In 1945, a chance meeting on a train between the young scientist Dr Lancelot Lionel Ware and the Australian Law graduate Roland Berrill led to the formation of the first association in contemporary history for people from above IQ (QI), the Mensa. The exact date of foundation is October 1, 1946, in Oxford. Originally, the intention was to include only the top 1% of the world's population, but an error in the calculation (sic!) of the standard deviations on the tests subsequently brought this inclusion value to 2%. But what exactly is IQ? And how can we be sure that it is uniquely determined? First of all, it must be clarified that IQ does not represent a measure of intelligence on an absolute scale, but offers a result that must be read not only on the relative scale of one's age group, but also on that relating to " type of intelligence” which, in the case of IQ, is that oflogical-deductive intelligence.
The very first intelligence test was formulated in 1905 by the French psychologist Alfred Binet, then corrected in 1911, thanks to the help of his collaborator Théodore Simon. This was a test for 7 year olds. In 1912, at the University of Breslau, the German psychologist William Louis Stern coined the term IQ from the German "Intelligenz-quotient" and provided a first expression to represent its values numerically, in the form of a quotient. In 1916, Lewis Madison Terman, of Stanford University, introduced tests called “Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale“, once again in the form of a quotient. The flaw of these scales was the poor adaptation to the adult population.
It was in 1939 that, thanks to the psychologist David Wechsler, various intelligence tests were developed based on age and type of intelligence. There Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (or WAIS) is the first intelligence test to base scores on a standardized normal distribution. Mensa uses this test to establish the suitability of its members. The test to be passed is based on the so-called "Raven matrices” or progressive matrices. The candidate is presented with cards with a series of figures. Each card is always missing a figure and several are proposed as possible completions. This operation involves the identification of a pattern to follow, i.e. a unique logical scheme, for which it is also possible to discard all the proposed figures except one. The difficulty is progressive and corresponds to an increasingly complex pattern and therefore to a greater capacity for analysis, coding, interpretation and understanding. There are three different types of matrices, for different types of candidates: colored progressive matrices (for children from 5 to 11 years and special groups), standard progressive matrices (for adolescents and adults from 12 to 80 years), advanced progressive matrices (for adolescents and adults with higher abilities).
The thinking ability that comes out of the tests that make use of these matrices is a type of ability that is totally detached from culture and is therefore an ability that cannot be trained, by definition. These tests are used not only by Mensa, but also by those who work in corporate human resources, in schools (to check intellectual development) and in the clinical field to evaluate any deficits or talents. There are several tests, available online, which make use of figures similar to Raven's matrices, but this is not sufficient to establish their reliability and adherence to the Wechscler protocol. They cannot therefore even be used for a comparison between scores obtained with the official method.
When an IQ scale uses standard psychometric techniques to assign a numerical value to the test result, the measures can be compared and converted between them. There is one online tool which allows you to obtain the corresponding value in one scale, starting from the one recorded using another. On the basis of statistical data it is also possible to convert the scores of the so-called "culture fair" (CFIT) intelligence tests, i.e. independent of cultural factors such as the aforementioned Wechsler or the Cattell test, with those which also include some aspects related to knowledge such as the GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) or the SAT, which are part of the admissions process for many colleges and graduate schools in the USA, Canada and other countries. Thanks to this tool it is also possible to discover how one positions oneself within the Gauss bell which indicates the distribution of IQ in the world population or to have a value of "rarity", "exceeding the percentile" or, for the more technical , of standard deviation “sigma” (σ).
Mensa, with the bar set at an IQ of 130 on the Wechsler test, is not the only association for high-IQ members, nor is it the most demanding. There Prometheus Society, for example, has a cutoff for affiliation at the 99,997 percentile (4 standard deviations) which corresponds to an elite of less than 1% of the population. As well as the Four Sigma Society, while the “International Society for Philosophical Inquiry"And the"Triple Nine Society“, are already more lenient, but we are always talking about IQ values above 150. It should be noted that the more elitist the associations are, with very high IQ values for access, the more the administration of the test has no time limits. This approach should in fact protect against cultural influences, conditions of psychological stress and emotional differences. Kevin Langdon and Ronald Hoeflin, respectively founders of the Four Sigma Society and the Prometheus Society, for example, developed tests without time limits and even without supervision.
Intelligence tests that aren't real intelligence tests
One of the most popular misconceptions among non-experts is that an intelligence test is practically a math test with at most a few general knowledge questions. There are those who are convinced that a person who is very good at scientific subjects is necessarily an intelligent person. Nothing could be more wrong. Sometimes it's just a question of memory. Because they are mistaken for intelligence tests where the discriminating factor is remembering something: a mathematical formula, a particular event in history, a convention. Social networks are full of examples of this type, sometimes passed off as IQ tests, even by teachers and popularizers. On TikTok, Instagram, Facebook they propose apparently easy arithmetic expressions which presuppose, in addition to the application of the correct mathematical calculation algorithm, the memory of the correct order of execution of the operations. Basically, preparation in a specific school subject is assessed. Another classic misunderstanding, available on these well-known platforms, is that of poorly asked question or ambiguous, sometimes too general, for which multiple correct answers are possible. In these riddles, it is much more useful to use irony or imagination rather than logic. Then there are the questions that do not provide all the data useful for solving the problem, not to mention the tests where there is a visual deception or an incorrectness, mathematical or logical, hidden in the data or in the initial deductions. In these cases we could talk about attention test. Now, these are not intelligence tests at all and should not be passed off as such.
Let's take the Mensa test
Anyone wishing to try their hand at the test to become a member of Mensa ("mensano") can take a preliminary test online to evaluate, with a certain amount of uncertainty, any success in the official selection for members of the association. The actual Mensa test cannot be taken at home, but must be supervised during an exam session which takes place in a Mensa centre, with a time limit. To participate in the exam you need to book by sending an email to a local manager of the association who will provide the date and time (generally within a month) of the meeting. If the test is not passed, it can be repeated only once, but not before six months. Mensa will not provide the IQ score achieved, but only the positive or negative outcome for entry into the association. The exam lasts 20 minutes and is composed of 45 questions similar to the preliminary test. These are questions based on Raven matrices, so - as already mentioned - you do not need to have mathematical or linguistic skills. The result is communicated by the national manager to the candidate only. Passing the test is equivalent to exceeding the Mensa threshold of the 98th percentile of the population, equal to an IQ of 131 on the Wechsler scale, 133 on the Stanford-Binet scale and 149 on the Cattell scale. You therefore become part of that 2% of the world population with an IQ higher than these values. If you want to know the exact value of your IQ it is necessary to contact - for a fee - a qualified psychometrist psychologist, chosen by one of the members of the register.
On the official website of the Italian section of Mensa we read that: "it is possible to be admitted to Mensa Italia also through the presentation of the results obtained from the administration of fluid intelligence or IQ tests, among those most in use. If the test was administered by clinical facilities of the national health system or by a school psychologist, the result is acceptable if an original or certified copy of the clinical or school psychologist's report is attached, on letterhead of the clinical or school district, or of the psychologist himself. Mensa Italia cannot evaluate tests carried out less than 6 months apart from other tests taken with Mensa Italia itself (official admission test or other test taken privately)".
Who are the members of Mensa
Mensa members have an average age of between 20 and 49 years. They are not people with a particularly rich educational curriculum (with the necessary exceptions) nor particularly wealthy. There are professors and truck drivers, scientists and firefighters, computer programmers and farmers, artists, soldiers, musicians, policemen. Well 88% are of European origin and, almost a quarter of the total, is not religious (there are scientific studies that correlate IQ with non-religiosity). 64.4% are men, half have no children, around 35% have at least a university degree. The category of those who have done is very well represented Scientific studies or of those who teach. Most of the mensani are made up of people without particular public visibility. The President of Mensa International is currently a simple Swedish systems engineer (Björn Liljeqvist), but there is no shortage of illustrious people among the members. An example? Isaac Asimov, long-time honorary vice-president of Mensa International, Clive Sinclair, the father of the Spectrum, one of the first home computers, the American general Norman Schwarzkopf, protagonist of Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War, Scott Adams, the author of comic strip “Dilbert”, Arthur C. Clarke, author of the novel on which the film “2001 A Space Odyssey” by Kubrick was based, Steve Martin and Geena Davis, American actors, Asia Carrera, star of hardcore cinema, Lucas di Grassi, pilot of Formula 1, Markus Persson, author of the video game Minecraft. Among the Italians there are Giulio Base, actor and director, Corrado Giustozzi, scientific journalist and computer security expert, Immanuel Casto (former President of Mensa Italia), singer and author of board games, Emanuele Salce, actor and director, Iacopo Melio, journalist, writer, politician and human rights activist.
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