High IQ societies | INFJ Forum

High IQ societies

Gaze

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Sep 5, 2009
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So, is there a real benefit to joining high IQ societies?

Beyond the intellectual stimulation, does it do anything for someone personally to become members of this group?

Does it allow someone to contribute more and develop their abilities or talents to the benefit of themselves and everyone else?

What do you learn from being members of such a group?

Disclaimer: Not a thread about the legitimacy of IQ tests or about the inexistence of IQ or irrelevance of IQ, etc.
 
One of my friends used to be member of Mensa, but quit because he felt it was just a bunch of people that liked to feel better than every one else by touting their IQ's. Personally I try to stay away from clubs of all kinds - I find it feeds into the human condition of being scared of change unless you have the comfort of companionship. I prefer it to be scary, because the rewards of learning and excelling is far greater when you go the path on your own.
 
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There are some good people in them, but then there are a bunch of egotists who aren't so great. The benefit is that you can meet people who might be easier to relate to.

I don't think those organizations plan events to help others, but I think you could do something if you wanted to. However, I have no idea what you could do for the benefit of others that you could not do at a church or something.
 
In my experience of such groups, most of their activity is pretty pointless: manufactured discussion; a childish obsession with puzzles; outings which seem eerily like school excursions.

I think such groups are ultimately about stroking egos - mostly by pretending that IQ alone suffices to justify an authoritative discussion on topics which are completely outside most of the participant's experience/qualifications/study.
 
In my experience of such groups, most of their activity is pretty pointless: manufactured discussion; a childish obsession with puzzles; outings which seem eerily like school excursions.

I think such groups are ultimately about stroking egos - mostly by pretending that IQ alone suffices to justify an authoritative discussion on topics which are completely outside most of the participant's experience/qualifications/study.

Yeah, I've heard about the puzzles, which I guess are meant to challenge or exercise logical intelligence. But I'm also curious if they provide opportunities that you wouldn't get anywhere else, to develop other strengths or abilities.
 
Tell them all to suck it and start your own club.
 
Explain all the complacated things to me in less than a few sentences and ill get back to you.
 
It just eats up time you could be contributing to facebook and INFJf. I wouldn't recommend any of those.

How does it look on a resume is probably the most realistic way to look at this.
 
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So, I guess most believe there is no real benefit. Seems like it encourages elitism. Maybe the idea of only surrounding yourself with people who have the same IQ range may actually limit your understanding of the world or isolate you from the rest of the experiences of everyone else rather than help you develop more of a connection to it. But that may be an unfair generalization. Probably depends on the people, how they see and use their IQ. If they use to develop their strengths and skills, and a better understanding of themselves, much like we as people who study or enjoy learning more about personality theory, then what's the difference. You could argue that membership in a group dedicated to organizing people by personality type is also restrictive and elitist since some types are considered more intellectual or superior in some areas or abilities than others. So, how is it different?
 
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