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From: jqb@netcom.com (Jim Balter)
Subject: Re: RACE and IQ
Message-ID: <jqbCyzE3w.6J9@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <387k9g$9hl@newsbf01.news.aol.com> <zlsiida.209.2EAE2FAB@fs1.mcc.ac.uk> <jqbCyo59M.85v@netcom.com> <CyxswC.B4M@festival.ed.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 1994 03:38:20 GMT
Lines: 33

In article <CyxswC.B4M@festival.ed.ac.uk>,
Chris Malcolm <cam@castle.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>In article <jqbCyo59M.85v@netcom.com> jqb@netcom.com (Jim Balter) writes:
>>In article <zlsiida.209.2EAE2FAB@fs1.mcc.ac.uk>,
>>Dave Budd <zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>>>Which scale?  On the Cattell scale the minimum for Mensa is, I think, 145, 
>>>and that takes the upper 2% of the population.
>
>>The Mensa requirement (98th percentile) is satisfied by a score of 132 on
>>CTMM, CTCS, Stanford Binet, or Otis-Lennon; 131 on Otis-Gamma; and 130 on
>>Wechsler.  If the Cattell scale equivalent is 145 then it is rather out of sync.
>>An IQ of 140 is considered genius, and if you have been to any Mensa functions
>>you know that you don't have to be a genius to join.
>
>Intelligence is necessary but not sufficient for genius. "Genius" has
>no more business on a scale of intelligence than "obstinate".

Words have more than one meaning.   One of the meanings of the word "genius"
is a technical one, meaning "scoring 140 or more on a standard IQ test".
That was my first usage above.  My second usage was more general.  The use
of two different meanings in this way is known as "amphiboly".  Amphiboly is
sometimes used in humorous forms.  It shouldn't take a genius to realize that
a certain amount of humor was intended.

BTW, attendance at Mensa functions and reading Mensa publications might lead
one to think that obstinateness is, if not a membership requirement, at least
worth some credit.  One thing that Mensans tend to ignore is that, while
a full 2% of the population are eligible, only 1% of those eligible actually
belong, and thus there may be a number of traits other than IQ scores that
are common among Mensans.
-- 
<J Q B>
