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High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

scientificamerican.com

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Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#51

Post by rory »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #28
rory wrote: post #5

> It’s also possible that people who join Mensa differ from other people in ways other than just IQ. For example, people preoccupied with intellectual pursuits may spend less time than the average person on physical exercise and social interaction, both of which have been shown to have broad benefits for psychological and physical health. Is Mensa really an "intellectual pursuit"? I'm not sure exactly what Mensa does…

My limited experience with Mensa is that it's a social/dating club for high IQ people. It's been too long for me to remember the details, but I recall reading about studies that suggest relationships where IQs are too far apart (more than 5-10pts) have a high failure rate. If you're more than a standard deviation from the mean, it probably makes sense to have a special dating circle if you're looking for a long term…

That's interesting. Similar to how many people rely on university networks to segregate their dating pool roughly by IQ (although more informally). Is the gender ratio reasonable for straight couples? My imagined version of Mensa is a club that mostly attracts men.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#52

Post by longtom »

rory wrote: post #5

> It’s also possible that people who join Mensa differ from other people in ways other than just IQ. For example, people preoccupied with intellectual pursuits may spend less time than the average person on physical exercise and social interaction, both of which have been shown to have broad benefits for psychological and physical health. Is Mensa really an "intellectual pursuit"? I'm not sure exactly what Mensa does…

Yeah, it's kinda embarrassing and funny at the same time how this study is likely saying more about Mensa members than about high IQ people in general.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#53

Post by Mountain_Skies »

josefresco wrote: post #23
jw1224 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am normal, healthy, and a Mensa member. What exactly do you mean by that?

The only person I know in Mensa used it in his resume which always grossed me out.

I did that! Doubt I'm the person you're thinking of but it was something to put on my otherwise empty resume that would have consisted of jobs at Burger King and a oil change store. Once I had my first professional job under my belt, I left it off. No idea if it helped or hurt getting that first job but I suspect if nothing else it gave me a bit of confidence going into those first interviews after university.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#55

Post by Consultant32452 »

lordgroff wrote: post #41
thaumasiotes wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I struggle to see how a list of accepted IQ tests supports the idea that you don't need to pass an IQ test to join.

I haven't taken an IQ test since... A billion years ago, so maybe it's the same, but having taken the LSAT, you can certainly learn them. My first LSAT I ever took was 78 percentile, whereas by the end I was scoring 95-98 with relative ease.

A normal IQ person can improve their IQ/LSAT/GRE test score with appropriate training, but a higher IQ person will tend to score proportionally higher given the same training.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#56

Post by hanniabu »

rory wrote: post #25
mamon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I find interesting on that page is that the more recent (past 2-3 decades) college preparatory tests (e.g. SAT) are not accepted as substitutes to IQ tests. Shows the trend of dumbing down the tests, I guess.

That is odd. If the tests were simply dumbed down, wouldn't Mensa just raise the required score? The implication is that these tests have become less IQ-correlated. I'd be interested to see a comparison in the type of questions from the 70s vs today.

Probably less reliable and more overhead. You have to constantly evaluate what the new equivalent score and who knows, maybe even the max score isn't good enough anymore.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#57

Post by PartiallyTyped »

jpxw wrote: post #36

My pet (and layman) theory is that people with exceptionally high IQs might have a higher rate of genetic mutation compared to the general population. In my experience people with exceptionally high IQs often look unusual. If that relationship is true, it might also explain a higher rate of mental and physical disorders, many of which can result from genetic mutations.

I have read the opposite hypothesis, that is, people with exceptionally high IQ have a smaller mutation rate so to speak. The argument is based on the belief that most mutations are destructive or disruptive and thus, when intelligent people procreate, there are fewer chances for the offsprings to be as intelligent or smarter than parents due to mutations.

In essence, it is the same argument as to why it is harder for viruses to become more potent through mutations.

However, I am not a geneticist nor a virologist or anything remotely close so take my comment with a large grain of salt.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#58

Post by nostrademons »

whatshisface wrote: post #31
lima wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. It's a weird bunch (not in a bad way!). I went to their meetings a couple times by invitation, and it never really "clicked" - for many of their members, their MENSA membership and related activities are a big part of their identity and their life, and I wasn't able to connect. I heard the same thing from a couple of friends who also met their entrance criteria, and there's certainly a lot of selection bias. Whi…

Where are all of the satisfied Mensa members? Every time Mensa gets brought up a whole swarm of dissatisfied former members shows up to explain how it's not worth attending, and yet the organization persists. What's the other side of the story?

At the Mensa meetings.

The selection bias works the other way as well: people who are happy with their Mensa social group get their social contact from that and don't bother hanging out on HN.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#60

Post by KingMachiavelli »

whatshisface wrote: post #31
lima wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. It's a weird bunch (not in a bad way!). I went to their meetings a couple times by invitation, and it never really "clicked" - for many of their members, their MENSA membership and related activities are a big part of their identity and their life, and I wasn't able to connect. I heard the same thing from a couple of friends who also met their entrance criteria, and there's certainly a lot of selection bias. Whi…

Where are all of the satisfied Mensa members? Every time Mensa gets brought up a whole swarm of dissatisfied former members shows up to explain how it's not worth attending, and yet the organization persists. What's the other side of the story?

Maybe it's actually HN that attracts dissatisfaction? /jk It's a well known phenomenon that people are more likely to speak on the negative/critical opinions they have than to go out of their way to give praise.
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