RoR: Forum

To enter Mensa, I had to score in the top two percent on a standardized IQ test. The local chapter conducted these sessions monthly and offered two tests with a break between them. I scored 139 on one and 141 on the other, so I averaged them to 140 for the poll.

I had my fill of IQ tests as a measure of rationality when I attended a Mensa weekend regional gathering that featured, as part of the entertainment, a psychic palm-reading astrologer in the hospitality suite. Her most memorable quote:

"Palm reading is an art while astrology is a science."

I agree with Bidinotto's critiques of standardized IQ tests. Attend a Mensa event to judge the results for yourself. Prepare for sophistry.

(Edited by Luke Setzer on 12/11, 7:48am)

Post 21

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 7:17am

As far as I am concerned IQ tests are a waste of time. If you are actually intelligent, you would be doing intelligent things, you would not need a test. If you take a test, which says you are intelligent, but you don't do anything that requires intelligence, than you are a person who is indistinguishable from one who is not intelligent, just as a person who is able to read but never does is indistinguishable from an illiterate.

People wear high IQ scores as if they are some badge excusing them from actually doing anything which requires intelligence. Mensa gatherings consist of hardly anything more than people who don't do anything talking about how intelligent they think they are and patting each other on the back all the time.

Furthermore, the whole idea of trying to measure intelligence as a 'quotient' is absurd, since aptitude in intellectual endeavours exist on many different tangents. To accurately measure intelligence one would need to raise different people in identical environments and provide them with identical stimuli, and then test them with the exact same test.

(Edited by Michael F Dickey on 12/11, 7:18am)

Post 22

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 8:42am

I enjoy the process of solving the puzzles posed in intelligence tests and I get an endorphin rush when I get the insight that comes with it. They exercise your intellectual muscles, but I doubt that I would have anything in common with members of a high IQ society.

Post 23

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 1:46pm

I use the IQ tests as a kind of diagnostic tool. I've always been "spiky" in various aptitude tests. As a kid I always scored near the bottom in visual\spatial tests. I ended up in chemical engineering where that skill wasn't quite so central to the discipline. However, as I've gotten older, through lots of practice, I perform much better at those skills.

I think it's good to have objective tests to learn your strengths and weaknesses so you can develop your own intellectual training plan accordingly.

Jim

Post 24

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 4:14pm

I do enjoy tests. I always found it strange that people moaned when pop-quizzes were announced, while I secretly rejoiced. My PSAT score got me a full scholarship to Rutgers. Otherwise I'd have gone to Cornell and would still be paying off the student loan. Oops...

Ted

Post 25

Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 10:45am

Article in the LA Times today:

Drugs to build up that mental muscle

Over the last several years I've been taking beta blockers, together with a lot of other drugs for my congestive heart failure, and have noticed that I have recently become obsessed with IQ tests. (I initiated the poll) My experience certainly cannot be considered a controlled experiment but I believe that these drugs have had a beneficial effect on my mental processes. I'm expecting a scoring from the 9I6 test and can compare that to the Tickle test that I took before I was diagnosed with CHF. I'm currently taking the Sigma Society test.

Sam

Post 26

Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 5:00am

I wrote in Post 20 of this thread:

To enter Mensa, I had to score in the top two percent on a standardized IQ test. The local chapter conducted these sessions monthly and offered two tests with a break between them. I scored 139 on one and 141 on the other, so I averaged them to 140 for the poll.

I made a mistake.

I checked my files and I scored 129 on one test and 131 on the other so I should have averaged them to 130.

Post 27

Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 7:17am

Sam, I do think these drugs can improve performance, but not peak intelligence. My guess is that tests will have to be designed to take this into account.Perhaps longer time limits, less questions, harder questions etc. But then people may more interested in testing some kind of average over long periods of time. I always preferred longer time limits and harder questions and tended to test below my peak ability on SAT's etc.

Jim

Post 28

Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 4:40pm

This is subjective, but I would describe the exact same effect as Sam when I recently began taking beta-blockers. My theory of why is similar to what James said. I think by inhibiting part of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight), the full range of intellect is given license to work. I've experienced similar effects from Lamictal as well.

Post 29

Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 6:25pm

I scored 144 on the Tickle test which has been relocated to a new site but think that this may be an over estimate, as it's free and you get what you pay for.

Subsequently I did the 9I6 Test and paid my $15 and scored 134, which I think is realistic. However, the decrease in score doesn't bolster the drug enhancement theory.

I have sat on the Sigma Society Test since 2007. I think I'll pay my $15 and get this rated.

James:
All these tests have no time limit.

Sam

Post 30

Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 7:12pm

Interesting. Any protocols, no books, no notes, have to be completed in one sitting?

Jim

Post 31

Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 8:28pm

Sigma Society says:

1) Please provide brief explanations for your answers so that unexpected but pertinent answers may receive points. No slang words.

2) Provide just one answer for each question.

3) There is no time limit.
4) All research aids are allowed, but a standard dictionary such as http://www.m-w.com/home.htm is sufficient. Do not consult other people if you want your score to reflect just your own ability.

Go to the sites and see the questions ... they're right there. I find it fun just to treat them as puzzles, even if I didn't want to get a score.

Sam

Sigma Society Test:

ABOVE :(IS TO) BELOW ::(AS) OVER :(IS TO) ? (UNDER)
1 :(IS TO) 4 ::(AS) LOST :(IS TO) ? (AGAINST)
1) IQ : 100 :: pH : ?
2) MR : MISTER :: LN : ?
3) SWIMMING CIRCUIT : POOL :: CROWBAR USED IN BREAK IN : ?
4) P�RE LACHAISE : GRAVE :: CAF� PARIS : ?
5) HOW LOW CAN YOU GO : LIMBO :: WHOA, IS THAT HUNK YOUR NEW BEAU : ?
6) TEA ---O : TEA :: PITCH ---E : ?
7) SAY WHEN RIGHT : BINGO :: BAY WHEN NIGHT : ?
8) WINE : YOUTH :: CLOWN : ?
9) OBSCENE CHICKEN : FOWL :: RUDE PIG : ?
10) TAXIING DOWN RUNWAYS : JUMBO :: GLIDING INTO AIRPORT : ?
11) COLD SPICE : CHILI :: CORNY PUZZLE : ?
12) F.B.I. : ARC :: M.T.R.A. : ?
13) OEAERN-6 : CAERN-5 :: UE-2 : ?
14) FIFTEEN : 7276 :: FORTY-SIX : ?
15) 1666 : ROMAN :: 45 : ?
16) L0B0T0MY : L U D U I U I V I I :: LMB : ?
17) 0555505 : LEVEL :: 0001100510001 : ?
18) 5 + 4 � 2 + 1 + 12 : 8 :: 6 + 9 + 6 � 3 : ?
19) PURSUED VIRGIN : CHASTE :: PURSUED AND BELOVED GAME : ?
20) NM : OP-3 :: PISd : ?
21) AFFIRMATIVE : SILICON :: NEGATIVE : ?
22) R. MOORE/BOND : OOO7 :: S. CONNERY/BOND : ?
23) 11216812520 : ALPHABET :: 183624911413 : ?
24) UN : RI :: GEA : ?
25) BEER FIT FOR A KING : REGAL LAGER :: WICKED FRUIT : ?
26) ANNE : AL :: OH : ?
27) VIOLENTLY DEPOSED SOVEREIGN : THROWN :: INTUITED VISITOR : ?
28) LEGO : ROSE :: GILA : ?
29) 4, 5, 8 : 8, 9, 9 :: 12, 13, 13 : ?
30) STRONGHOLD : FIGHT :: TYPE : ?
31) PARANORMAL FINNISH TOWN : ESPOO :: SANITIZED BELGIAN TOWN : ?
32) N₂O₄ : S₃H₂O₂ :: HYDROGEN : ?
33) EFFEMINATE OPERATING SYSTEM : UNIX :: NAPPING ELKS : ?
34) PUT TOES GENTLY IN PACIFIC : DIPS :: BRIGHT TYPE OF COLORED RAY : ?
35) STICK : EVIL :: COMPETENT : ?
36) A DOG : A PASS :: AN ASS : ?

(Edited by Sam Erica on 1/08, 8:44pm)

Post 32

Friday, January 9, 2009 - 6:00am

I joined Mensa about 20 years ago. I got 1500 on the SATs over 30 years ago, in an era that meant such a score was accepted as a proxy for membership testing. (They've been "dumbed down" since.) I have no idea what that equates to in IQ points, but Mensa says it's the "top two percent."

It wasn't for self-affirmation or elitism that I joined Mensa, but for friendship, mental stretching, and networking. It served all those purposes for some years when I was in Chicago. They also have a killer Regional Gathering, elaborate, well-attended, and entertaining, called "HalloweeM."

Mensa has one sizable pleasure. You can use a rich, varied, and precisely aimed vocabulary without worrying about someone criticizing you for doing so. That's been a bane of my existence since I was three years old, before, during, and long after my formal schooling, and on every job I've ever had, and for 25 years on the Net. The sheer release of having such a setting, such a respite, is indescribable.

Mensa also has one sizable drawback. Merely being in the "top two percent," however the hell that's defined, doesn't mean that you share anything of substance with other such people. "Intelligence" is too multivariant and uniquely expressed to be a common denominator. (I admit to not having given Mensa's Special Interest Groups, a partial antidote, enough of a chance.)

I haven't been a member for most of the last decade, after moving to L.A., and it's from both financial reasons (the dues aren't minimal) and practical qualms. I've come to see that intelligence doesn't reduce to one testing dimension. It can't be put in such a box, and to try to do so shears off too much human variety.

Networking ... eh. Not that many share one's professional skills, unless one is an IT wizard or an academic. Still, it was more rewarding than my alma mater's alumni clubs.

Mensa hasn't lost its allure because of its "elitism," at least not for me, as I relish the idea of an elite of earned and elaborated talent. Its premise of measurement of the human mind along one narrow testing dimension, though, now strikes me as silly and far too limited.

(Edited by Steve Reed on 1/09, 6:06am)

Post 33

Friday, January 9, 2009 - 6:49am

I agree with you, Steve. I've only been a member for two years or so though. I renewed this year out of habit, but probably won't again. It is incredibly liberating to realize that you are being understood, even if you aren't in agreement. I couldn't put my finger on it and then it hit me. I didn't have to explain what I was saying 5 times to these people. Unfortunately, thats about as far as it goes. I haven't really pulled much of substance from membership. I will say that IQ testing was one of the most liberating experiences of my life.

Post 34

Saturday, January 10, 2009 - 4:52am

I would only point out that one doesn't need to be in the top 2% (IQ) to acquire a broader vocabulary. Nor would I think that one has to dumb down one's speech for an audience.

I would expect that each local Mensa club might be different, but my wife's experience was that they were boring, and a bit elitist. That said, she was extremely young when she first joined, and the others were likely much older.

She recently re-joined just to purchase Mensa merchandise for her desk, since there is a new assistant manager in her office who believes, as she put it, that intelligence is solely dependent upon having male genitalia.

jt

Post 35

Saturday, January 10, 2009 - 5:14am

since there is a new assistant manager in her office who believes, as she put it, that intelligence is solely dependent upon having male genitalia.
............

Troglodytes still exist??

Post 36

Monday, January 12, 2009 - 11:05am

And thrive... apparently.

jt

Post 37

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - 10:58am

It is incredibly liberating to realize that you are being understood, even if you aren't in agreement. I couldn't put my finger on it and then it hit me. I didn't have to explain what I was saying 5 times to these people. (Ryan K. Roper)

That does sound liberating.

I would LOVE to finally be understood by someone...anyone.

Of course my own "problem" isn't the presence of an incredibly genius mind.

An insane one, perhaps.

:-D

Post 38

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - 7:34pm