Mensa, the International Society for the Gifted and Talented; It is the largest and oldest known high IQ community. Only people with a certain IQ are accepted here, regardless of age, color, race, nationality or political affiliation.
Because these people gathered around a round table, the name Mensa, which means “table” in Latin, was deemed appropriate for this community. Let’s examine other curious details about this community.
What are people with high IQs doing in this club?
By identifying the 2% with the highest intelligence level, Mensa aims to encourage these extra-intelligent people to use their gems. In addition, it offers social opportunities for Mensa members through special meetings and conferences organized periodically.
When and how did Mensa first come together?
The idea of establishing such a community had actually come about unplanned. A lawyer and scientist who was a student at Oxford at that time, Dr. Lancelot Ware and Australian lawyer Roland Berrill met on any given day in a train car.
Ware started a deep conversation with Berrill about gifted people without knowing that they laid the foundations of today’s Mensa community, and after this impromptu meeting, the Mensa community was officially established in England in 1945.
Are there Mensa communities all over the world?
This adventure, which started in England, continues in many countries of the world. It is known that Mensa continues its activities actively in more than 100 countries and has approximately 145,000 members.
This community, which embraces people from many parts of the world, also has its own rules. You can access the bylaws prepared by Mensa, addressing all national groups within the scope of Mensa International, here.
How can we join Mensa?
To join this club where gifted people are selected and included, your intelligence level must be within 2% of the total population. However, there is no set score you need to get from IQ tests to be a member of the community.
The reason for this is that the IQ tests you encounter on the internet may have different measurement standards. While your score is 147 in a test you complete, the result may be 135 in another test. In order to avoid this confusion, Mensa accepts the 2% of the entire population with the highest IQ as a member.
What do club members have in common?
People who are a part of Mensa do not have any common characteristics other than their superior intelligence. In addition to its members who only participate to socialize, there are also participants who say that they feel the warmth of a family atmosphere; There are no limitations such as education status, financial situation or age.
Considering the average age of the members, it can be said that the majority are between 20 and 60 years old. In Mensa, there are individuals who have graduated from kindergarten, as well as those who have completed their doctorate and advanced in their academic life.
In addition, with a wide variety of professions from musicians to truck drivers, from farmers to firefighters, the doors of the club are also open to people who are tax record holders or whose financial situation is very weak.
The youngest member of the community is a 2-year-old girl!
The story of a little girl named Kashe Quest, who lives in Los Angeles, began when her mother noticed her giftedness. At about 17-18 months, Kashe knew numbers, shapes, and even the entire alphabet.
When he was 2 years old, he could recognize the 50 states on the map by their locations and shapes, count the numbers up to 100, and even parse the elements in the periodic table, which we met in secondary school, according to their symbols, was a sign of this superior intelligence.
It was noticed that the IQ level of little Kashe, who lives in the USA, where the average IQ is 98, is 146. This girl, who is smarter than 98% of the population, is the youngest member of American Mensa.
You are familiar with these Mensa member names, too!
Mensa, where there is a great diversity apart from the level of IQ, includes many prominent names from the world of cinema and music. Famous names we all know such as Madonna, Jodie Foster, Shakira, Steve Martin and Alicia Keys are also members of this community.
If you think you can become a Mensa member, too, you can measure your IQ level and share your score in the comments with this test prepared by Mensa International for entertainment purposes, not as an application to try yourself.
https://www.mensa.org/public/mensa-iq-challenge
Sources: 1, 2
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