Posted by caraher on July 27, 2005, at 14:55:02
In reply to Re: Is it really true that gifted people tend to.., posted by rubenstein on July 26, 2005, at 13:03:05
I don't think IQ is very meaningful, whether or not the kinds of tests they have online give inflated values. Though I have taken one or two and the scores have been fairly consistent with one another and with other standardized tests.
I like the remarks about MENSA. I've never understood the appeal of joining. I'm sure there exist chapters where people have a good time but that would be the result of the individuals involved, not the high test scores they happen to share.
I guess because standardized tests give numerical results there's a tendency to attribute too much meaning to them. I'm reminded of a social event at my university orientation where I overheard people at the next table discussing their SAT scores. I thought it was a weird thing even to bring up; after all, everybody there scored high enough to enter the same institution! So I mentioned this to the guys I was sitting with and rather than sharing my bemusement at the high level of interest in numbers that had outlived their usefulness they immediately swapped their scores! I was really surprised but didn't want to say something like, "Wait, I meant to laugh at the people who care so much about their SAT numbers!" When I didn't join in one of them said, "Oh, you probably didn't do so well or something..." and I just let it drop.
Better to let them think I had lousy scores than to play the one-upmanship game I found so silly by telling them I'd outscored them both by a substantial margin!
Anyway, I'm highly skeptical of the notion that the "gifted" are singularly prone to mental illness. Turn the question around; are the mentally ill more likely to be gifted? The gifted may be more prone to recognize their condition, and their mental illnesses are probably more likely to be diagnosed. But no quantity of anecdotes about famous and talented people can prove much more than that fame and talent are no shield against mental illness.
poster:caraher
thread:533423
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050726/msgs/534284.html