Could Mensa members put their brains to better use?

By DITA DE BONI

I never had to study too hard to pass most exams at school or university. I had a good memory for facts which generally counterbalanced the long nights of drinking and gossiping that university life entails.

Which is not to say I am a genius. While I can pick out a tune or phrase of language fairly easily, I cannot read a road map, and recently ended up in Te Atatu when leaving Mt Roskill for Mt Eden. What should have been a routine, 10-minute drive took an hour.

I cannot fill out a tax return with any success and find it almost impossible to figure out the time in another country when making an international call, despite having all the information to hand.

Armed with the knowledge of my smarts and my idiocies, I was eager to see how I might fare in an intelligence test administered by Mensa New Zealand, a regional branch of the worldwide Mensa organisation.

Mensa is an international society aimed at "identifying and fostering human intelligence for the benefit of humanity, encouraging research in the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence, and promoting stimulating intellectual and social opportunities for its members" - all in a determinedly non-political, religious or racial way.

The organisation has only one qualification for membership: a score in the top 2 per cent of the population on a standardised intelligence test.

If you do make it to the top 2 per cent, or the 98th percentile - which is an IQ of 148 on the test administered by the organisation - you are, officially, a genius.

And I am, officially, not a genius. My score was 93 per cent - an IQ of 135 - meaning I missed out by 5 per cent on joining Mensa.

And I have every reason to believe the score is accurate, because I did everything possible to ensure a good result: plenty of sleep the night before, salmon for lunch (I thought it might boost brainpower), chocolate and coffee just before the test (to enhance alertness) and water for hydration.

But apart from priming the senses, nothing could have prepared me for the test, and that is exactly how it should be, according to Mensa New Zealand. Intelligence testing is controversial, as is the exact nature of intelligence, but to test for it, you can't swot and you can't memorise answers.

There are more than 100 different intelligence tests in the world and all experts have a different definition of genius, or even intelligence. Generally they agree that high intelligence means a better capacity to reason, process information and solve problems, or to combine seemingly unrelated facts to form new ideas in the case of "creative genius".

There is also debate over how influential environmental factors are on intelligence, as well as how gender, ethnicity and race play a part.

Disappointingly or not, Mensa New Zealand chooses to sidestep public comment about the more controversial aspects of the intelligence debate, presumably because, according to its international philosophy, "for Mensa to espouse a particular point of view would go against its role as a forum for all points of view".

Its membership is overwhelmingly male, Pakeha and middle-aged, and members believe that's because of the types of people seeking out membership.

Aloma Parker was part of the group who founded Mensa New Zealand in Wellington in 1966, 20 years after the first chapter was established in Britain. She puts across what is probably the most controversial line: that New Zealand's insistence on an egalitarian education system and its focus on those struggling to achieve in the system has meant gifted children are neglected and discriminated against.

"Being teacher's pet at school is not a comfortable place to be in New Zealand. We are quick to foster sporting excellence but do not seem to be so proud of academic excellence," she says. "People with a very high intelligence feel the need to hide their lights under a bushel, to pretend they are not as smart as they really are so as to fit in socially. There are various social problems that can come with a high level of intelligence, too, but you hardly ever hear about it."

The local organisation now boasts regional chapters and more than 300 members.

Mensians meet several times each month and "love to get together and have a range of viewpoints, which they love to express", according to Christopher Simmons, Auckland Mensa area co-ordinator.

T HE voluntary organisation runs its admission test from premises in Ponsonby at intervals when the members deem there to be enough interested candidates. Some people genuinely want to join, according to testing co-ordinator Evelyn Manly, while others just like to see what they would score.

On the night I attended, eight fairly young people of varying nationalities had gathered for the hour-long battery of tests. Candidates cannot take the question booklets away so I'm working from memory, but the questions were along the lines of: "Which of the following is least like the others? a) Poem b) Novel c) Painting d) Statue or e) Flower".

Which may seem fairly easy, until the question morphs into something like this: Pear is to apple, as potato is to ... ? a) Banana, b) Radish c) Strawberry, d) Peach or e) Lettuce?

There were also plenty of pictorial questions, which test different skills - the relationship of one design to another, for example, or which example is the inverse of the pattern given.

But it seemed that people with university educations, and especially those such as journalists who work with language, might have an unfair advantage as many of the questions are complex language comprehension questions.

Mensa administers the Cattell IQ test but some branches prefer a "culture-free" test which works almost exclusively on patterns and non-verbal cues and can be sat by anyone, regardless of educational background. Apparently men do slightly better at the "culture-free" test, while women are more successful at the Cattell.

T WO weeks later, some local Mensians have gathered at a Mt Eden cafe for one of the regular get-togethers. Although they are mostly middle-aged and female there are young, fairly hip-looking people also filling out the table, talking incessantly.

I had been warned Mensians like to debate almost any topic under the sun, and here they are, like-minds meeting and sparking off each other with static intensity.

But the arguments, while well-reasoned, lack the kind of passionate outbursts that might punctuate a regular brunch conversation. According to a member who has joined recently, Mensa-talk is a welcome relief from the over-emotive, gut-instinct arguments most of us engage in - a place where every point of view, no matter how unpalatable, is given its full hearing.

On this morning, members spoke of another thing they had in common. In many cases, they had been isolated, bored and troubled at school because of their high intelligence and had suffered social problems as a result.

Vanessa Cozens, a member for four years, has pulled her incredibly intelligent children out of school to save them the experiences she went through.

"I had just not fitted in, and growing up was really hard. I think it's because when you have a really high IQ, you think and feel too much. You experience the extremes of everything, you have heightened sensitivity and can be withdrawn as a result."

Cozens says it was a weight off her shoulders when she was tested by Mensa and found to have a high IQ, because it explained years of asking herself, "Am I crazy?"

"My children too - one of whom is in the top .5 per cent - are questioning things all the time. But the social problems that come along with that really, really intelligent personality are not catered for in the regular system. That's why I home school, because I want them to feel they're normal and to encourage their development."

Joanna Bosman felt misunderstood for years and found it easier to make friends with older people, without understanding why. "I speak directly, I speak my mind and I think really fast.

"I asked different questions in class to other people. I always felt as though I wasn't quite the same as other people but didn't know exactly why until someone suggested I get tested."

While clearly Mensa had provided a safe and stimulating environment for these members, I could not help thinking that the combined brainpower sitting at that cafe was seriously under-used.

These people should have been able to provide some smart solutions to some pressing society problems - if only they had turned their big brains to the job.

Which is perhaps why the testing and branding of intelligence according to IQ tests is still a controversial area for many scientists, and why being exceptionally smart can sometimes be as much a burden as a blessing.

Want to test yourself against the brainy bunch?

Here are 10 questions chosen at random from a "Mensa Workout" at Mensa International. Answers are below.

If two typists can type two pages in two minutes, how many typists will it will take to type 18 pages in six minutes?

A) 3

B) 4

C) 6

D) 12

E) 36

2. Which of the following proverbs is closest in meaning to the saying, "Birds of a feather flock together"?

A) A man is known by the company he keeps

B) A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

C) One swallow doesn't make a summer

D) Fine feathers make fine birds

E) Don't judge a book by its cover

3. If it were two hours later, it would be half as long until midnight as it would be if it were an hour later. What time is it now?

A) 18:30

B) 20:00

C) 21:00

D) 22:00

E) 23:30

4. Which of the following is least like the others?

A) Poem

B) Novel

C) Painting

D) Statue

E) Flower

5. What is the following word when it is unscrambled?

HCPRAATEU

6. Which letter comes next in this series of letters?

BACBDCEDF?

A) C

B) D

C) E

D) F

E) G

7. Each number below follows a certain rule. Figure out the rule and fill in the missing number.

A) January 20

B) April 10

C) May 5

D) November 15

E) July ?

8. Only one other word can be made from all the letters of INSATIABLE. Can you find it?

9. Which of these is the odd one out?

A) Cat

B) Dog

C) Hamster

D) Rabbit

E) Elk

10. There are 1200 pink elephants in a herd. Some have pink and green stripes, some are all pink and some are all blue. One third are pure pink. Is it true that 400 elephants are definitely blue?

A) Yes

B) No

Answers: 1) C, one typist types one page in two minutes. 2) A. 3) C, two hours later (23:00 - one hour before midnight) is half the time until midnight as one hour later (22:00 - two hours before midnight). 4) E, the only one not man-made. 5) Parachute. 6) E, alternate letters increase by one. 7) 10. Each word syllable is worth five. That they are months is irrelevant. 8) Banalities. 9) E, Not a pet. 10) No, the other 800 elephants can be any mix of all blue and pink and green stripes.