No, I am not a member of Mensa. I was not put off by your question in any manner. I enjoyed reading the responses. I tried to participate with regard to my "non-standard" answer regarding paperwork. As I thougt the original a tad dated, its having been in Reader's Digest within the last year, I think. My Reader's Digest comment was not a slight. I suscribe and find it a very welcome read. My one regret and continuing challenge is to get a perfect score on the "Word Power" quiz. So far I think I did it maybe twice in my life.
Mensa. I have been invited to join a few times but declined as I thought I didn't really need anything they could do for me. I have read their newsletter (borrowed from an aquaintance) and then still thought it wasn't for me. Loved their advertisements from members. Stuff like "Buy insurance from me I'm a Mensan" or "Let me pump your septic cause I'm a Mensan" or "get into this (insert name of favorite pyramid scheme here) ground floor opportunity to retire wealthy in a couple minutes of your spare time while working at home". Please, Mensans, exercise your sense of humor and not castigate me for any perceived afront. I'm JOKING! I'm sure for many folks, Mensa provides a positive environment, I just didn't think I wanted to join.
Supposedly it puts you in contact with folks with things in common regarding interests, humor etc. I find plenty of intellectual stimulation on TBN and other sources. Most folks here are not humor impaired. Even with the difficulty of communicating nuances such as I just experienced with you, I still think TBN is more fun and useful than a Mensa meeting.
Mensa recognized IQ tests, including their own, are qualifying. That information is correct. I assure you that it is, or at least was, possible to qualify solely through your GRE (Graduate record Exam) scores if they are high enough. I did. Different scores are required depending on the date of the test and maybe some other specifics but I don't remember. As my first bout in grad school did not require taking the GRE (same school as BS) I didn't take the GRE until 1994 when I went back to grad school in Instructional Technology at a different university. Of course, subsequently, Mensa may have changed their policy. As of 2000 or early 2001 I think it was still that way, as I recall.
What your psych prof was doing before it had been given its current name was to introduce "Thinking outside the box."
As far as my taking the fun out of things... I don't get it. I enjoyed the question, the answers, the opportunity to try to offer an answer that too was thinking out of the box. What part took away the fun, the part where in response to your thinking outside of the box question, I responded outside of the box you expected/wanted?
If I, in fact, I reduced the fun for the participants by responding in kind, then I appologize for that and promise to do it again when a similar opportunity presents itself.
V/R,
Patrick
