Mensa International

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Mensa International is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="mensa">Template:Cite web</ref> Mensa formally comprises national groups and the umbrella organisation Mensa International, with a registered office in Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, England,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which is separate from the British Mensa office in Wolverhampton.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Etymology

The word mensa (Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPA) is Latin for 'table', as is symbolised in the organisation's logo, and was chosen to demonstrate the round-table nature of the organisation: the coming together of equals.<ref name="AboutMensa">Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Australian Roland Berrill and Lancelot Ware, a British scientist and lawyer, founded Mensa at Lincoln College, in Oxford, England in 1946, with the intention of forming a society for the most intelligent, with the only qualification being a high IQ.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The society was ostensibly to be non-political in its aims and free from all other social distinctions, such as race and religion.<ref name=AboutMensa/> However, Berrill and Ware were both disappointed with the resulting society. Berrill had intended Mensa as "an aristocracy of the intellect" and was unhappy that the majority of members came from working or lower-class homes,<ref name="VictorSerebriakoff">Template:Cite book</ref> while Ware said: "I do get disappointed that so many members spend so much time solving puzzles."<ref name="tammet">Template:Cite book</ref>

American Mensa was the second major branch of Mensa thanks to the efforts of Margot Seitelman.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Membership requirement

Mensa's requirement for membership is a score at or above the 98th percentile on certain standardized 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, and 130 in the Wechsler tests (WAIS, WISC).<ref name="Test_Scores">Template:Cite web</ref> 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 130.8, assuming a normal distribution.<ref>See Normal distribution#Quantile function.</ref>

However, American Mensa does not provide a score comparable to scores on other tests; the test serves only to qualify a person for membership.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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. The Mensa test is also available in some developing countries such as Brazil, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Organizational structure

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Countries that have a national Mensa, 2021

Mensa International consists of around 150,000 members in 100 countries<ref name="AboutMensa" /> and in 54 national groups.<ref name=":1" /> The national groups issue periodicals, such as Mensa Bulletin, the monthly publication of American Mensa,<ref name="mb">Template:Cite web</ref> and Mensa Magazine, the monthly publication of British Mensa.<ref name="mm">Template:Cite web</ref> Individuals who live in a country with a national group join the national group, while those living in countries without a recognized chapter may join Mensa International directly.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The largest national groups are:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

American Mensa, with more than 50,000 members<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Mensa Germany, with more than 18,000 members<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
British Mensa, with about 18,000 members in the UK and Ireland<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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, ranging from motorcycle clubs to entrepreneurial co-operations. 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 email lists, where members may or may not meet each other in person.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.

Gatherings

File:MensaInternationalAthens.jpg

Mensa IBD meeting that took place in Athens, 1988

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 AG is usually held during the American Independence Day (4 July).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 1990, American Mensa has sponsored the annual Mensa Mind Games competition, at which the Mensa Select award is given to five board games that are "original, challenging, and well designed".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In Europe, since 2008 international meetings have been held under the name EMAG (European Mensa Annual Gathering), starting in Cologne that year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The next meetings were in Utrecht (2009), Prague (2010), Paris (2011), Stockholm (2012), Bratislava (2013), Zürich (2014), Berlin (2015), Kraków (2016), Barcelona (2017), Belgrade (2018) and Ghent (2019). The 2020 event was postponed and took place in 2021 in Brno. The next meetings were in Strasbourg (2022), Rotterdam (2023) an Bucharest (2024). The EMAG will be in Cardiff in 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the Asia-Pacific region, there is an Asia-Pacific Mensa Annual Gathering (AMAG),<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> with rotating countries hosting the event. This has included Gold Coast, Australia (2017),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cebu, Philippines (2018),<ref name=":0" /> New Zealand (2019), and South Korea (2020).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Officers

The governing body of Mensa International consists of:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

International Chair: Therese Moodie-Bloom
International Director - Administration: Robin Crawford
International Director - Development: Eivind Olsen
International Treasurer: Jovana Kostic
International Director - Smaller National Mensas: Sorana Burcusel
American Mensa: Lori Norris
British Isles Mensa: Ann Rootkin
Mensa Germany: Peter Fröhler

Publications

All national 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,<ref name="mb" /> the British Mensa Magazine,<ref name="mm" /> Serbian MozaIQ,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Australian TableAus,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Mexican El Mensajero,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the French, formerly Contacts, now MensaMag.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Aside from national publications, some local or regional groups have their own newsletters and websites.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mensa International publishes a Mensa World Journal, which "contains views and information about Mensa around the world". This journal is generally included in each national magazine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Mensa Foundation 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Demographics

All national Mensa subsidiaries accept children under the age of 18.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, some national Mensas do not test the children themselves; many offer activities, resources, and newsletters specifically geared toward gifted children and their parents. Kashe Quest, the youngest member of American Mensa;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Adam Kirby, the youngest member of British Mensa;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name= "Telegraph">Template:Cite news</ref> and several Australian Mensa members joined at age two.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Elise Tan-Roberts of the UK and Miranda Elise Margolis of the US are the youngest people ever to join Mensa, having gained full membership at the age of two years and four months.<ref name=Telegraph/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Dover New Philadelphia Times">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2018, Mehul Garg became the youngest person in a decade to score the maximum of 162 on the Mensa IQ test.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

American Mensa's oldest member is 102,<ref name="American Mensa Demographics">Template:Cite web</ref> and British Mensa had a member aged 103.<ref name="Mensa_UK_FAQs">Template:Cite web</ref>

According to American Mensa's generational classifications and published demographics (as of 2023), its membership is 8 percent from the Silent generation (born 1924–1942), 37 percent Baby Boomers (born 1943–1960), 30 percent Gen-X (born 1961–1981), 10 percent Millennial (born 1982–2000), 12 percent Generation Z (born 2001–2020) and the remaining 3 percent other. The American Mensa general membership identifies as 64 percent male, 32 percent female, 3 percent unknown, and less than 1 percent gender non-conforming or other.<ref name="American Mensa Demographics" />

References

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External links

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