Mensa For Top Minds

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31071, 28 May 1966, Page 21

Mensa For Top Minds

Mensa, a society for those who intelligence tests place them in the top 2 per cent, will hold its inaugural meeting in Wellington. So far it has 18 members out of 220 who applied for tests.

The New Zealand branch was founded by Mr Michael Colgan, and now tyiss Majorie Meakins, founder of the Australian society in 1964. is in New Zealand to give encouragement. Mensa International has about 11,000 members. It was created after Sir Cyril Burt’s suggestion that a panel of highly-intelligent people should be set up in Britain to advise statesmen and other major decision makers.

A Christchurch psychologist, who preferred not to be named, is a member of the British society but said he knew of no others in this area.

In theory, he said, the top 2 per cent of all people were eligible for Mensa which could. mean about 50.000 people in New Zealand. But in practice it was unlikely that more than half these would pass the tests because they demanded not merely unusual ability but an active interest and curiosity about one’s own intellectual capabilities.

The psychologist said Mensa had conducted studies on the opinions and beliefs of members on current issues and social problems. Although these did not differ greatly from the rest of the population, good and coherent reasons were given.

“It is not generally realised that persons of very high intelligence are sometimes difficult to employ because the vast majority of jobs fail to hold their interest,” the psychologist said. “They will often take on secondary activities which are, in themselves, intellectually demanding. There are fewer occupations in New Zealand than

overseas which present a real challenge to this type.”

The establishment of Mensa in New Zealand could do much to help find out what use the country was making, or could make, of its minority with potentially very high intelligence, said the psychologist.