Mensa International

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Mensa International is the largest, oldest, and most well-known high IQ society in the world. The organization restricts its membership to people with high testable IQs. Specifically, potential members must score within the top 2% (98^th percentile) of any approved standardized intelligence test.<ref name="mensa">Mensa Information. Mensa International.</ref><ref name="mensa_UK">What is Mensa?. British Mensa.</ref>

1 Background information
2 Mensa's goals
3 Organizational structure
4 Gatherings
5 Members of Mensa
6 Miscellaneous facts
7 Pop culture and media references
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Background information

Roland Berrill, an Australian barrister, and Dr. Lancelot Ware, an English scientist and lawyer, founded Mensa in England in 1946. They had the idea of forming a society for bright people, the only qualification for membership being a high IQ.<ref name="mensa"/> The idea for such a society had been suggested by Sir Cyril Burt.^{[citation needed]}

The original aims were, as they are today, to create a non-political society free from all social distinctions (racial, religious, etc.) The society welcomes all people, regardless of background, whose IQs meet the criteria, with the objective of members enjoying each other's company and participating in a wide range of social and cultural activities.

Mensa accepts individuals who score in the 98^th percentile on standardised IQ tests such as the Stanford-Binet. New scores on certain common tests, such as the SAT and the GRE, are no longer accepted, either because they no longer are considered intelligence tests or because they no longer measure scores up to the 98^th percentile, although older scores on these tests are accepted. On the SAT, for example, scores from 1994 and earlier are accepted. Mensa administers its own tests for those who do not already have qualifying scores from other tests; each national Mensa group has its own rules and procedures for administering tests.

Because different tests are scaled differently, it is not meaningful to compare raw scores between tests, only percentiles. For example, the minimum accepted score on the Stanford-Binet is 132, while for the Cattell it is 148.<ref name="TestScores">Qualifying test scores. American Mensa.</ref>.

Mensa International has over 100,000 members, with over 50,000 in the United States and 25,500 in the UK.<ref name="mensa_UK" /> In addition to encouraging social interaction among its members, the organisation is also involved with programs for gifted children, literacy, and scholarships. The name comes from mensa, the Latin word for "table," and indicates that it is a round-table society of equals (although the logo can be seen as depicting a square table).

[edit] Mensa's goals

Mensa has three stated purposes: to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research in the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence; and to promote stimulating intellectual and social opportunities for its members.<ref name="mensa"/>

Mensa has published a number of books, including Poetry Mensa (1966), an anthology of poems by Mensans from all over the world, in which languages other than English are represented. Mensa edits and publishes its own Mensa Research Journal, in which both Mensans and non-Mensans are published on various topics surrounding the concept and measure of intelligence. The organization also issues periodicals, such as the Mensa Bulletin the publication of American Mensa, Ltd., which comes out 10 times a year. In addition to feature articles and book reviews, it contains an active letters section, in which numerous topics are debated.

[edit] Organizational structure

Mensa International consists of 50 National Groups. Individuals who live in countries with a National Group join that National Group, while others join Mensa International directly. The two largest National Groups are American Mensa, with about 50,000 members, and British Mensa, with about 25,000 members. The larger National Groups are further subdivided into local groups. For example, American Mensa has over 135 local groups, with the largest having over 2,000 members and the smallest fewer than 100. Additionally, members may form Special Interest Groups (SIGs) at international, national, and local levels; these SIGs represent a wide variety of interests, both commonplace and obscure, ranging from motorcycle clubs to entrepreneurial cooperations, reflecting the wide range of members, who come from a diverse range of occupations and social classes. Some SIGs are associated with various geographic groups, whereas others act independently of official hierarchy. There are now quite a number of electronic SIGs (eSIGs), which operate primarily as e-mail lists, where members may or may not meet each other in person.

[edit] Gatherings

Mensa has many events for members, from the local to the international level. In several countries, including the US and Britain, there is a large event called the Annual Gathering (AG). It is held in a different city every year, with speakers, dances, games (Carnelli is a popular Mensa game played at such gatherings) and other activities. There are also smaller gatherings called Regional Gatherings (RGs) held in various locations. In 2006, The Mensa World Gathering was held from August 8 to August 13 in Orlando, Florida to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Mensa. An estimated 2500 attendees from over 30 countries gathered for this celebration. The International Board of Directors also had a formal meeting there.

The 2006 British AG was held in Nottingham between September 28th and October 2nd. This incorporated a birthday party to celebrate Mensa's 60th birthday on 1 October 2006 (1 October 1946 being the date that Berrill and Ware filed papers with Companies House for the society).

[edit] Members of Mensa

Mensans come from all walks of life and almost every job and profession, representing almost every age group.<ref name="mensa"/> There are many famous and prominent members. Members pay annual membership dues that vary by country; some national groups offer a "Life Membership" for paying 20 years worth of dues (at the current rate) in a single payment.

In 1990, American Mensa established the American Mensa Hall of Fame<ref>American Mensa Hall of Fame.</ref> to honor "individuals who have demonstrated their genius through remarkable vision and accomplishments." (None were ever actually members.)

[edit] Miscellaneous facts

Mensa (IPA: /ˈmɛnsə/) means table in Latin as is symbolized in the organization's logo.

Mensa is used colloquially in Spanish to mean "stupid", and the word menso (feminine: mensa) means "jerk" in certain parts of Latin America.
Mensa is the Italian word for cafeteria, as well as the German word for a canteen at a university or a school (both come from the original Latin meaning of table.)
Mens is Dutch and Afrikaans for human.
Mens is also the Swedish and Norwegian expression for menstruation.
In Galician and Catalan, mensa is similar to (and often confused with) pensa (imperative for think).

Mensa's name was once planned to be The High IQ Club with a monthly journal called Mens, Latin for "mind". However, it was warned that this may be confused with the journal Men Only, so after further thought the club was named Mensa and the journal the Mensa Magazine.^{[citation needed]}
On February 14 2005 Mensa confirmed UK toddler Mikhail Ali from Bramley, Leeds joined Mensa. His IQ of 137 puts him as 1 of 30 children under 10 to join Mensa, as reported by a Mensa spokesman[1]. Mikhail was three years and six weeks old when he joined Mensa. The organisation's youngest ever member, Ben Woods, was two years and 10 months when he joined in the mid-1990s.
Mensa's only requirement for membership is a measured intelligence level in the upper two percent of the population. Statistically, about six million people in the United States alone qualify for membership, of whom 50,000 (less than 1%) have joined. Worldwide, about 120 million people qualify for membership, of whom only 100,000 (0.08%) have joined.
At Mensa's 50th Anniversary, Dr. Ware, one of the founders, accosted Mensans by stating that he hoped "Mensa will have a role in society when it gets through the ages of infancy and adolescence." He also said, "I do get disappointed that so many members spend so much time solving puzzles," expressing his desire for Mensans instead to be solving some of the world's problems.
Densa is a humorous antithesis of Mensa. (A fictitious association whose membership is restricted to the stupidest 98% of the population.)

[edit] Pop culture and media references

According to The Simpsons episode "They Saved Lisa's Brain", the Springfield chapter of Mensa includes Lisa Simpson, Professor Frink, Dr. Hibbert, Comic Book Guy, Seymour Skinner, and Lindsey Naegle.
In Stargate Atlantis, Dr. Rodney McKay is a member of the Mensa chapter at Atlantis. John Sheppard once took the Mensa test and, although it is implied that he passed, his results have never been revealed. (In the episode "McKay and Mrs. Miller", there is a reference to Sheppard being a member in an alternate reality.)
In the British television comedy Green Wing, Dr. Alan Statham is a member of Mensa, with an IQ of 139.
In the 2005 computer animated film Hoodwinked, Boingo the bunny is compared to an evil genius. He replies, "I don't know about genius, but I was asked to join Mensa."
In the 2000 comedy Me, Myself and Irene, the character Charlie Baileygates (played by Jim Carrey) is abandoned by his Mensan wife after she has three illegitimate children with an African American dwarf who happens to be president of the Rhode Island Chapter of Mensa.
In the 2006 comedy You, Me and Dupree, the character Randolph Dupree (played by Owen Wilson) is a bon vivant who, although unemployed and without any ambitions, can be seen reading an issue of Mensa Bulletin in his room, implying that he is a member.