It Takes One to Know One

The Delightful Spousal Unit had a party in celebration of her birthday just passed on Saturday, with a turnout of several friends of random connection. It seems everyone had a connection of some kind with someone else there that they might not have known about otherwise. And of course, cake. Good times.

And here's a bit more retroblogging, this time on the subject of IQ, from maybe a year ago:

I've only taken two psychologist-administered IQ tests, the first when I was five. The circumstances are telling: I was referred for testing when I was five because my kindergarten teachers were concerned that I might have a learning disability. I wasn't paying attention in class, was a little disruptive, and had difficulty completing tasks. I remember the test, since I remember my parents being a little apprehensive and telling me not to worry about it, which of course makes five year olds sit up and take notice. I was initially concerned, but found out that the testing was a heck of a lot more interesting than kindergarten; plus they gave me a toy to keep. Of course, no one told me what the test was for or why I was there or how I did until much later. Based on some clues in my school records, I believe it was the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, and I did pretty well. Roughly 99.9th percentile well. I think my parents were happy that I didn't have a notable learning disability, because it was entirely plausible that I would, since my father is severely dyslexic. The kindergarten teachers had to adopt a new theory. Mostly, I think they just let me be.

My parents had me tested again the summer I turned fifteen on the recommendation of a teacher in a summer school class for "gifted and talented" students. Apparently I was a standout among the standouts, but the score I got on this test (The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) wasn't quite so ridiculously high, around the 99.5th percentile, although I was younger than the 16-year-old minimum for the scaling factor, so it may have been understated slightly.

And what did I do with this knowledge of my relatively high intelligence quotient? I kept it to myself. It's too bizarre a thing to relate, really, and I was both obvious nerd and social outcast already, and IQ didn't exactly equal bragging material even in my circle of fellow brainy outcasts. It seemed like being proud of having brown hair. After all, what could you do about it? And as the saying goes, "if you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" My take on it was, it was clear I was good at something, but it wasn't that clear that what I was good at was good for much in the real world.

I just did the Tickle test and got a 142, not out of line with the other scores. I've taken the various unofficial test yourself tests for grins and gotten scores ranging from 130-odd to 178 (woot!) and clearly, the only common thread here is that people who have high IQs are the people who do well on these tests. If you've ever been to a Mensa meeting, you quickly learn that IQ correlates poorly with success in life by many standards, but it does seem to correlate well with idiosyncratic behavior, sci-fi and fantasy convention attendance, SCA membership, weird hobbies, and sadly a certain sort of immaturity in interpersonal relations. I joined in college, went to a couple of meetings, then let my membership lapse. I remain interested in IQ tests and the subject of IQ, of "g" or whatever it's being labeled these days, but not in a very serious way; more akin to how I like to do puzzles. For the fun of it.