## Niccolo Machiavelli (Aug 7, 2011)

TheBoss said:


> Like most do, even in this very thread, you mean? :wink:


I didn't read most of the previous posts because I assumed that is what they would be like, so that way if I accidentally offended any members I could honestly plead ignorance. It was all part of my strategy. :laughing:


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## Amonite (Feb 5, 2012)

> Like giving the right answer in a math problem, skipping all intermittent calculations and having no way to explain why you "guessed" right. The answer "well it _clearly looked like_ a 234,7" is not very accepted you know.


This explains a great deal actually. When I was in elementary school, I was a mental math prodigy. I already knew most of the material going into the year, which helped, but I also was the fastest student. After I won a mental-math school wide competition in third grade, one of my teachers trained me further, and I won the "five school" competition as well. I lost at district level (or maybe it was state, I'm not sure. There were about 40-50 kids). While most of my calculating was tricks to arrive at answers faster, such as breaking down problems into simpler component parts - there were a lot of answers I could just guess off the top of my head.

I transferred to a new school in fourth grade where mental math was basically a dirty word. We had to show all of our work, and the teachers did their best to train my mental calculating out of me. We weren't given mental drills like at my old school, and wrong answers were given half credit if you 'showed your work'. My error rate went up and my speed went down. I still won the school wide contest when competition time came around, but only got third place that year at the five-school level.

Later schools were even worse, with the introduction of "Open Ended Math" - where we had to spend two pages detailing how we arrived at a problem two different ways. Whether we got the right answer or not didn't matter, so long as we had all the work (down to 1+1), and some pretty charts to boot. 

This led me to the trick in highschool of solving things in my head and writing the answer down a ways below. Then I'd fill in any 'guess and check' work in the space between, as the teacher rarely looks at -what- is written so much as that there is something there.


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

I heard one of my friends hail Mensa as a "Hub of Intelligence" once.

My experiences with "Hubs" of anything is highly negative. Just ask Scientology.

However I am curious now...

And why base intelligence on IQ tests? It only measure adaptability.

Unless they test them in a different manner...

Great, now I'm curious about it....And it's gone.


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## Ventricity (Mar 30, 2009)

maybe i should start a lowest 2% club? then the members could encourage discounts and benefits when they do stupid things, and we could help each other out, like taking courses on how to lace our shoelaces and stuff. full freedom and no responsibilities, just a bunch of guys getting together and being retarded.


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## Niccolo Machiavelli (Aug 7, 2011)

Ventricity said:


> maybe i should start a lowest 2% club? then the members could encourage discounts and benefits when they do stupid things, and we could help each other out, like taking courses on how to lace our shoelaces and stuff. full freedom and no responsibilities, just a bunch of guys getting together and being retarded.


I like the way you think! :laughing: And if you do start up a club like that, let me know how I can join! :laughing: You'd be able to get away with so much. For example " I'm sorry officer, I did not know that I could not do that , I'm a member of DUMASSIZ." :laughing:


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## AbioticPrime (Sep 1, 2011)

I'm considering joining, I'm just at the cusp of acceptance -- though I'd have to research the true benefits from it, so far seems like an unnecessary siphon of cash.

If I want to meet like-minded people all I have to do is mingle with those in my major courses... Introductory courses are filled with kids who think they can handle a lot more than they can, but when you get to third year calculus and inorganic chemistry, the survivors aren't bullshitting.


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## Cover3 (Feb 2, 2011)

Niccolo Machiavelli said:


> I like the way you think! :laughing: And if you do start up a club like that, let me know how I can join! :laughing: You'd be able to get away with so much. For example " I'm sorry officer, I did not know that I could not do that , I'm a member of DUMASSIZ." :laughing:


 holy shit, even the name you came up with sounds exotic, hahaha


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## Lunarprox (Feb 16, 2012)

I did an entry test where they put the limitation to 126 IQ (the test is much like the official, just shorter), if you score above the measureable you'll have the opportunity to do an official Mensa test. I don't know -- care -- what my IQ is but I scored 126 or +. (It was a non verbal test). I'm probably not a genius, but above average --(actually do think the entry in Sweden is lower, not sure how it work/s(ed); might have changed, long time ago).


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## Lunarprox (Feb 16, 2012)

Ventricity said:


> maybe i should start a lowest 2% club? then the members could encourage discounts and benefits when they do stupid things, and we could help each other out, like taking courses on how to lace our shoelaces and stuff. full freedom and no responsibilities, just a bunch of guys getting together and being retarded.


You have my approval LOL


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