High IQ Society

[psychopathwannabe]

I am just curious to see if any of the members is part of any High IQ Society?

I know many of you are not bothered to join one and even more of you are still questioning the definition of intelligence (if it has any meaning at all in the first place), but I am just want to know what it is like inside those Societies.

In fact, my curiosity is even greater when it comes to Secret Society. Does anyone take part in those Secret Society during Uni?
(I know it is pretty stupid to ask that since you must took an Oath when you joined but hey, no harm trying right? You might free yourself from it after cutting off your hand)

 

[ObliviousGenius]

I actually have a psychiatrist appointment at 12:30 (its 11:30 now lol) I'll probably be taking an IQ test at some point. I'm a true intellectual but I don't really know how well I'll do. If I get a high enough score I will definitely look to try to join a high IQ society such as Mensa or something like that, for resume purposes more than anything.

 

[tepellian]

Parent did enroll me in Mensa for a few years and I never really participated. I got invitations for things from them in the mail every so often, but it didn't occur to me to respond. In the end, it seems to have been just a resume builder.

 

[Katie]

I have no idea what my iq is and half of me is a stupid teenage girl but I am mentioned in a book for my grades, all elementary I was in the talented and gifted (t.a.g) program. Iv been honor role all my life. In 6th grade this program asked me to join a group where they would take college level courses on certain subjects. Now I go to a private school where we are forced to get all a's otherwise we will fail. Braggin'!!! Small stuff but I'm proud of it :3. Too bad I got lazy and slacked my butt off because of distractions and teenage rebellion, now I'm just nerdy and not too bright haha :P

 

[Zadigdigs]

Avoid. Leads to vanity. Vanity to tomb. Tomb to worms. Imagine a worm IQ...

 

[psychopathwannabe]

What do people in the High IQ Society do?
Will there be people like Will Hunting (From the movie Good Will Hunting)?

I just wonder what makes a person qualified to join those Societies. Yes you have to achieve certain marks in the IQ test. But in reality, how does the brain work? Could it be photographic memories? Or they just simply read+learn REALLY fast? Or they just know how to play a piano without ever learn to play before. How about maths? Do those people simply can multiply 0.00074788912 square root with 67678933 divide by 98017.7873 in their brain?

 

[Decaf]

What do people in the High IQ Society do?

I'm a member of Mensa. I haven't really been that involved, but I've been to a couple events. Basically they're just local get togethers with other members. Some nights are Trivia night at a local bar, others are networking opportunities. Nice people. Learned some new board/card games. Overall its been nice to have it as a social option.

Each chapter is run almost like a franchise so it really depends on who's running it in your area.

I just wonder what makes a person qualified to join those Societies.

Check online and see what tests they accept. Although with a shift away from IQ tests for the SAT/ACTs and the ASVAB you may end up needing to take a more specific test.

But in reality, how does the brain work? Could it be photographic memories? Or they just simply read+learn REALLY fast? Or they just know how to play a piano without ever learn to play before. How about maths? Do those people simply can multiply 0.00074788912 square root with 67678933 divide by 98017.7873 in their brain?

Most IQ tests highly favor people with strong pattern recognition skills. Its arguable how much that actually has to do with intelligence but, for what its worth, it has everything to do with IQ.

The mental abilities you describe are unrelated to IQ. I know you didn't ask for this, but I'm bored, so I'll give a quick answer :P

Photographic memory (a.k.a. eidetic memory) has never been proven to exist in long term memory. There are plenty of methods of improving how you take in information, but perfect recall is currently still in the myth category.

Math Mnemonics is a trick related to changing the way you process information. Very impressive, but ultimately not that useful. I've never heard of someone who could perform complex statistical analysis in their head at speed, but if they could, THAT would be a marketable skill. The few who can do those kinds of calculations more of less intuitively are merely intuitively using those techniques and are often savants (which is why they intuitively use a different method for understanding numbers than the majority of us)

I've never heard a believable story of someone innately knowing how to play any complex musical instrument, though many people learn quickly.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

Math Mnemonics is a trick related to changing the way you process information. Very impressive, but ultimately not that useful. I've never heard of someone who could perform complex statistical analysis in their head at speed, but if they could, THAT would be a marketable skill. The few who can do those kinds of calculations more of less intuitively are merely intuitively using those techniques and are often savants (which is why they intuitively use a different method for understanding numbers than the majority of us)

Ask them to integrate a normal distribution in their head. ^_^

 

[EyeSeeCold]

I think the better question is: is anyone here part of a secret society?

 

[Minuend]

Photographic memory (a.k.a. eidetic memory) has never been proven to exist in long term memory. There are plenty of methods of improving how you take in information, but perfect recall is currently still in the myth category.

What about savants? I have also heard that photo memory is bull, but I haven't researched it beyond that point.

 

[Midas]

I believe photographic memory is simply extremely good memory rather than a distinct phenomenon or skill, though like minuend, I do not know the details. However, apparently children have better eidetic memory but begin losing it at age 6.

On the mathematical note, I hadn't heard the intuitive savant concept. This would fit me as I seem to be able to guess equations which go into a few decimal places without thinking.

 

[Melkor]

Eh. I took a test to be admitted for one, and passed, though barely.

Then they just tried to sell me membership packages, so I declined.

There is a massive monopoly to be made off stupid people who consider themselves intelligent and thus superior to everyone around them.

 

[Melllvar]

Savant syndrome is extensively documented, you can get footage of those guys doing their various things on youtube. There's a book of case studies somewhere too, but I've never read it and couldn't re-find it right away. The range of abilities is really quite wide: nearly perfect memories, fast counting, calendar dates, arithmetic, recognizing primes, prodigious drawing and musical skill, and those are just the most common ones.

Look into Rudiger Gamm too, he's allegedly a self-taught mental calculator who was never that good at math in school, but got interested in his early twenties. Now he's one of the best in the world (they have competitions), and fMRIs have shown he activates different areas of his brain than most people when doing calculations. They also have guys who compete in memory championships, they use tricks that only work for limited short-term recall, where as the memory savants have extensive recall over their entire lives, can quote any part of any book they've ever read, etc. I think those (trained people) are the people referred to when they say "photographic memories aren't real," but for some people they are (see Kim Peek, for example). Also other cases where savant 'abilities' have appeared or disappeared for no apparent reason, or after massive brain trauma, etc. They've even done simple experiments at re-producing them in others using magnetic fields and such. Better to look at the current state of the research though, it's been a few years since I did.

The subject is really quite fascinating, there's a lot more highlights that could be said about it.

I just wonder what makes a person qualified to join those Societies. Yes you have to achieve certain marks in the IQ test. But in reality, how does the brain work? Could it be photographic memories? Or they just simply read+learn REALLY fast? Or they just know how to play a piano without ever learn to play before. How about maths? Do those people simply can multiply 0.00074788912 square root with 67678933 divide by 98017.7873 in their brain?

Mensa requires test scores at the 1/50 level, by definition, sure it's a small subset of the general population but hardly anything particularly special. Statistically speaking you probably run into lots of people who could join and never notice.

 

[Decaf]

Eh. I took a test to be admitted for one, and passed, though barely.

Then they just tried to sell me membership packages, so I declined.

There is a massive monopoly to be made off stupid people who consider themselves intelligent and thus superior to everyone around them.

As someone who believes IQ is not a meaningful way to gauge a person's intellectual ability I will say I agreed with your argument for most of my life. However, still believing IQ isn't very meaningful I think the "high IQ societies" have their place. They're social organizations for people who share an interest in complexity. There are certainly egotists that I've met at Mensa events, but the distribution isn't very different than what we have on this forum. Plenty of people who are somewhat socially awkward just trying to have fun with people who like many of the same things they like.

Imagine... having a get together where the subject doesn't gravitate toward entertainment news, sports or television (outside the occasional "Bazinga" reference) and the first game people bring out to play reminds you more of Magic: The Gathering than Charades.

Is it exclusionary? Yes. Are they elitist? Some are, most aren't.

We've had many discussions here about the pros and cons of exclusivity. I've come to the belief that exclusivity has its place as long as the people you're excluding have the ability to seek a similar, alternate option. High IQ societies do not intentionally differentiate between race, sex or economic status (though the tests themselves still need a lot of work to become culture independent). The fee I pay for membership is nominal (annual dues are less than I pay to be a part of the American Chemical Society).

<shrug> Its all perception. If it still feels elitist to you, then not wanting to support the organization speaks well of you.

Mensa requires test scores at the 1/50 level, by definition, sure it's a small subset of the general population but hardly anything particularly special. Statistically speaking you probably run into lots of people who could join and never notice.

If you specifically WANT to be elitist there's Mega Society where they only accept people in the 99.9999th percentile instead of Mensa's 98th.

 

[HDINTP]

I didn´t want to go anyway. The time i am the happiest is when i am alone. There were worse cases. For example a girl who was emotionally labile and was said being unable to relax. But for some reason i can´t tell that i am not happy with my life nevertheless in the same time i can´t say that i am really happy. In the end i can say that i am but it can change easily. And as i said before: I don´t think IQ tests are able to measure intelligence because they are easy. The only think you have to do is think.

 

[Melllvar]

If you specifically WANT to be elitist there's Mega Society where they only accept people in the 99.9999th percentile instead of Mensa's 98th.

That was kind of the opposite of what I intended, more that high IQ society people aren't really any better than anyone else. Oh sure, maybe if you go high enough (Triple Nine, Mega, Giga, Prometheus, etc.) you'll eventually get to the group of "real geniuses" or something, but I doubt it. They have other tests often give alongside IQ tests to measure functional ability or academic achievement or things like that (sorry, I can't remember the official names even though I've taken them). Scores trend together, but they can still be vastly off from the IQ for any given person. Point being IQ tests just get put on a pedestal; not to be taken overly seriously, even though I know the temptation is there.

To the OP, if you're interested one of the guys from Prometheus (supposedly requires test scores at the one in a billion level) had a website, although you can see he never got very far with it. I liked the Zen koan article. Anyways, I asked the guy who IQ tested me about these groups/researchers, and he said there were people who made careers out of high IQ studies and creating societies and rewarding people with high IQs was a good way to get notoriety and research subjects. No clue if that's true, but it makes sense; seven people already qualified for the "one in a billion level IQ", and it seems unlikely they already tested and found almost all of the existing ones.


I just kinda wanted to kill (or at least criticize) the idea that high IQ people/societies deserve the elitism. I don't see it as much different from a club for the highest scoring scrabble players.


Side note: I've never been able to find another copy of foritensum (briefly described here). Most fucked up/difficult "IQ test" I've ever come across. There are no instructions, just a page full of shapes. Has the interesting trait of supposedly being 100% "culture fair." Unfortunately the website seems to have been defunct for years and I can't find another copy online. If you can help, PM me.

 

[Decaf]

I just kinda wanted to kill (or at least criticize) the idea that high IQ people/societies deserve the elitism. I don't see it as much different from a club for the highest scoring scrabble players.

Absolutely. In fact I think that's a fantastic analogy. The value of a "high IQ society" is only in bringing people together with something in common. In this case the ability to perform well on tests that are designed to measure IQ (or rather people who are gifted/skilled at pattern recognition). There's no deserve about it. The "who's smart and who's not" inference is unfortunately built into the IQ concept even if most now admit that its a dubious comparison.

I suppose it would be harder to market a "strong pattern recognition skills society".

 

[Fukyo]

@Melllvar

http://web.archive.org/web/20090508183248/http://foritensum.zzlevo.net/foritensum.html