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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

#31

Post by whatshisface »

lima wrote: post #9
ndiscussion wrote: post #2

This is a survey of people who joined MENSA. I would posit that most normal, healthy, high-IQ folks never bother, and there's a selection bias at play.

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?

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#32

Post by hntrader »

jw1224 wrote: post #4
ndiscussion wrote: post #2

This is a survey of people who joined MENSA. I would posit that most normal, healthy, high-IQ folks never bother, and there's a selection bias at play.

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

Self-selection bias.

The insecure, the underachievers, the lonely, the narcissistic, etc, might be more likely to join.

The confident, the successful, the popular, etc, probably are less likely to join.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#33

Post by walshemj »

float4 wrote: post #3

> researcher Ruth Karpinski and her colleagues emailed a survey with questions about psychological and physiological disorders to members of Mensa. I think at least part of the conclusions can be attributed to selection bias.

A lot of people in prison also have those and also better off people like mesa members are going to have easier access to heath care to even get a diagnosis.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#34

Post by rory »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #26

Long, long ago, I came to the conclusion that intelligence was inversely related to sanity. Not a scientific observation, just that people who I knew who were very smart also tended to have difficulties in more ways than the people I knew who had typical intelligence. Typical issues were depression, insecurity, difficulty relating or communicating with others, ... Certainly you can find people with these issues in al…

Very-low-intelligence people also have high rates of psychological disorder as well though. Perhaps brains that are atypical in their intelligence also tend to be atypical in other ways.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#35

Post by whatshisface »

gugagore wrote: post #27
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.

There are other tests that qualify you for membership, it appears.

I predict that in 20 years or fewer, they will accept algorithms interviews.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#36

Post by jpxw »

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.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#37

Post by PartiallyTyped »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #18
Foobar8568 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moreover, you don't even need to pass an IQ test to join MENSA US. https://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/

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.

It is a list of different aptitude tests, e.g. LSATs, GREs and so on.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#38

Post by desireco42 »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #29
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…

I joined to have something to put on my otherwise bare resume coming out of university. Never renewed my membership. Their magazine was better than I expected but the local newsletter didn't inspire me to actually show up at any meetings. From the few other Mensa members I've met, it seemed like they were active members in order to be able to socialize with people who were of "birds of a feather" so to speak rather t…

I was happy I had a score, but like you, I let my membership lapse. I also remember magazine to be good.

It is nice to talk to people who think well, I had few friends who were also eligible and it was really nice to talk to them even if their interests didn't exactly match mine.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#39

Post by amelius »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #26

Long, long ago, I came to the conclusion that intelligence was inversely related to sanity. Not a scientific observation, just that people who I knew who were very smart also tended to have difficulties in more ways than the people I knew who had typical intelligence. Typical issues were depression, insecurity, difficulty relating or communicating with others, ... Certainly you can find people with these issues in al…

Too much thinking is unhealthy. The brain's main purpose is to be idle as much as possible. Perhaps your intelligent friends would do better if they meditated regularly.

Re: High IQs are associated with mental and physical disorders

#40

Post by giantg2 »

lima wrote: post #9
ndiscussion wrote: post #2

This is a survey of people who joined MENSA. I would posit that most normal, healthy, high-IQ folks never bother, and there's a selection bias at play.

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…

I thought they had a network to connect less wealthy members with funding for projects or jobs?

At least that was the only real benefit I remember seeing in my limited research years ago.

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