Mensa International | Giftedness Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit 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 of which was a high IQ. The original aims were, as they are today, to create a non-political society free from all racial or religious distinctions. 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 98th percentile on standardized 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 98th 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. Mensa International has over 100,000 members, with over 50,000 in the United States alone. In addition to encouraging social interaction among its members, the organization 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. Mensa's goals Edit 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. Mensa has published a number of books, including Poetry Mensa (in 1966), an anthology of poems by Mensans all over the world, and not all of them in English. Mensa also 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. Organizational structure Edit 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 both the national and local levels; these SIGs represent a wide variety of interests, both commonplace and obscure. Trivia Mensa International : Wikis (The Full Wiki) The Full Wiki More info on Mensa International Wikis Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mensa International Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world.

[1] [2] [3] It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised IQ or other "approved" intelligence test. [4] [5] Mensa is formally composed of national groups and the umbrella organization Mensa International. Mensa (pronounced /ˈmɛnsə/; [ˈmensa] in Latin) means " table " in Latin as is symbolized in the organization's logo. Contents 10 External links Founding Roland Berrill, an Australian barrister , and Dr. Lancelot Ware , a British scientist and lawyer, founded Mensa in Oxford, United Kingdom in 1946. They had the idea of forming a society for bright people, the only qualification for membership being a high IQ. [4] It was to be free from all social distinctions (racial, religious, etc.), represented by the name of the organization, which comprises two Latin words: mens , which means " mind ;" and mensa , which means " table ", indicating that it is a round-table society of minds.

Mensa also was to be a non-political organization, reflected in its constitution: "Mensa encompasses members representing many points of view. Consequently, Mensa as an organization shall not express an opinion as being that of Mensa, take any political action other than the publication of the results of its investigations, or have any ideological, philosophical, political, or religious affiliations." Membership requirement Mensa's only requirement for membership is that one score at or above the 98th percentile on certain standardized IQ or other approved intelligence tests, such as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales . 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. [6] Mensa also has its own application exam, and applicants may opt instead to take an alternate battery of culture-fair, non-language tests. These exams are proctored by Mensa and do not provide a quantified score; they serve only to qualify a person for membership.

A person may take a Mensa offered test only once, although one may later submit an application with results from a different qualifying test. [7] Mission Mensa's constitution lists three purposes: to identify and to foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research into the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence; and to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members. [8] To this end, the organization is also involved with programs for gifted children , literacy , and scholarships , and it also holds numerous "gatherings" (see below ). Organizational structure Mensa International consists of more than 110,000 members in 50 national groups. Individuals who live in a country with a national group join the national group, while those living in countries without a recognised chapter may join Mensa International directly. The two largest national groups are American Mensa, with more than 56,000 members, and British Mensa, with about 23,500 members. [5] Larger national groups are further subdivided into local groups.

For example, American Mensa has 134 local groups, with the largest having over 2,000 members and the smallest having 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 diversity of members in occupation and social class. 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. The Mensa Foundation, a separate charitable U.S. corporation, 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 national groups also issue periodicals, such as Mensa Bulletin, the monthly publication of American Mensa, [9] and Mensa Magazine, the monthly publication of British Mensa. [10] Gatherings Mensa has many events for members, from the local to the international level.

Several countries hold a large event called the Annual Gathering (AG). It is held in a different city every year, with speakers, dances, games ( Carnelli , poker , Werewolves of Miller's Hollow, Scrabble , chess , double-deck cancellation hearts and many other games are popular at American Mensa gatherings) and other activities. The American and Canadian AGs are usually held during the 4th of July or Canada Day weekends respectively. There are also smaller gatherings called Regional Gatherings (RGs) held in various cities that attract members from large areas; the largest is held annually in Chicago around Halloween , and features a costume ball and a joke-telling competition. Many members will arrange their vacations to attend an RG in another part of the country (such as the one in Chicago) as an annual tradition. Some members will regularly attend as many as half a dozen RGs every year. In 2006, The Mensa World Gathering [11] was held from 8 August to 13 August in Orlando , Florida to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Mensa. An estimated 2,500 attenders from over 30 countries gathered for this celebration.

The International Board of Directors also had a formal meeting there. Since 1990 Mensa also sponsors the annual Mensa Mind Games competition, whereat the Mensa Select award is given by American Mensa to five board games that are "original, challenging and well designed." [12] [13] Publications Mensa's flagship publication is the Mensa Bulletin, published 10 times per year, which includes articles and columns written by members. The Mensa Bulletin also contains International Journal, "a separate publication featuring news from other national Mensas and Mensa International." [14] Mensa also 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. Demographics Mensans come from all walks of life, vary in job and profession, and are represented among all age groups. There are many famous and prominent members (see list of Mensans ). [15] Members pay annual membership dues that vary by country; some national groups offer a "Life Membership", but it is not transferable between groups.

All national and local groups welcome children; many offer activities, resources and newsletters specifically geared toward gifted children and their parents. Both American [16] and British Mensa's youngest members are age two, such as Elise Tan Roberts [17] [18] and Oscar Wrigley . [19] The Mensa Research Journal, which is published quarterly, includes a TAG (Talented and Gifted) Progeny section especially for younger members. At the other extreme, American Mensa's oldest member is 106, [20] and British Mensa had a member aged 103. [21] According to American Mensa, 41 percent of its members are baby boomers between the ages of 47 and 64, and there are more than 1,700 families with two or more Mensa members. [20] See also Lance Ware | ZoomInfo.com Web References (63 Total References) Mensa - Edmonton - Origins of Mensa Canada When Lance Ware formed Mensa just after the war it was strictly a British Isles affair.

Mensa - Edmonton - Origins of Mensa Canada When Lance Ware formed Mensa just after the war it was strictly a British Isles affair. Mensa - Edmonton - Origins of Mensa Canada When Lance Ware formed Mensa just after the war it was strictly a British Isles affair. Mensa - Edmonton - Origins of Mensa Canada What Is Mensa And What Is A Mensa IQ? What Is Mensa And What Is A Mensa IQ? What Is Mensa And What Is A Mensa IQ? In this article we will review the following: The Mensa IQ score you need to become a Mensa member. An explanation of how a Mensa IQ score compares to an average IQ. The official IQ tests – including Mensa tests – that qualify you for Mensa membership. Where to find practice IQ tests for Mensa. How to prepare for taking a Mensa qualifying IQ test to maximize your chances of success. What is Mensa. An IQ in the top 2% Getting into Mensa is NOT EASY. You have to score at or above the 98th percentile – the top 2% – on a standardized, professionally administered IQ test. This is typically a score of 130 or more.

What does an IQ score of 130 mean? The IQ score bell curve With standardized IQ tests, IQ tests are designed so that their scores have a ‘bell curve’ distribution in the general population with an average of 100. This curve has a peak in the middle where most people score and tapering ends where only a small percentage of people score. In statistics this distribution of scores is called a bell curve or normal distribution – as shown below. IQ bell curve Standardized IQ tests are designed so that the exact average (mean) IQ score in the general population is 100. An ‘average IQ score’ or ‘normal IQ score’ can be defined as a score between 85 and 115. 68% of people score between 85 and 115. The Mensa qualifying IQ score is a score that puts you in the top 2% of the population in a bell curve like this one. The Mensa qualifying score is 130 or higher, as shown below. This table indicates how IQ levels can be classified. Note that this IQ scale is meaningless unless you obtain a score from a valid, standardized IQ test. Most of these tests are professionally administered – for a fee!

How to test your IQ? Mensa accredited IQ Tests Standardized IQ tests accepted for Mensa membership are administered by school districts (e.g. the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)), private psychologists (see below), the military (e.g. Army GCT) and human resource departments (e.g. the Wonderlic). There are two broad types of intelligence test: ‘Full-scale’ IQ tests, made up of subtests for fluid intelligence (Gf) as well as vocabulary and general knowledge, visuo-spatial ability, short term memory, and processing speed. Sometimes quantitative/mathematical reasoning is also tested in ‘full scale’ tests. A popular example is the WAIS-IV IQ test. Culture-fair tests of fluid intelligence. Fluid intelligence is our ability to reason and problem solve, independently of familiarity, training and practice. These test a component of your intelligence called ‘fluid intelligence’. A popular example is the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices test. Mensa accepts scores from approximately 200 different standardized intelligence tests Click for qualifying test information here . Some are fluid intelligence tests. Some are full-scale tests. The more well-known IQ tests can cost in the region of $300-$500 for a professionally administered assessment.

The Mensa Admission Test One strategy for measuring your true IQ level and assessing your chance of joining Mensa is to take a Mensa supervised test – $40.00 in the US / £17.50 in the UK. This fee includes: A reserved place at the centre of your choice. The opportunity to take two IQ test papers. The Cattell III B and the Cattell Culture Fair III A. The marking of your IQ test papers and your results returned to you in confidence. American Mensa offers two test batteries by Mensa proctors, that may qualify you for membership. The first includes both the Mensa Admission Test and the Mensa Wonderlic; this is the battery of tests given most frequently. This is a full-scale IQ test. The second battery is a “culture fair” battery that includes the Cattell Culture Fair, the Nonverbal Reasoning Test and the SRA Pictorial Reasoning Test. This is primarily a fluid intelligence test. Mensa Supervised test sessions are held at centres throughout your home country. Click here for International Mensa details . For those in the US click here . For those in the UK click here .

Mensa online practice IQ tests The Mensa Workout To get you limbered up, try the Mensa Workout . This quiz is not an official IQ test to qualify you for Mensa but gives you a good idea of the range of question types involved in official IQ testing. The questions on the “Mensa Workout” are biased towards people whose primary language is English. You have half an hour to answer 30 questions. The Mensa Home Test Alternatively you can take the online Mensa home test for $18. As explained by American Mensa: The Mensa Home Test is a fun way to discover if you are Mensa material. While this timed test will not qualify you for membership, it does offer an equivalent score that correlates to your IQ range and provides a strong indication of your likelihood for success should you choose to take our admission test. For only $18, you can take the Mensa Home Test online now, and it will be scored immediately. Other online practice tests The GIQ Test The GIQ test will give you a good standardized estimate of your ‘full scale’ IQ – combining fluid intelligence (non-verbal) and verbal problems. The fee is $10.

According to the test-makers: The GIQ Test is an online analog for the most common clinically proctored IQ tests. In our internal study, the GIQTest correlated within about 4% of an individual’s full scale score on a clinically proctored IQ test. The GIQTest’s sections are modeled after clinical IQ test sections. The GIQ has the following features Time required: 25-45 minutes estimated. No time limit. Components of intelligence measured: full scale intelligence, ‘verbal’, ’spatial’ and ‘quantitative’ intelligence. Your performance sub-score on this test can substitute as a measure of your fluid intelligence. Culture fair IQ test? No. Vocabulary, similarities and arithmetic subtests are culture-dependent. Fee: $10 Getting into Mensa – training strategy Your IQ level is not fixed genetically. Not only can you benefit from practice on IQ tests, but you can also increase your IQ. For a review of how to increase your IQ click here . Getting into Mensa benefits greatly from the following plan: Schedule a month in advance a Mensa accredited full scale IQ test with a psychologist or educationalist or a standard Mensa Admission Test with your local Mensa organisation.

Ensure that you establish that the test is ‘full scale’ – including verbal and quantitative problems. Take the Mensa workout (see above). Take the Mensa home test (see above). Take the GIQ test (see above). All these practice tests will give you a good estimate of your current full scale IQ level – the type that is tested on the standard Mensa Admission test. Leading up to your qualifying IQ test, commit to training your working memory capacity. Working memory capacity is your mental ‘workspace’. The larger the capacity, the more complex reasoning and problem solving you can do. There is a body of scientific evidence showing that working memory training can have substantial benefits for IQ and cognitive performance long term . The scientifically developed i3 Mindware brain training app has been designed to expand working memory capacity and increase IQ level by 10-20 points. There is a money-back guarantee if you do not attain this IQ gain based on standardized IQ tests before and after training. Leading up to your qualifying IQ test, commit to practicing full scale IQ test problems. i3 Mindware has been designed to systematically give users practice on full scale IQ test problems. It is known that this practice can substantially improve scores on full scale tests.

There are other types of training you can adopt over this period to further increase your cognitive performance. These include regular exercise, a brain-optimizing diet and intermittent fasting – i.e. brain cross training. Take the official test. Attain your goal and become a member of Mensa! What is Mensa? Founded in 1946 by Roland Berrill, an Australian barrister, and Dr. Lancelot Ware, a British scientist and lawyer (the same year that ENIAC, US 1st computer is finished by Mauchly/Eckert), Mensa is a high IQ society – the only qualification for membership being an IQ is in the top 2% of the population. Mensa members are also known as ‘Mensans’. The word ‘Mensa’ comprises two Latin words: mens, which means “mind” and mensa, which means “table”, indicating that it is a round-table (open discussion) society of minds. There are now around 100,000 Mensans in 100 countries throughout the world. There are active Mensa organizations in over 40 countries on every continent except Antarctica. The website for Mensa International can be found here .

Websites for national groups can be found here . There are now around 100,000 Mensans in 100 countries throughout the world. There are active Mensa organizations in over 40 countries on every continent except Antarctica. The website for Mensa International can be found here . Websites for national groups can be found here . Subscribe for free eBooks on Mensa, IQ tests and IQ augmentation Click for details On purchasing i3 Mindware, you will have access to two valid online IQ tests for pre-training and post-training measures of your IQ. i3 Mindware brain-training increases baseline IQ level 10-20 points, and provides an effective 20 day training program with practice IQ test questions leading up to a Mensa Admissions test. i3 Mindware users who have successfully joined Mensa I’ve always wanted to join Mensa. I came across your article on Mensa membership and this inspired me to train with i3 Mindware – in preparation for the Mensa qualifying exam. I stuck to the program, and it certainly helped me attain my life-long goal. Thank you for this software. Jana Oster, July 2014. I´m writing you for a feed-back.

Finally, as I told you last week, this morning I´ve past the WAIS-test, after 16 n-back sessions. I´m really… amazed! My WAIS-IQ is 146 (percentile 99,9). I feel your program gave me an increased short-term memory. Thank you very much for helping me in my goal: join Mensa. Good luck and congratulations for your programs! Mila, July 2014 I trained with i3 for 16 days combined with your nutrition and exercise suggestions. I took the Mensa Admissions test after a couple of practice tests (including the Mensa supervised test) and it worked out for me. I scored in the 98th percentile and I’m now a Mensan. Andrew B, July 2014. HIGH IQ SOCIETY HIGH IQ SOCIETY A high IQ society is an organization that limits its membership to people who are within a certain high percentile of intelligence quotient (IQ) test results. The oldest, largest and best-known such society is Mensa International, which was founded by Roland Berrill and Dr. Lancelot Ware in 1946.

Other early societies are Intertel, founded by Ralph Haines in 1966; the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry, founded by Dr. Christopher Harding in 1974; the Triple Nine Society in 1978; Prometheus Society, Mega Society, Top One Percent Society, One-in-a-Thousand Society, Epimetheus Society, and Omega Society, founded by Dr. Ronald K. Hoeflin. High IQ societies typically accept a variety of standardized intelligence tests. The ceiling of most standardized (validated and normed) intelligence tests is at around the 99.9th percentile. Measurements above this level need—for a credible result—a calculation, extrapolation and interpretation (including observations during the tests and sub-tests) by psychometricians experienced in high IQ testing, and at least two differently designed standardized tests (among these at least one supervised) should be performed. Measurements above 99.9th percentile are dubious as there are insufficient normative cases upon which to base a statistically justified rank-ordering. In 2010, the U.S.

population's normal expectation for the number of persons with an IQ of 180 or over (SD = 16) is about 90 persons. Some societies The entrance criteria for IQ societies varies considerably across both the kinds of tests accepted (i.e., whether the tests are either numerically, spatially, verbally, etc. slanted and are proctored or not) and how high one must score in order to acquire membership.

Some notable examples, which include widely known ones, like Mensa, that will accept the results of standardized tests taken elsewhere, are listed by percentile (assuming IQ is normally distributed with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 IQ points): Top 2% (98th percentile; 1/50; IQ 130 sd15 / 132 sd16): Mensa International Top 1% (99th percentile; 1/100; IQ 135 sd15 / 137 sd16): Intertel Top 0.1% (99.9th percentile; 1/1,000; IQ 146 sd15 / 149 sd16): International Society for Philosophical Enquiry One-in-a-Thousand Society Top 0.003% (99.997th percentile; 1/30,000; IQ 160 sd15 / 164 sd16): Prometheus Society Top 0.0001% (99.9999th percentile; 1/1,000,

000; IQ 171 sd15 / 176 sd16): Mega Society Mensa International Mensa is the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world.

It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Mensa is formally composed of national groups and the umbrella organisation Mensa International, with a registered office in Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, England. Mensa ( /ˈmɛnsə/; Latin: [ˈmensa]) means "table" in Latin, as is symbolized in the organization's logo, and was chosen to demonstrate the round-table nature of the organization; the coming together of equals. Founding Roland Berrill, an Australian barrister, and Dr Lancelot Ware, a British scientist and lawyer, founded Mensa at Lincoln College, in Oxford, England, in 1946. They had the idea of forming a society for very intelligent people, the only qualification for membership being a high IQ. It was to be non-political and free from all social distinctions (racial, religious, etc). American Mensa was the second major branch of Mensa. Its success has been linked to the efforts of its early and longstanding organizer, Margot Seitelman.

Membership requirement Mensa's requirement for membership is a score at or above the 98th percentile on certain standardised IQ or other approved intelligence tests, such as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales. The minimum accepted score on the Stanford-Binet is 132, while for the Cattell it is 148. Most IQ tests are designed to yield a mean score of 100 with a standard deviation of 15; the 98th-percentile score under these conditions is 130.82. Mensa also has its own application exam, and some national groups offer alternative batteries of tests. These exams are proctored by Mensa and do not provide a quantified score; they serve only to qualify a person for membership. In some national groups, a person may take a Mensa offered test only once, although one may later submit an application with results from a different qualifying test. For some national Mensa groups, such as American Mensa, having a high enough score on some graduate school admissions exams is enough to qualify for Mensa membership.

Mission Mensa's constitution lists three purposes: "to identify and to foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research into the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence; and to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members". To this end, the organisation is also involved with programs for gifted children, literacy and scholarships, and it also holds numerous "gatherings". Organisational structure Mensa International consists of more than 110,000 members in 50 national groups. Individuals who live in a country with a national group join the national group, while those living in countries without a recognised chapter may join Mensa International directly. The two largest national groups are American Mensa, with more than 56,000 members, and British Mensa, with about 23,500 members. Larger national groups are further subdivided into local groups. For example, American Mensa has 134 local groups, with the largest having over 2,000 members and the smallest having fewer than 100.

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. Some SIGs are associated with various geographic groups, whereas others act independently of official hierarchy. There are also electronic SIGs (eSIGs), which operate primarily as e-mail lists, where members may or may not meet each other in person. The Mensa Foundation, a separate charitable U.S. corporation, 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 national groups also issue periodicals, such as Mensa Bulletin, the monthly publication of American Mensa, and Mensa Magazine, the monthly publication of British Mensa. Gatherings Mensa has many events for members, from the local to the international level. Several countries hold a large event called the Annual Gathering (AG). It is held in a different city every year, with speakers, dances, leadership workshops, children's events, games, and other activities.

The American and Canadian AGs are usually held during the American Independence Day (4 July) or Canada Day (1 July) weekends respectively. There are also smaller gatherings called Regional Gatherings (RGs) held in various cities that attract members from large areas; the largest in the United States is held in the Chicago area around Halloween, and features a costume party for which many members create pun-based costumes. In 2006, the Mensa World Gathering was held from 8–13 August in Orlando, Florida to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Mensa. An estimated 2,500 attendees from over 30 countries gathered for this celebration. The International Board of Directors also had a formal meeting there. In 2010, a joint American-Canadian Annual Gathering was held in Dearborn, Michigan, to mark the 50th anniversary of Mensa in North America. Since 1990 Mensa has also sponsored the annual Mensa Mind Games competition, whereat the Mensa Select award is given by American Mensa to five board games that are "original, challenging, and well designed." Individual local groups and their members also host smaller events for members and their guests.

Lunch or dinner events, lectures, tours, theatre outings, and games nights are all common. Publications Some Mensa groups publish members-only newsletters or magazines, which include articles and columns written by members, and information about upcoming Mensa events. Examples include the American Mensa Bulletin, the British Mensa magazine, and the Australian TableAus. Mensa International publishes an International Journal, which "contains views and information about Mensa around the world". This journal is generally included in each national magazine. Mensa also publishes the Mensa Research Journal, which "highlights scholarly articles and recent research related to intelligence". Unlike most Mensa publications, this journal is available to non-members. Demographics All national and local groups welcome children; many offer activities, resources and newsletters specifically geared toward gifted children and their parents. Both American and British Mensa's youngest members joined at the age of two. American Mensa's oldest member is 102, and British Mensa had a member aged 103.

According to American Mensa website, 38 percent of its members are baby boomers between the ages of 51 and 68, 31 percent are Gen-Xers between the ages of 27 and 48, and more than 2,600 members are under the age of 18. There are more than 1,800 families in the United States with two or more Mensa members. International Society for Philosophical Enquiry The International Society for Philosophical Enquiry (ISPE) is a global scientific and philosophical high IQ society founded in 1974. ISPE is dedicated to advanced enquiry, original research and original contributions. Background ISPE was founded by Chev. Dr. Christopher Harding, a psychometrics expert who resides in Queensland Australia. The 1966 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records listed Dr. Harding as "The Smartest Man in the World." The Society is organised by voluntary elected and appointed Officers in accordance with its Charter. The motto of ISPE is "Quaere Verum," which means "To Seek Truth." ISPE as an organisation does not hold any official political opinion or affiliation.

Its goals focus on the harnessing of intellect for the betterment of society and on providing a forum for discourse and exchange intended to foster the intellectual development of its members. The quarterly journal of the Society is Telicom (ISSN 1087-6456). This title is derived from "telic" (towards a principle or goal) and "communication". The journal publishes original artwork, poetry and articles "of interest to a broad segment of the membership." In particular, controversial matters eliciting a lively discussion are welcome. Membership Admission is generally limited to people in the top 0.1% (99.9th percentile) of cognitive ability as measured by accepted tests of IQ or aptitude in the general population. The ISPE is known informally as "the Thousand," the name first (and briefly) given to the society in 1974, because its admission level is one person in a thousand (3.09 standard deviations above the mean of a normal distribution).

This works out to be a score of 149 for IQ tests with a standard deviation of 16, such as the Stanford-Binet, or 146 for tests with a standard deviation of 15, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. The Society is governed democratically by vote of full Members and above. Scope of activities In 1981, the Guinness Book of World Records (ISBN 0-8069-0198-5) stated that the ISPE had "239 members, of whom all have mean IQ of 160, none below 148, and some above 196." (page 35). Another reference appears in the 1993 edition. In April 2006, membership had grown to 583 members in 29 countries, although the majority (81.65%) resided in the USA in 45 states and the District of Columbia.

The 29 countries are Australia, Belgium, Canada, China (Hong Kong SAR), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and USA. Levels of membership ISPE features a system of advancement designed to encourage members to use their abilities for the benefit of humankind. There are six ordinary levels of membership: Associate Member (66.7%) ISPE goals The Charter of the ISPE lists nine ISPE Goals: To encourage written communications between members with similar interests and intellectual levels of ability, for the purpose of exchanging thoughts, ideas, and discoveries. To nourish the inherent curiosity of our members by thoughtful enquiry and response, while broadening their horizons of knowledge and wisdom. To encourage members toward personal accomplishments in the provision of service to the Society and contributions to humanity in general. To provide a channel for individual initiative and to offer members the opportunity to advance in the Society and to become officers and serve in executive or leadership posts in which they can benefit the Society while enriching their own experiences.

To offer members in positions of responsibility outside the Society the opportunity to help other members further their potential. To continue to expand the membership roll of our Society by encouraging members to seek out and propose qualified individuals for testing of their range of potential abilities for the purpose of joining the Society, thus enlarging its pool of able people and broadening the horizons of all of them. To accumulate a natural resource of talent and ability, and to help our members achieve the success and recognition they are equipped to earn. To provide a correspondence-type consulting service for members who may seek it in their education, present vocation, and life's work. To make available the guidance and advice of more seasoned and experienced members to other members who may benefit from their knowledge. To link all members together and cement their relationships through the monthly journal, Telicom, which will keep them informed of Society activities and from which they can benefit through sharing experiences with other members. Contributions of material and biographical or autobiographical sketches of members who have earned advancement within the Society, or who have made some outstanding contribution either within or outside the Society, shall be sought and published, for the edification of and stimulation of ideas among other members. To extend our potentials through health and longevity.

Triple Nine Society The Triple Nine Society (TNS), founded in 1978, is a voluntary association of individuals who have scored at or above the 99.9th percentile on specific IQ tests (or similar) under supervised conditions, which generally correlates to an IQ of 149 or greater (assuming a standard deviation of 16). This compares with Mensa International, the better-known and larger membership high IQ society which admits applicants who score at or above the 98th percentile, which currently correlates with an IQ score of 132 or greater on an IQ test such as the Stanford-Binet which has a standard deviation of 16. As of August 2012, TNS reports approximately 1010 members residing in approximately 30 countries, with most members residing in the United States. TNS publishes a journal entitled Vidya which contains articles contributed by members conversant with a variety of subjects. Members communicate with one another through email lists, a scheduled weekly IRC chat, and meet at arranged gatherings; European members have established a group in XING. The Triple Nine Society was founded on democratic principles. TNS states that the group encourages the free expression of member views.

The preamble to the Triple Nine Society constitution follows below: The Triple Nine Society is committed to friendship, communication, the adventure of intellectual exploration, and a greater realization of individual potentials. It neither sanctions the imposition of one person's philosophy on another nor subscribes to any particular philosophy for its members. It will strive to avoid the insularity of mere exclusiveness. The guiding principle of the Society is democratic and collegial rather than hierarchical. The Society will remain open to innovation and evolution. — Triple Nine Society Prometheus Society The Prometheus Society is a high IQ society, similar to Mensa International, but much more restrictive. The entry test is designed to be passable by 1 in 30,000 of the population, while Mensa entry is achievable by 1 in 50. The society produces a magazine, Gift of Fire, published ten times a year. Background An earlier organization, Mensa International, was founded by Roland Berrill and Lancelot Ware, who noted from their first conversation that although they came from different backgrounds, they were able to communicate and had much in common.

They hypothesized that what they had in common was intelligence, and decided to see if a society of people selected for intelligence (using the only means available, IQ tests) would also have much in common. They decided to focus on people whose IQ test scores would place them at or above the 98th percentile. Beyond the 98th percentile In the late 1930s Leta Stetter Hollingworth's research examined people with extremely high intelligence. Starting in the early 1960s, when the now-defunct MM was started, there were attempts to form societies accepting people at a level approaching this. The International Society for Philosophical Enquiry and the Triple Nine Society, both in existence today, were founded in the 1970s. Their entry was designed to accept one in a thousand of the population. Restricting entry still further was difficult; no available tests were designed for that high a level, and the paucity, by definition, of data at that level made such testing very difficult. Testing difficulties There were two possible ways to overcome this obstacle.

Either the raw data from standardized tests could be obtained and determination could be made if they could be normalized to Hollingworth’s levels, or new tests could be designed and normalized. In the late 1970s, it was the latter approach that was followed. Kevin Langdon and Ronald Hoeflin both developed high-range, untimed tests. Langdon claimed that his Langdon Adult Intelligence Test had a ceiling at the one-in-a-million level (176 IQ [or 171 using the academic-standard 15-point-per-standard-deviation system], or 4.75 standard deviations above the mean). Hoeflin claimed a considerably higher ceiling but the Langdon and Hoeflin tests are closely comparable, with Hoeflin's tests having ceilings only one or two points higher than Langdon's. These tests were given to a pool of about thirty thousand test-takers, recruited through Omni magazine, and the resulting data were used to develop norms. Langdon equated means and standard deviations; Hoeflin used equipercentile equating. Using these tests and norms, Ronald Hoeflin founded the Prometheus Society in 1982.

It was the second society to select for the top one in thirty thousand, the first being Kevin Langdon's Four Sigma Society, founded in 1976. Recent changes The pool of members was always limited by the number of people who had taken the Langdon and Hoeflin tests, and it was further limited when, in the 1990s, answers for some test questions were put on the Internet. However, there existed a large pool of potential members as tens of millions of people had taken standardized exams such as the SAT, which were, in effect, IQ tests. The problem was to normalize them. In 1999, Prometheus formed a committee of ten members, many of them experts in psychometrics, to attempt this task. The committee produced a long report examining all reputable intelligence tests, determining which tests could screen at the four-sigma level (four standard deviations above the mean of a normal distribution), above 99.9966%, and what the appropriate scores should be. This report recommended that members be chosen based on scores in several widely known and researched standardized tests, including the SAT, the GRE, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Cattell Culture Fair III, and others.

This greatly expanded the number of possible members. Today, the number of members hovers around a hundred. Membership The membership roster is diverse. There are CEOs of high-tech firms, math professors, poets, computer programmers, physics PhDs, army officers, and NASA employees. Quite a few are involved with computer modeling of complex phenomena. Many members have much in common, and the officers try to link members whose business or other interests complement each other. The society produces a 72-page magazine, Gift of Fire, published irregularly (up to ten times a year), which contains many scholarly or speculative articles, along with poetry, artworks, and short stories. Perhaps the best-known article to appear in Gift of Fire is Grady Towers' essay, "The Outsiders". Despite the strong desire of many of its members to maintain a low public profile, the Prometheus Society has achieved a small measure of attention and fame. The society is listed as social network #E240 in Networking: The first report and directory.

It is cited in books and articles dealing with intelligence, it has been mentioned in an episode of the ABC television series Castle, and used in a brand recognition example in a book by Geoffrey Miller on consumer behaviour, and even as a clue in The New York Times crossword puzzle. In his book Wounded Warriors, on people marginalized by society, journalist Mike Sager wrote this: “ Thanks to the magic of the World Wide Web, over the past fifteen years, more than a dozen affinity groups for people with superhigh IQs have been formed. More exclusive than Mensa — which accepts those with a minimum IQ of 132, one of every fifty people — clubs like the Triple Nine Society, the Prometheus Society, and the Mega Society (with IQ requirements of 148, 164, and 176, respectively) provide electronic fellowship to an eccentric, far-flung population known as HiQ Society. Though the clubs, like all subcultures, have become petri dishes for ego squabbles and political infighting, they nonetheless supply the comfort of fraternity in a world that doesn't think fast enough, doesn't get the reference, doesn't grasp the point.

” Mega Society Founded in 1982 by Ronald K. Hoeflin to facilitate psychometric research, the Mega Society is a high IQ society open to people who have scored at the one-in-a-million level on a test of general intelligence claimed to be able to discriminate at that level.The Guinness Book of World Records stated that the most elite ultra High IQ Society is the Mega Society with percentiles of 99.9999 or 1 in a million required for admission. The public profile of the Mega Society increased with the publication of the Mega Test in 1985 by Hoeflin. In that article, Omni reporter Scot Morris notes the hierarchy of I.Q. societies that places the Mega Society on top: Mensa, the most famous [IQ] group, is open to one person in 50 ... The Triple Nine Society has a 1-in-1,000 cutoff (the 99.9th percentile, hence the name). And the Prometheus Society shoots for 1 in 30,000. But the most restrictive group is the Mega Society, which is theoretically limited to one person in a million (the 99.9999th percentile).

Notable members Notable people who have taken the Mega Test, meeting the Mega Society entrance requirements, include author and columnist Marilyn vos Savant, mathematician Solomon W. Golomb, Christopher Langan, Keith Raniere, and the former governor of New Hampshire and former White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu. Similar reports about the actress Uma Thurman are an urban myth. Timed and supervised IQ tests usually do not accurately measure at the one-in-a-million level. For example, the range of the Stanford-Binet IQ test is 40–160, which is four standard deviations of 15 above the mean of 100, so that a score of 160 corresponds to a scarcity of only 1 in 30,000, which falls short of the Mega Society's 1 in a million requirement. Criteria for acceptance The Mega Society accepts members on the basis of untimed, unsupervised IQ tests that have been normalized using standard statistical methods. There is controversy about whether these tests have been properly validated. The Mega Society accepts for admission tests that are not compromised by publication of their answers.

To qualify for membership in the Mega Society via the Mega Test, aspirants must earn a score corresponding to an IQ of 171 or more (SD = 15) on a test accepted for admission by the society. People of average intelligence, by contrast, have IQs that cluster around a score of 100. Mega Society's publications The society's journal, called Noesis since July 1987, has been published since January 1982, when it was called the Circle. Currently the journal is published on an irregular basis.

Question: Roland Berrill, an Australian barrister, and Dr. Lancelot Ware, a British scientist and lawyer, founded which international organsation in the UK in 1946?
Answer: Mensa