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Neuroskeptic is, unsurprisingly, skeptical: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2017/10/22/intelligence-risk-illness/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.c

Neuroskeptic is, unsurprisingly, skeptical: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2017/10/22/intelligence-risk-illness/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2017/10/22/in... Secondly, I have concerns about the sample. This wasn’t a study of high-IQ people. It was a study of Mensans, a self-selected subgroup of high-IQ people. 6.5 million Americans fall in the top 2% of IQ, and only 55,000 of them are members of American Mensa. In other words, Mensans make up about 0.8% of high-IQs, and Karpinski et al. have data from less than 10% of Mensans, so the sample is seriously unrepresentative. The ‘national average’ comparison data, however, were taken from nationally representative American samples. The age, gender, and ethnic demographics of the Mensa respondants differ considerably from the national average. Even if we take the results of this study at face value, the ‘hyper-brain/hyper-body’ theory is rather horribly simplistic. It reminds me of ancient Greek humorism, or 19th century neurology’s talk of ‘nervous excitement’. The brain is not a gland that just pumps excitement when aroused.

loeg 9y ago
It may well be that higher anxiety people are more likely to join Mensa.
- lemagedurage 9y ago
  That sounds counterintuitive to me. "People with anxiety are more likely to join a community."
  - scientistem 9y ago
    Ehh, as someone with anxiety, it’s not that straightforward. Maybe you join it to socialize and improve your self esteem. Granted, the members I know just really like puzzles.
  - smallnamespace 9y ago
    Why? Communities allow people to work together to deal with shared problems -- like anxiety or not fitting in elsewhere.
  - ucaetano 9y ago
    Not really, people with anxiety are often looking for self-validation and self-affirmation. Joining a community that screams "we're more intelligent than 99% of the population" sounds like a fair way to go with that anxiety.
  - hmschreck 9y ago
    You would be amazed in this instance. Mensa has a reputation for being very 'superior', very 'elitist', and that's the type of organization that is more likely to attract the more typically anxious or neurotic personalities.
- eqmvii 9y ago
  I'd honestly be surprised if there weren't a correlation between distressed/disordered thinking of some kind and joining Mensa.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
coldtea 9y ago
>Secondly, I have concerns about the sample. This wasn’t a study of high-IQ people. It was a study of Mensans, a self-selected subgroup of high-IQ people Sounds like a BS reason to dismiss the findings. Any reason to believe that this "self-selection" has any impact on the people involved regarding "regular" non-mensa high IQ people? >In other words, Mensans make up about 0.8% of high-IQs, and Karpinski et al. have data from less than 10% of Mensans, so the sample is seriously unrepresentative. Again, BS. 0.08% can still be a perfectly valid sample. The only valid reason to dismiss it would be not its size, but whether Mensans are for some reason widely non-representative of hi-iq people at large.
- dmichulke 9y ago
  > Any reason to believe that this "self-selection" has any impact on the people involved regarding "regular" non-mensa high IQ people? Insecure people could prefer to counter their insecurity by hard to obtain status symbols such as Mensa membership.
- jey 9y ago
  No, the "methodology" of using a very self-selected group to represent the whole is certainly and unambiguously complete methodological bullshit. The problem is known as "confounding variables" or "common latent cause". For example, people with anxiety and depression may be more likely to join a club like Mensa. There's certainly interesting questions to explore here, but we shouldn't settle for this extremely weak sort of study. The authors are doing the best they can, but we should take this paper as a indication that further research in this area would be fruitful, not as an accurate measurement of the nature of reality.
  - coldtea 9y ago
    >For example, people with anxiety and depression may be more likely to join a club like Mensa. I already covered that though -- and said that if there was a reason to suspect a problem with the selection, then that would be an argument (and would have to be explicitly brought forth as such). Alone that Mensa is a small subset of the high IQ population (as was put forth) is not.

loeg 9y ago

It may well be that higher anxiety people are more likely to join Mensa.

lemagedurage 9y ago
That sounds counterintuitive to me. "People with anxiety are more likely to join a community."
- scientistem 9y ago
  Ehh, as someone with anxiety, it’s not that straightforward. Maybe you join it to socialize and improve your self esteem. Granted, the members I know just really like puzzles.
- smallnamespace 9y ago
  Why? Communities allow people to work together to deal with shared problems -- like anxiety or not fitting in elsewhere.
- ucaetano 9y ago
  Not really, people with anxiety are often looking for self-validation and self-affirmation. Joining a community that screams "we're more intelligent than 99% of the population" sounds like a fair way to go with that anxiety.
- hmschreck 9y ago
  You would be amazed in this instance. Mensa has a reputation for being very 'superior', very 'elitist', and that's the type of organization that is more likely to attract the more typically anxious or neurotic personalities.
eqmvii 9y ago
I'd honestly be surprised if there weren't a correlation between distressed/disordered thinking of some kind and joining Mensa.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

coldtea 9y ago

>Secondly, I have concerns about the sample. This wasn’t a study of high-IQ people. It was a study of Mensans, a self-selected subgroup of high-IQ people Sounds like a BS reason to dismiss the findings. Any reason to believe that this "self-selection" has any impact on the people involved regarding "regular" non-mensa high IQ people? >In other words, Mensans make up about 0.8% of high-IQs, and Karpinski et al. have data from less than 10% of Mensans, so the sample is seriously unrepresentative. Again, BS. 0.08% can still be a perfectly valid sample. The only valid reason to dismiss it would be not its size, but whether Mensans are for some reason widely non-representative of hi-iq people at large.

dmichulke 9y ago
> Any reason to believe that this "self-selection" has any impact on the people involved regarding "regular" non-mensa high IQ people? Insecure people could prefer to counter their insecurity by hard to obtain status symbols such as Mensa membership.
jey 9y ago
No, the "methodology" of using a very self-selected group to represent the whole is certainly and unambiguously complete methodological bullshit. The problem is known as "confounding variables" or "common latent cause". For example, people with anxiety and depression may be more likely to join a club like Mensa. There's certainly interesting questions to explore here, but we shouldn't settle for this extremely weak sort of study. The authors are doing the best they can, but we should take this paper as a indication that further research in this area would be fruitful, not as an accurate measurement of the nature of reality.
- coldtea 9y ago
  >For example, people with anxiety and depression may be more likely to join a club like Mensa. I already covered that though -- and said that if there was a reason to suspect a problem with the selection, then that would be an argument (and would have to be explicitly brought forth as such). Alone that Mensa is a small subset of the high IQ population (as was put forth) is not.