Comments on: Do You Overestimate Yourself? Everyone Else Does…

By: Goldie

Goldie — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:21:22 +0000

@ Liz #94, my oldest son was in 4th grade, and was having trouble getting along with his classmates. Because he’d been identified as gifted, I thought he might benefit from going to Mensa events. Since he couldn’t join himself b/c you have to be 14 to join, I joined instead, so I could bring him to events as family member. That’s the reason I joined; cannot speak for everyone on this thread. It did work for me as a social network, but that was a by-product – my main reason for joining was to try and see if my son would benefit.

BTW from what I know it’s considered bad form to mention your membership in public, and a bad move to put it on your resume – the latter is actually a good way to ensure you won’t get the job

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:46:12 +0000

Why would anyone seek out a MENSA membership?? Do you hope to put it on your resume? Is it something to reference if someone challenges your intellect? Is it a social network through which you meet other intellectuals? That one actually makes sense…

By: Goldie

Goldie — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:42:19 +0000

Just wanted to add a comment based on personal experience. From what I’ve seen, a Mensa membership is not an automatic 9 or 10 in intelligence, not by a long shot. I took my teenage sons to the Annual Gathering last summer. They were highly unimpressed with the general public. They each went to 2-3 programs each day, and socialized some in the hospitality room, so they got enough exposure to form their opinions.
Yeah, I’m a member, and my both kids qualify according to their school test results. No, I’m not going to rate myself. IMO rating is subjective anyway. In my age group, geographical location, and social group (Midwest geeks in their 40s) I may be a full ten in looks, but bring me to any beauty pageant, or, heck, into a group of women half my age, and watch me drop to a 2 or 3.
There should be ways to gauge yourself, as well as the people you’re considering dating – I just don’t know exactly what they are, and I think this quiz probably isn’t one of them – like I said before, too subjective.

By: starthrower68

starthrower68 — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 16:27:18 +0000

Ok this looks like a fun quiz:

Looks – 3; I have a pretty face and hair but from the neck down, no.

Intelligence – 8.

Career – 6; I’m employed by the State of Illinois which was once governed by George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich. I’m out of the clerical sphere and into the lower-t0-middle level management but I still haven’t cracked $50K a year.

Personality – 9. I’m only basing that on what my friends tell me.

That 3 though; that’s a real killer. Oh well. It is what it is.

By: Are We Stuck In Our “Cute-agory” Forever? « The Adventures of Emily Legend

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:44:11 +0000

[...] read Honey and Lance’s story about rank and they pointed me to Evan Marc Katz’s article based on the NYT’s Freakonomics Blog. Their theory is we rank ourselves higher than [...]

By: m

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:15:13 +0000

“the BF tried to drop his Mensa membership into conversation once, I think during a job interview, and the person didn’t know what it was. So then he had to explain, and it got all awkward. There’s definitely a time and a place (and honestly, that place is almost never).”

Definitely about gauging one’s audience, and THAT’S about “social intelligence.” (Which, I notice, is one of the things here NOT being “ranked”.)

I did it once (mentioned my MENSA membership – hey; the guy asked me) after I was invited to join in grad school, on a date. The guy was a PhD and attorney, so I figured it was not a big deal. Never heard from him again.

So never mentioned it on a date again either (among other “social intelligence” lessons from that particular statistical random sample).

I think there’s another thread altogether in here about which “rankings” are relatively VALUED by either gender, but we’ve got several topics in here already and as important as I think it, I have no intention to unduly derail.

By: A-L

A-L — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:27:41 +0000

I’ve been away, so please pardon the late reply.

Looks: 5-6 I’m average to slightly above average in appearance, though when I take greater care (ie, makeup, hair, etc) then I’m more like a 7. On facestat 2 out of 3 pictures qualified as good looking, and 1 as not bad.

Intelligence: 9 In school I was in the gifted program which required an IQ of at least 130 (ie, 98th percentile). Of course, I can always become more knowledgeable, but I have a good brain with which to work.

Personality: 7-8 I’m tactful and get along with most everyone, but it takes me awhile before I warm up to people enough to let them see the more fun, witty, and lively me.

Career: 6 As a teacher I’m in a professional field that earns relatively little money. But when compared with national medians for a family of 4…then it looks like I’m raking in the big bucks.

The guys I’ve dated:

Looks: 4-7
Intelligence: 6-10
Personality: 5-9
Career: 5-10

Of these 4 categories intelligence & personality issues are the top reasons why I’ve broken up with guys, followed by looks, and last career.

By: schlockdoc

schlockdoc — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:45:56 +0000

To Ben (#86):

I bet most women know their ‘looks rating’ pretty well (whether they want to admit it or not), whereas I bet most men don’t have a clue.

That’s because you can pretty well gauge the impression you’re making by the guys coming on to you.

For men it’s a little trickier because women don’t pursue men as rabidly, and when they do they’re more subtle about it and don’t typically choose their targets strictly on the basis of appearance.

By: hunter

hunter — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:53:39 +0000

to the rev on post #85

I have been told, women with low self esteem get into relationships at a young age and stay there. Most don’t realize what they have done, until they turn 40 or 50 years of age.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:39:09 +0000

This article claims the opposite, that people UNDER rate themselves:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1036795/The-beauty-prescription-Why-20-cent-attractive-think-are.html

Perhaps it’s true for women with body dysmorphia, but i’m not sure it’s true for men. Who knows.

It actually doesn’t look any more scientific than the freakonomics post. I’d love to see the actual ‘research’ which they cite.