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 standardized, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test.
Mensa is formally composed of national groups and the umbrella organization Mensa International,
with a registered office in Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, England.
The word mensa 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.
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 131.
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.
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 organization is also involved with programs for gifted children, literacy
and scholarships, and it also holds numerous gatherings.
Organizational structure Mensa International consists of more than
121,000 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 recognized chapter may join Mensa International directly.
The largest national groups are American Mensa, with more than 57,000 members, British Mensa,
with over 21,000 members, and Mensa Germany, with more than 11,000 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 at international, national, and local levels;
these SIGs represent a wide variety of interests, both commonplace and obscure, 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, 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.
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
or Canada Day weekends respectively.
There are also smaller gatherings called Regional Gatherings 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; this is one of several times the
US and Canada AGs have been combined.
Other multinational gatherings are the European Mensas Annual Gathering, and the Asian Mensa
Gathering.
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.
The current youngest member of Mensa is Adam Kirby, from Mitcham, Surrey, UK who was invited
to join at the age of 2 years and 4 months and gained full membership at the age of 2
years 5 months.
He scored 141 on the Stanford-Binet IQ test.
American Mensa's oldest member is 102, and British Mensa had a member aged 103.
According to American Mensa's 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.
In addition, the American Mensa general membership is "66 percent male, 33 percent female".
The aggregate of local and national leadership is distributed equally between the sexes.
See also List of Mensans
List of Mensa Select recipients IQ classification
Notes
External links Official website
Map of Mensa National Groups CBS video on Mensa
CBS video on Mensa