 | |
| Formation | 1 October 1946; 79 years ago (1946-10-01)[1] |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Limitednon-profit organisation |
| Purpose | High-IQ society |
| Headquarters | Slate Barn, Church Lane,Caythorpe,Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Location |
|
| Membership | ~150,000[2] |
International Chairperson | Robin Crawford |
| Website | www |
Mensa International is the largest and oldesthigh-IQ society in the world.[3][4][5] It is anon-profit organization open to people who score at the 98thpercentile or higher on a standardised, supervisedIQ or other approved intelligence test.[6] Mensa formally comprises national groups and the umbrella organisationMensa International, with a registered office inCaythorpe, Lincolnshire, England,[7] which is separate from the British Mensa office inWolverhampton.[8]
The wordmensa (/ˈmɛnsə/,Latin:[ˈmẽːs̠ä]) is Latin for 'table', as is symbolised in the organisation's logo, and was chosen to demonstrate theround-table nature of the organisation: the coming together of equals.[2]
Roland Berrill, a British-Australian barrister, andLancelot Ware, a British barrister and biochemist, founded Mensa atLincoln College, inOxford, England in 1946, with the intention of forming a society for the most intelligent, with the only qualification being a high IQ.[9]
The society was ostensibly to be non-political in its aims and free from all other social distinctions, such as race and religion.[2] 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,[10] while Ware said: "I do get disappointed that so many members spend so much time solving puzzles."[11]
American Mensa was the second major branch of Mensa thanks to the efforts ofMargot Seitelman.[12]
Mensa's requirement for membership is a score at or above the 98thpercentile on certain standardized IQ or other approved intelligence tests, such as theStanford–Binet Intelligence Scales. The minimum accepted score on the Stanford–Binet is 132, while for theCattell it is 148, and 130 in the Wechsler tests (WAIS,WISC).[13] MostIQ tests are designed to yield amean score of 100 with astandard deviation of 15; the 98th-percentile score under these conditions is 130.8, assuming anormal distribution.[14]
However, American Mensa does not provide a score comparable to scores on other tests; the test serves only to qualify a person for membership.[15] 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.[16]
Mensa International consists of around 150,000 members in 90+ countries,[2] 48 of which have their own national groups.[16] The national groups issue periodicals, such asMensa Bulletin, the monthly publication of American Mensa,[17] andMensa Magazine, the monthly publication of British Mensa.[18] 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.[19]
The largest national groups are:[20]
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 formspecial 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.[24]
The Mensa Foundation, a separate charitable U.S. corporation, edits and publishes its ownMensa Research Journal, in which both Mensans and non-Mensans are published on various topics surrounding the concept and measure of intelligence.
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 theAmerican Independence Day (4 July).[25]
Since 1990, American Mensa has sponsored the annual Mensa Mind Games competition, at which theMensa Select award is given to five board games that are "original, challenging, and well designed".[26][27]
In Europe, since 2008, international meetings have been held under the nameEMAG (European Mensa Annual Gathering), starting in Cologne that year.[28] 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), Bucharest (2024) and Cardiff (2025). The EMAG will be in Podgorica in 2026.
The Asia-Pacific region has an Asia-Pacific Mensa Annual Gathering (AMAG),[29] with rotating countries hosting the event. This has included Gold Coast, Australia (2017),[30] Cebu, Philippines (2018),[29] New Zealand (2019), and South Korea (2020).[31]
The governing body of Mensa International consists of:[32]
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 AmericanMensa Bulletin,[17] the GermanMinD-Magazin,[33] the BritishMensaMagazine,[18] SerbianMozaIQ,[34] the AustralianTableAus,[35] the MacedonianMensadonija, the MexicanEl Mensajero,[36] and the French, formerlyContacts, nowMensaMag.[37] Aside from national publications, some local or regional groups have their own newsletters and websites.[38][39]
Mensa International publishes aMensa World Journal, which "contains views and information about Mensa around the world". This journal is generally included in each national magazine.[40][citation needed]
The Mensa Foundation publishes theMensa Research Journal, which "highlights scholarly articles and recent research related to intelligence". Unlike most Mensa publications, this journal is available to non-members.[41]
All national Mensa subsidiaries accept children under the age of 18.[42] 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;[43] Joseph Harris-Birtill, the youngest member of British Mensa;[44][45] and several Australian Mensa members joined at age two.[46] 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.[45][47][48]
In 2018, Mehul Garg became the youngest person in a decade to score the maximum of 162 on the Mensa IQ test.[49]
American Mensa avers that their members range "in age from 2 to 102", but no specifics are provided.[50]
As of 2014, British Mensa reportedly had a member aged 103.[51]
According to American Mensa's generational classifications and published demographics (as of 2023), its membership is 8 percent from theSilent generation (born 1924–1942), 37 percentBaby Boomers (born 1943–1960), 30 percentGen-X (born 1961–1981), 10 percentMillennial (born 1982–2000), 12 percentGeneration 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.[50]
