Yeah, oh my heavens, I’d be horrible at that sort of thing. Give me words!
I fully agree that the standard of IQ tests from when I was a kid leave out people who are intelligent in other ways than words. People are intelligent in different ways, and I don’t understand why people (the in general people) can’t grasp that concept.
I don’t have any doubt that I’m fucking smart. I am. I’m really, really smart. However, I do have some personal quirks, mannerisms, and failings that compensate for that.
Maybe things like describing yourself with thing like “I’m fucking smart. I am. I’m really, really smart.” 
Yeah, those quirks, mannerisms, and failings have always been my downfall. 
Especially failings. Quirks can be forgiven if your successings outnumber your failings.
Why do some derive joy from denigrating or ridiculing others’ pride in their accomplishments?
Taking a test is an “accomplishment”?
No, anybody can take a test. It is passing a test that is an accomplishment.
Did you really not know that? It is almost the definition of accomplishment: Something done creditably. The successful achievement of a task. How can you be ignorant of that?
Wait… I thought intelligence was a trait… something you are born with. So you are saying anyone can pass the test if they work hard and persevere?
Test-taking is a learned skill. Certainly learning how to take tests better would improve one’s performance.
So, Mensa is a certification of your test taking skills and not intelligence?
Now you’re just being silly.
For instance, when taking a test do you 1) stew over a problem for 20 minutes, getting more bothered and distracted as you go along, or do you 2) skip it and move on to the ones you can answer, figuring to come back if there is time? That’s the type of thing I mean by learned skills, and it’s got nothing to do with intelligence. After all, you may get all the questions wrong anyway, but at least you had opportunity to answer them.
Shrug, it swayed my stupid brother’s opinion. I hadn’t mentioned the membership to my brothers: I wanted it so I’d have access to the SIGHT program and to SIGs and to a bunch of crazy people “my style”, not to take out the card and drool on it.
But apparently one day Stupid Brother was complaining to Smart Brother that I’d made some mistake along the lines of being too quick about something (that is, quicker than him and right), and he said “what does she think, that she’s some sort of genius?” “Eh well, she is.” “Uh?” “You said if she thinks she’s a genius. She is.” “Eh?” “Mom gets Mensa’s magazine every month, with Nava’s name and membership number on the cover. So, Nava actually is a certified genius. Now, excuse the interruption, were you done whinning?” According to Smart Brother, that’s when Stupid Brother accepted that yes, sometimes I am quicker at arithmetic than he is and it’s not an attempt at making him feel stupid, I just happen to have done that particular calculation a tad quicker!
Sure, if I’m taking a timed test and the “success” depends on my score I would opt for option 2.
If my “success” and hence intelligence is decided on my ultimate achievement then I may opt to spend 20 years working on how to cure cancer.
Who is smarter… the guy who scored well on a timed test or the one who cured cancer?
Sorry, I just noticed this in your post… “and it’s got nothing to do with intelligence.” That was kind of my point.
I have two questions that emerge from this thread (and other threads on high IQ/being in MENSA):
I have encountered one person who constantly brought up her membership in Mensa as well as her MBA. She was very impressed with both and thought we all should be as well. Her work however did not impress us very much. In her time here the phrase “baffle them with bullshit” became common.
She left after a few years and then re-applied to the company about 5 years later. I was one of the people the hiring VP called to get a recommendation. I hemmed and hawed and ultimately said probably not a good candidate… he laughed and said that since I was the third that reacted this way she wouldn’t get an interview.
As for number 2… we did get scores from the school system for all of my kids, and I know my mom later told me that my teacher had called to tell her how she should be proud of my score (back in the 60’s). My youngest son also had to undergo testing for dyslexia and we were given his IQ results as part of that (gifted but learning impaired).
On the more general topic, I have encountered people who say “I was invited to join MENSA but I turned them down.”
From what I’ve read, they don’t solicit membership. You apply and either take the test or submit one of the other scores that they recognize. Your application is approved or not. If approved, you can choose how active you want to be.
Is that basically the process?
tim I believe you’re correct. My chapter newsletter constantly asks members to suggest to people we know that they might want to consider taking the entrance test, but I don’t believe there is active solicitation.
Other than that, MENSA publishes what they will consider as qualifying evidence (e.g., scores on specific IQ tests, or in some cases scores on other tests that are deemed to correlate with IQ) or you can take the entrance test.
If you take the entrance test - as pancake noted, they don’t tell you what your actual IQ is, but only that you made the threshold. I’ve read on the boards here where many people say they took the qualifying MENSA test and were told their IQ, but the organization says otherwise. Perhaps it was once the case.
spud, I can see that that would be off putting. I can honestly say that I’ve known plenty of people who were intellectually arrogant, but never had someone cite their MENSA membership as evidence of it. But I have no doubt that some do
I can open my pants with a fork, but my penis is so large it takes a pipe wrench to get it through the hole.
I can say that in 30+ years in the business world I’ve encountered one who was obnoxious about it. I have seen many more on message boards though.
Hypothetically, IF I was qualified for MENSA, or for the Triple Nine Society, I would only tell my mother. Maybe my spouse but not my children. Certainly nobody else.
And as others have alluded to, bringing it up in a message board is pretty much the same as bragging about your massive swinging penis.