Tag: IQ

High IQ Societies

Mensa is the high Intelligence Quotient (IQ) society that has the longest history and most members. An individual must be among the top 2% of a population as evidenced by a recognized intelligence assessment in order to be eligible for joining the society, which is governed by nearly 50 domestic divisions. Approximately 200 testing tools have been accredited by the division in the United States but the tests have to be conducted in regulated environments where no online systems are permitted. The 5th edition of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the 4th edition of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, which are discussed in other entries of this blog, are notably two of the tests that satisfy Mensa requirements. 

A high IQ is the sole eligibility criterion so diverse demographics in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, occupation and social status are treated in the same manner, hence the Latin name Mensa, which literally means a round table. The members can interact with each other on formal as well as informal occasions for the common good and for directing efforts towards promotion of intelligence on both personal and societal levels. One might be surprised by the fact that IQ can be completely independent of academic achievements; failures at schools should therefore never stop anybody from taking an IQ test. Every member can have a voice in virtually all topics but there is no need for a consensus – it is in fact barely possible to reach one given the often strong opinions. 

It might be difficult to convince ordinary people that Mensa’s popularity is in part due to the relatively lenient cutoff IQ for eligibility. The Mega Society, in stark contrast to Mensa, genuinely targets the cream of the crop – the top millionth of a population with regard to intelligence – whilst only 26 individuals have been granted membership to date. The Titan Test is currently the only assessment tool accepted by the Mega Society as former test materials have been leaked for illicit purposes. In spite of the exceptionally difficult access to the society, journal articles have been irregularly issued so that the general public can have a better idea about the elites’ perspectives. 

A handful of entities lie between Mensa and the Mega Society in terms of size and cutoff IQ. In theory, one in every 30,000 people is entitled to the membership of the Prometheus Society, which is named after the Greek mythical hero known for his intelligence. The journal is exclusive to the members and subscribers so it is arguably less transparent than the Mega Society’s. The Triple Nine Society is named as such since it recruits individuals who fall within the top 99.9th percentile. It encourages exchanges of information among the members by means of online platforms. 

The development of Intelligence Quotient

As education became compulsory in France in the early 20th century, the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was invented by Alfred Binet, a native psychologist, in an attempt to stratify students and to offer extra assistance to the disadvantaged. Some believed that they might benefit from interventions early in their lives so they could be spared settlement in asylums. The IQ test was composed of questions which assessed a variety of skill sets, for instance, attention, memory, and problem-solving. These were not conventionally taught at schools but were perceived to be the most accurate methods of anticipating the pupils’ achievements. According to Binet’s model, intelligence would change with age rather than remain static since birth. In addition to chronological age, he therefore introduced the principle of mental age, by which individual abilities were compared with the average scores of specific age groups. Nonetheless, he was still critical of his own testing system, which failed to take plenty of confounding variables into consideration or to address the multifactorial nature of intelligence, hence compromised generalizability.

Numerous examination tools have been developed since Binet’s endeavor. In 1916, Lewis Terman, a psychologist at Stanford University, modified Binet’s IQ test by studying a number of Americans and issued a version that corrected the original flaws and was widely recognized across the nation. The resultant Stanford-Binet IQ test has been able to spot the intellectually advanced instead of solely focusing on the lower end of the spectrum, and has further gained popularity with subsequent revisions and validations. The United States Armed Forces made use of the Army Alpha and Beta tests, which were created by another psychologist Robert Yerkes, for better appointments with regard to the capacities of the newly joined during World War I. The former was a written test, whereas the latter was devised to overcome the effects of illiteracy and language barriers. The high scorers were trained as officers while their low counterparts were discharged from the military. It was a milestone as the application of IQ measurement went beyond academic reasons. 

In the middle of the last century, David Wechsler presented the novel and prominent Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) to the world by making improvements to Binet’s prototype. Besides WAIS, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) were specially designed for young persons. The Wechsler scales have become the most frequently used assessment tools to date and the bases on which several other testing systems have been developed.