History UsefulNotes / Mensa

* Jean Auel - author of ''[[Literature/EarthsChildren Clan Of The Cave Bear]]''

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'': "The Bye-Bye Sky-High IQ Murder Case" is set at a Mensa-style club, with the killer being an InsufferableGenius who considered the victim, and the other members of the club, to be inferior to his own intellect. When dealing with Columbo, he occasionally got glimpses through Columbo's façade, and by the time of the his arrest, was relieved to have been caught by someone he now considered a peer, intellectually.

* Craetor/TheodoreBikel - Was Nominated for an Academy Award for 1951's ''The Defiant Ones''. Also, in the above-mentioned Columbo episode.

* Geena Davis - ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'', ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'', ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'', etc.[[note]]She's been quoted as to have never been to any meetings.[[/note]]

* Ellen Muth – Actress in ''Dolores Claiborne'' and ''Series/DeadLikeMe''

* Alan Rachins – Actor on ''Series/LALaw'' and ''Series/DharmaAndGreg'' (Dharma's father).

* Theodore Bikel - Was Nominated for an Academy Award for 1951's ''The Defiant Ones''. Also, in the above-mentioned Columbo episode.

* Tetsuya Iwanaga[[note]]Not to be confused with voice actor Creator/TetsuyaIwanaga[[/note]] - Japanese model, actor, and pharmacist, best known for his performance on ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' as BreakoutVillain Kuroto Dan.

* Tetsuya Iwanaga - Japanese model, actor, and pharmacist, best known for his performance on ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' as BreakoutVillain Kuroto Dan.

If [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife TV Tropes is ruining your life]] it's probably a given that your intelligence is at the very least in the upper 50%. That's a wide swath of humanity, and no guarantee of the top 2%, [[FigureItOutYourself but only you can know how intelligent you are]]. Only one person out of every fifty qualifies, but 1 in 50 would be pretty good odds to a gambler. The odds of winning a state lottery are 1 in 120 million, yet people (even Mensans!) will blow money every day on it.

!!Tropes which apply to Mensa

* Many of the tropes under the IntelligenceTropes index can be applied somewhere to someone in Mensa.
* AgreeToDisagree: From the Mensa International Website:
-->"Mensa takes no stand on politics, religion or social issues. Mensa has members from so many different countries and cultures with differing points of view, that for Mensa to espouse a particular point of view would go against its role as a forum for all points of view. Of course, individual Mensa members often have strong opinions--and several of them. It is said that in a room with 12 Mensans you will find at least 13 differing opinions on any given subject!"
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Mensans are not a stuck-up bunch thumbing their noses at the dummies. Quite the contrary. Many Mensans were the dorks, nerds and geeks in school and remember all too well what it was like. You don't join Mensa to lord it over the dummies. A person's IQ was genius level before they got the test showing it, and a person can be a dick ''without'' having to join a club. Most Mensa members join to meet other people with high [=IQs=], ''not'' to brag about their brain.
* AlmightyJanitor: Remember: Intelligence is born, not made and college degrees are earned, not granted. There are many, many Mensa members who are college professors, authors and the like – but there are also many truck drivers, janitors, and other blue-collar workers. [[note]]There are also multiple-degree professionals who have not scored high enough to join Mensa.[[/note]] When you go to a convention, and everyone is dressed in their street clothes it can be really hard to tell the difference between the blue-collar and white-collar workers - which is sort of the point of Mensa. Many “almighty janitor” sorts don’t advertise their membership because it usually attracts uncomfortable “why aren’t you a rocket scientist” questions they don’t want to have to bother answering. Fact is, a high IQ does not always make a good student in the academic world.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Mensa is for folks who make it into the top 2%, and it's simply the largest and most well-known of several IQ groups. The following organizations are similar to, but not parts of Mensa. If you are an even higher percentage than 98th, then you can opt to also join:
** The top 1% is [[http://www.intertel-iq.org/ Intertel.]] Leans a little more intellectual than Mensa, but it's not really a big deal because if you qualify for ''it'' you can join Mensa, too.
** The top 0.1% gives you a choice of three. [[http://www.thethousand.com/ The International Society for Philosophical Enquiry,]] [[http://www.oathsociety.com/ One-in-a-Thousand Society,]] and [[http://www.triplenine.org/ Triple Nine Society]]
** The top 0.003% is [[http://www.prometheussociety.org/ The Prometheus Society.]] At this level and up you can't really join to be social - there's ''very few members in all''.
** The top 0.0001% is [[http://www.megasociety.net/ Mega Society.]] Get in there, and you're ''literally'' one in a million. You would certainly have the right to brag, though some argue that this far "off the chart" it's hard to gauge exactly what it means with so few examples around to study.
* BanOnPolitics: Mensa as an organization holds no opinions on politics - members are free to discuss as they so feel, so long as they make sure that if they are speaking to a group they let everyone know that their feelings are not representative of Mensa as a whole. When at a group function it's suggested to tread as carefully on politics and religion and other hot-button topics as you would in any other social group.
** Creator/IsaacAsimov was said to have been shocked that all these intelligent people hadn't come to the same political conclusions he had.
* ButIReadABookAboutIt: Indeed, they probably have.
* ChildProdigy: Averted, usually. Oh, if a prodigy who is being reported about on the news is also a member of Mensa it will get pointed out, but most kids in Mensa are just kids. Really ''smart'' kids, but normal kids all the same. To be a prodigy you have to be as skilled in an ability as a trained adult but still be a child, and intelligence doesn't always manifest itself in early musical ability or math skills.
* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer:
** In 2013 Yahoo came out with a news report [[http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/shakira-genius-literally-230321038.html?vp=1 announcing that some celebrities are members of Mensa]] - claiming that the list was released by Mensa itself. [[https://www.mensa.org/news/mensa-international-refutes-recent-press-stories Mensa quickly stepped up and explained that they never give out lists of members]] because it is each member's own decision to say if they are a member or not. (The list below is of celebs who have come out and mentioned it at one time or another.)
** You will notice often news reports will say things like "Child joins Mensa, IQ as high as UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein!" well.... Einstein never took an IQ test. The man was smart, no question, but we don't have a number to work off of - IQ tests were being developed ''while he was publishing his most famous papers''. Creator/StephenHawking's name gets thrown around in exactly the same way, but he's never taken an IQ test either (or at least never went public about it; he made jokes that he doesn't know his IQ). If you think about it, when you've already conquered the field of physics and have multiple doctorates, why even ''bother'' taking an IQ test?
* DumbIsGood: Some people who join Mensa hope for something fresh and noteworthy to put on their resume. Most resume services suggest leaving it off. Some workplaces see a naturally intelligent person as a threat to their own job, and thus consider them "overqualified".
** The same sometimes applies to a certificate of Mensa membership displayed next to a diploma. Some consider it bad form because the top 2% is something you are born with, not something someone else can earn.
** This trope is also why many Mensa members don't talk much about their membership. People start thinking you're smart and then they start to think you can walk on water, and ''then'' [[RealityIsUnrealistic they get frustrated because you're not fitting their own idea of what "smart" is]].
** It's important to note that of the 6 million or so people in the USA with IQ's qualifying for Mensa membership, only a fraction that percent of them ever join Mensa. Some feel it's a little prideful to join the organization. Some people think the members are full of themselves. It is true that with high IQ often comes a low emotional IQ and a group of people with low emotional [=IQs=] is certainly a weird group - this applies to top 2% members and non members alike.
* DysfunctionJunction: You know how people with really low [=IQs=] seem to have little weird tics and issues? Same deal on the top side - think of it as both extremes are close to "the edge". Oh, there are many in Mensa who pull "normal" off well, but the smart are weird. [[http://medicaldaily.com/news/20120604/10149/genius-insanity-schizophrenia-bipolar-disorder.htm There have actually been studies done showing the link between genius and mental issues.]] Unfortunately OCD, ADD, ADHD, paranoia, autism, etcetera... many Mensans have at least a tiny pinch of an assortment of that stuff. Don't worry, though - if you qualify, [[JustForFun/OneOfUs you probably have something too!]]
* FantasticRecruitmentDrive: Nope, though you can't blame [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent normal people]] for daydreaming about [[ChangelingFantasy being recruited because the organization noticed they were smart]]. It would be fun to think that Mensa is out there scouring the world for super intelligent people, but it isn't - and actually a lot of intelligent people are kind of skittish about BigBrotherIsWatching so that would backfire considerably. The organization is not a secret in any way and hopes people who think they are intelligent get themselves tested and apply for membership.
** Anyone who says "Yeah, Mensa ''wanted'' me but I decided not to join" probably just didn't ''quite'' score in. You join or you don't. Mensa doesn't go hunting.
* [[GreatBigBookOfEverything Great Big Brain of Everything]]: Averted. Not every member knows everything. You have Mensans who are great at math but not literature, and Mensans who are great at literature and not math. What does seem to be true is Mensans know what they do and don't, and are more than happy to learn more about what interests them, and take the word of someone who is more knowledgeable on a certain subject than themselves.
* ImprobablyHighIQ: Averted. You won’t be finding anyone quoting a number – indeed most people in Mensa really don’t care what your IQ is. You're in, so you're in. Fact is, the actual number score can vary from test to test, which is why entry is for "The top 2%" as opposed to some arbitrary number[[note]]The same way Celsius and Fahrenheit are different temperature scales, but the point at which pure water freezes is a fixed temperature with a different designation in each scale (0 degrees and 32 degrees)[[/note]]. If a person is a member their scores have been checked by their national office, and the difference between an IQ of around 130 (very-''very'' loosely the entry level number) and a member with an IQ of 160 is up to a lot of subjective data.
* InsufferableGenius: Mensa has its share, but they’re rarer than you’d think. All Mensans are geniuses by definition, and that makes this sort of person plain old “insufferable”.
** Most Mensans are better grounded in reality. It's common to say all that making it into Mensa proves is "we're just good at taking tests". If a Mensan is really being in their true form, they'll say "We're just good at taking ''one'' test." ([[DontExplainTheJoke The test that got them into Mensa]])
* JackOfAllTrades: A lot of people in Mensa know a lot of things about a lot of subjects completely outside of their area of expertise. A conversation can slide all over the place, ending up nowhere near what anyone was talking about in the first place.
* NerdsAreVirgins: Um. No. Not only will most Mensa parents beg to differ, but some of the special interest groups Mensa has may [[HeadTiltinglyKinky make your eyes pop out]]. If a member is a virgin, the chances are it is [[{{Asexuality}} by choice]] and not because they "can't get any".
* NeverLiveItDown: Yep, Mensa is for high [=IQs=]. A lot of people consider Mensa to be full of itself for exactly that reason and nothing will ever budge them from that stance.
** To be fair to Mensans, it's hard for a tall person to state "I am tall" as a simple fact without sounding condescending to other people. Same with being in Mensa.
* NotSoDifferent: Folks in Mensa do all the things everyone does. They forget things. They make mistakes. They forget that just because they can often figure things out and usually leap to ''a'' correct conclusion doesn't mean they're ''always'' right.
** It's a joke and a polite jab among Mensans when they or another Mensan does something stupid to call out "Retest!"
** It's also said among them that "Mensans can do more stupid things faster than 98% of the population"
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Most large events will be attended by several different types, possibly ''none'' of which can perform surgery.
* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: The test. What an IQ score actually measures, however, is up to unending debate.
** However you don't really pass the test - you '''qualify'''. It's like having your height measured. If you ''want'' to be six feet tall but measure at five foot three, you didn't ''fail'' anything, you just ''aren't six feet tall''.
* PairTheSmartOnes: Mensa has plenty of singles looking for a match.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: If you're looking at them expecting them to do what's generally considered "smart" based on what you've seen on TV, you'll be disappointed.
** Very early on in Mensa's history one member complained that while intelligence was required to join, all they ever really did together is go out to dinner.
* PoorMansPorn: The January 1992 ''Mensa Bulletin'' cover became controversial due to its "pornographic" nature, with readers even writing in accusing the magazine of feeding their pornography addictions. The model was wearing a fairly modest negligee. Some Mensans later made fun of the discussion by complaining that one of the following covers, which was of flowers, was offensive because the flowers on the cover had their sexual organs showing.
* ProudToBeAGeek: Indeed, it is nice to not only be brilliant but have the membership card to prove it.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: See AlmightyJanitor above. Many people assume a lot of things about intelligence that are sometimes associated, but not a part of intelligence. Being smart doesn't mean you like classwork, got along well with teachers (try taking a class where you can think circles around the teacher- some ''really'' don't like it!), having good interpersonal skills, etc. That's why the vast majority of Mensans are average joes, just going on about their lives and not rocket scientists.
* ItRunsInTheFamily: There's a strong genetic connection to intelligence. When one person joins Mensa, it's not uncommon for other family members to discover they qualify and join, too.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: One of the nice things about being among other Mensans is you don't get quite as many strange expressions when you use a long/rare/complicated word. Other Mensans aren't afraid of asking for clarification or a definition, either. On the other hand, people who have been using such words just to sound smart to the masses will sound very obvious to members.
* SilentMajority: It's unfortunately not particularly surprising,[[note]]Mensans aren't stupid, after all.[[/note]] in an organization based on intelligence, that there are a lot of people with social anxieties or hectic schedules. There are many people who join Mensa but don't attend any events, which can be frustrating to the local group, who are trying to get some fresh faces.
* SmartPeopleKnowLatin: Played straight in the name - "Mensa" means "Table", but that was decided on back when Latin was a required high school course, too.
* SoreLoser: Let's face it, you have to be in the top 2% to join - that's the rule, and the line had to be drawn somewhere. Some folks just don't qualify, and their reaction can sometimes be a bit like a RageQuit.
** Anyone who ends up in the top 3% but not the top 2% needs to understand that they're ''still a pretty smart cookie''.
* SuperIntelligence: This is the closest you'll get in RealLife to the real thing, but as the rest of this page repeatedly points out it's not at all like it is in fiction.
* SurroundedBySmartPeople: Hi! Welcome to Mensa! Is this your first event?
** Some people who already work in intelligence-heavy jobs like engineers and teachers may think that this whole IQ thing is a crock because everyone they know is smart - that's usually because they're ''already'' SurroundedBySmartPeople (Not ''all'' software developers are Mensa quality, but it's a very safe bet most are in the top 25%) and don't get out among the lower/average IQ folks much, and not realize they are among SmallReferencePools of people.
* TheyWalkAmongUs: Top two percent ''sounds'' pretty rare... but it's not, really. That's 2 in every 100 people - ''one in fifty''. That means chances are very high (provided you know at least fifty people) that you know someone who qualifies. They may not even know they qualify. Heck, [[BreakingTheFourthWall YOU might qualify, troper]].
** 2% of the population of the 2012 United States of America (310,973,921) is about 6,264,020. If that percentage of the US were rearranged into its own state it would be the population size of Missouri, and the 18th most populous state of the 50. American Mensa (The largest chapter in the world) only has 57,000 members in 2012 (which would only amount to a small city or county in the USA), so it's not that Mensa folks walk among us, but ''lots'' of smart folks walk among us. Some of them probably don't even realize they're that smart. You can apply the same math to your own country.
* ThisAintRocketSurgery: It ''can'' be, but not necessarily.
* TranslationTrainWreck: Mensa was started in England, and no one knew how big it would eventually be. They chose "Mensa" for the noble reasons mentioned above, possibly not even knowing there would eventually be a [[http://www.mensa.org.mx/ Mexican chapter of Mensa]]... and "Mensa" loosely means "(female) dumb" in Spanish. "¿Eres mensa?" is "Are you dumb?"
** This is even worse if you're Mexican and ''[[DumbBlonde blonde]]''.
** In Italian it's "cafeteria", an extension from the original "table".
* WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: Averted. See AlmightyJanitor.

----

* Glenne Headly - Wife of Creator/JohnMalkovich, appeared in ''Film/MrHollandsOpus'', ''Film/SgtBilko'', and other films.

** You will notice often news reports will say things like "Child joins Mensa, IQ as high as UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein!" well.... Einstein never took an IQ test. The man was smart, no question, but we don't have a number to work off of - IQ tests were being developed ''while he was publishing his most famous papers''. Creator/StephenHawking's name gets thrown around in exactly the same way, but he's never taken an IQ test either (or at least never went public about it; he makes jokes that he doesn't know his IQ). If you think about it, when you've already conquered the field of physics and have multiple doctorates, why even ''bother'' taking an IQ test?

* Paul Ellering, the [[{{Kayfabe}} on-]] and [[ProWrestlingIsReal off-]] screen manager for the ProfessionalWrestling TagTeam Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors.

* DysfunctionJunction: You know how people with really low [=IQs=] seem to have little weird tics and issues? Same deal on the top side - think of it as both extremes are close to "the edge". Oh, there are many in Mensa who pull "normal" off well, but the smart are weird. [[http://medicaldaily.com/news/20120604/10149/genius-insanity-schizophrenia-bipolar-disorder.htm There have actually been studies done showing the link between genius and mental issues.]] Unfortunately OCD, ADD, ADHD, paranoia, autism, etcetera... many Mensans have at least a tiny pinch of an assortment of that stuff. Don't worry, though - if you qualify, [[OneOfUs you probably have something too!]]

The best place to go for information, of course, [[http://www.mensa.org/national-groups is the International Mensa Website's listing of each country's Mensa websites]]. Visit the site for your home country and they will have information on how to see if you qualify, and how to contact your local group.

** The top 1% is [[http://www.intertel-iq.org/ Intertel]]. Leans a little more intellectual than Mensa, but it's not really a big deal because if you qualify for ''it'' you can join Mensa, too.
** The top 0.1% gives you a choice of three. [[http://www.thethousand.com/ The International Society for Philosophical Enquiry]], [[http://www.oathsociety.com/ One-in-a-Thousand Society]], and [[http://www.triplenine.org/ Triple Nine Society]]
** The top 0.003% is [[http://www.prometheussociety.org/ The Prometheus Society]]. At this level and up you can't really join to be social - there's ''very few members in all''.
** The top 0.0001% is [[http://www.megasociety.net/ Mega Society]]. Get in there, and you're ''literally'' one in a million. You would certainly have the right to brag, though some argue that this far "off the chart" it's hard to gauge exactly what it means with so few examples around to study.

* SilentMajority: It's unfortunately not particularly surprising[[note]]Mensans aren't stupid, after all.[[/note]], in an organization based on intelligence, that there are a lot of people with social anxieties or hectic schedules. There are many people who join Mensa but don't attend any events, which can be frustrating to the local group, who are trying to get some fresh faces.

Some people refer to Mensa as an "elite" organization in a pejorative sense.[[note]]It doesn't help that "elite" is a rather broadly defined word. Yes, the most intelligent are absolutely "elite" in having the highest [=IQs=], but many in that group would not characterize themselves as "the best" or "superior to others" in most other respects. (And continuing on down the definitions, they are definitely not a 10-point typesetting commonly found on typewriters.)[[/note]] It's important to remember that Mensa's requirements are not intended to exclude, but to ''find and bring together'' highly intelligent individuals[[note]]Because it's not like it's very polite to go asking random people on the street their IQ[[/note]]. While of course there are some who join to prove something to themselves, the majority join to meet people and make friends. Some find it very helpful in understanding their own intelligence to have the chance to be around others who they already know are intelligent.

Mensa does not have an established platform or set of values. Individual Mensans can and do have opinions about religion, politics, etc - but the organization as a whole does not. Inside of Mensa are multiple Member-operated Special Interest Groups ([=SIGs=]), of varying activity levels on subjects which range from religion to politics to movies to ESP to medical conditions to food. A [=SIG=] must be approved by the national organization to become official, and cannot use the words "Mensa" or "Mensan" in its name[[note]]because to do so would seem to imply the larger organization's official endorsement of that special interest/opinion[[/note]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Lisa is invited to join the Springfield chapter of Mensa in "They Saved Lisa's Brain". The members of the Springfield Chapter are Comic Book Guy, Dr. Hibbert, Principal Skinner, Professor Frink, and Lindsay Naegle.

A country will have an Annual Gathering (AG) once a year. For instance, the American and Canadian [=AGs=] are usually held during the [[AmericanHolidays American Independence Day]] (July 4th) or Canada Day (July 1st) holiday weekends respectively. Sometimes World Gatherings are held, such as in 2006 to celebrate 60 years of Mensa - an estimated 2,500 members from over 30 countries attended.