Менса: Международное общество высоких способностей

Largest and oldest high IQ society in the world

The word mensa ('/m//ɛ//n//s//ə/, ) is Latin for 'table', as is symbolised in the organisation's logo, and was chosen to demonstrate the round table nature of the organisation; the coming together of equals.

Australian Roland Berrill, and Lancelot Ware, a British scientist and lawyer, founded Mensa at Lincoln College, in Oxford, England in 1946, with the intention of forming a society for the most intelligent, with the only qualification being a high IQ. The society was ostensibly to be non political in its aims and free from all other social distinctions, such as race and religion. while Ware said: "I do get disappointed that so many members spend so much time solving puzzles." American Mensa was the second major branch of Mensa thanks to the efforts of Margot Seitelman. In 2021, British Mensa's web servers suffered a security breach in which member data was compromised. Two board directors resigned because of the lax cybersecurity.

Mensa's requirement for membership is a score at or above the 98th percentile on certain standardized IQ or other approved intelligence tests, such as the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales. The minimum accepted score on the Stanford–Binet is 132, while for the Cattell it is 148, and 130 in the Wechsler tests (WAIS, WISC). Most IQ tests are designed to yield a mean score of 100 with a standard deviation of 15; the 98th percentile score under these conditions is 130.8, assuming a normal distribution. Most national groups test using well established IQ test batteries, but American Mensa and German Mensa each developed their own application tests, which they administer and monitor themselves. However, American Mensa does not provide a score comparable to scores on other tests; the test serves only to qualify a person for membership. In some national groups, a person may take a Mensa offered test only once, although one may later submit an application with results from a different qualifying test. The Mensa test is also available in some developing countries such as Brazil, India, Indonesia and Pakistan, and societies in developing countries have been growing at a rapid pace.

Mensa has many events for members, from the local to the international level. Several countries hold a large event called the Annual Gathering (AG). It is held in a different city every year, with speakers, dances, leadership workshops, children's events, games, and other activities. The American and Canadian AGs are usually held during the American Independence Day (4 July) or Canada Day (1 July) weekends respectively. Since 1990, American Mensa has sponsored the annual Mensa Mind Games competition, at which the Mensa Select award is given to five board games that are "original, challenging, and well designed". In Europe, since 2008 international meetings have been held under the name EMAG (European Mensa Annual Gathering), starting in Cologne that year. The next meetings were in Utrecht (2009), Prague (2010), Paris (2011), Stockholm (2012), Bratislava (2013), Zürich (2014), Berlin (2015), Kraków (2016), Barcelona (2017), Belgrade (2018) and Ghent (2019). The 2020 event was postponed and took place in 2021 in Brno. The 2022 event was held in Strasbourg, and the 2023 event was held in Rotterdam. In the Asia Pacific region, there is an Asia Pacific Mensa Annual Gathering (AMAG), with rotating countries hosting the event. This has included Gold Coast, Australia (2017), Cebu, Philippines (2018),

All national Mensa groups publish members only newsletters or magazines, which include articles and columns written by members, and information about upcoming Mensa events. Examples include the American Mensa Bulletin, the Australian TableAus, the Mexican El Mensajero, and the French, formerly Contacts, now MensaMag. Aside from national publications, some local or regional groups have their own newsletters. Mensa International publishes a Mensa World Journal, which "contains views and information about Mensa around the world". This journal is generally included in each national magazine. The Mensa Foundation publishes the Mensa Research Journal, which "highlights scholarly articles and recent research related to intelligence". Unlike most Mensa publications, this journal is available to non members.

All national Mensa subsidiaries accept children under the age of 18. However, some national Mensas do not test the children themselves; many offer activities, resources, and newsletters specifically geared toward gifted children and their parents. Kashe Quest, the youngest member on American Mensa, the youngest member of British Mensa Adam Kirby and several Australian Mensa members joined at age two. Elise Tan Roberts of the UK and Miranda Elise Margolis of the US are the youngest people ever to join Mensa, having gained full membership at the age of two years and four months. In 2018, Mehul Garg became the youngest person in a decade to score the maximum of 162 in the test. American Mensa's oldest member is 102, and British Mensa had a member aged 103. According to American Mensa's generational classifications and published demographics (as of 2023), its membership is 8 percent from the Silent generation (born 1924–1942), 37 percent Baby Boomers (born 1943–1960), 30 percent Gen X (born 1961–1981), 10 percent Millennial (born 1982–2000), 12 percent Generation Z (born 2001–2020) and the remaining 3 percent other. The American Mensa general membership identifies as 64 percent male, 32 percent female, 3 percent unknown, and less than 1 percent gender non conforming or other.