I am a qualitatively gifted, sensitive and perceptive adult, but always deliberately underachieved in school, which inhibited the pronouncement of my true abilities. It is personally extremely important for me to understand and quantify why I am the way I am, but have yet to do so in any definitive way. I want to know what my actual IQ is without the distortion from my intrinsic self limiting mentality, however I have only been able to expose and utilize my full faculties when I was in danger(silly as that may sound, it exemplifies my predicament). My IQ scores throughout school seemed to decline from about 130 to 115(stanford binet) by graduation, resulting from the accumulation of my inhibition and underachievement. I am fairly certain my actual IQ is higher, based on how fast I think, learn, and perceive things, but need it measured to get a girlfriend and meet people at Mensa . I would like to subject my self to neuro-psychological testing, but feel it will be partially inaccurate, since I am the one in control of my responses.

What forms of assessment are least susceptible to this type of skewing?

Is it possible to develop a healthy identity without being surrounded by other gifted individuals? Are there any recommended directories for counsellors that can help gifted people grow into their own skin so to speak?

If you just want to know your IQ, why not do Mensa testing? That's what I did. You can do a home test first (they mail it to you and you mail it back to be marked once you've completed it). The home test is not eligible for membership qualification, of course - you need a proctored test for that (I did both).

The home test is only as accurate as the degree to which you follow the instructions. Use a timer, and follow the exact time frame that they give you. Make sure you've had adequate sleep, proper nutrition, and prevent all interruptions (I unplugged my phone). They mail you the results to let you know if your score would have qualified you for membership, and then you can decide if you want to proceed with the proctored test.

You can skip the home test, of course - you don't have to pay to do both. Once I got my score (IQ 153) I wondered why I'd wasted my time at home and not gone directly to the supervised test.

Btw, I've never actually been to a Mensa function (I found my husband without an IQ test ;-) ...I just wanted membership status to put on my resume since I've never gone to university (long story short: anxiety, apathy and indecision got in my way).

A couple thoughts:

Mensa is heavily skewed toward men so maybe a good way for a woman to meet a boyfriend, but maybe not as good of a way for men to meet girlfriends (not impossible, certainly, but your odds aren't as good if this is your purpose in joining as it would be were you female).

Like the pp, I'd suggest just taking the Mensa admission test. Should you not qualify, you can always submit other evidence if you have or get it.

Regarding your statement that you took the SB repeatedly throughout school, if you have the results from those earlier 130 test scores, you can also submit those if they are on school letterhead or signed by a licensed psych with his/her license #. I believe that you only need to have one score at that point even if it is quite old. For that reason, I'm pretty sure that more than 2% of the population would qualify for Mensa.

I guess I'm not really understanding completely why you want the information. In what way has your previous IQ testing interfered with your goals and aspirations?


It sounds as though you'd like a higher number to serve as...

motivation for self-improvement?
a boost to your self-esteem?
explanation for a feeling of alienation from most people you know?
a desire to feel superior to others?
a way to make up for feelings of disappointment regarding your education/career/accomplishments?
a factor in deciding a path forward in your life?

What if 115 is your IQ? Modern research has suggested that IQ may not be as static throughout a lifetime as was previously assumed. Perhaps your actual IQ has drifted downward over time as you've underachieved.

How will that make you feel?

Supposing that your IQ is 150-- what then?


There is a risk in that number becoming a burden in a variety of ways, a (false) badge of honor that defines you, or even an emblem of wasted potential and shame/guilt.


My advice is to ask yourself very carefully what use this information will be to you, and to examine your reasons for wanting it.

It won't make you a different person. It won't change the past. It won't entitle you to much of anything. It might change your self-perception fairly significantly; that might be a good thing if the results are better than you expect, and it might be a worse thing if they aren't.


You also asked something that I found quite odd:

"Is it possible to develop a healthy identity without being surrounded by other gifted individuals?"

Forgive me for saying so, but it sounds as though you are wondering if diversity is "harmful" to the development of a sound self-image, ultimately. I think that is obviously absurd in its own terms.

If by this you meant "affirmation" of gifted traits, then yes, exposure to other gifted people seems to be reassuring to such children, and lead to healthier development (which is an argument in favor of ability grouping and gifted identification in schools).

Most of the people I encounter in the course of living my life are distinctly average and not at all gifted, and this has always been true. Furthermore, it's entirely irrelevent to them that I am gifted. (If I offer my credentials/bona fides out of context, in fact, I have probably just irrevocably labeled myself as socially illiterate or worse.) This may come as a shock, but-- nobody gives me a special express lane at the grocery store, a passing lane all my own on the freeway, or special consideration at book club meetings. Not for my PhD, not for my IQ score. Upsetting, truly-- I earned that degree through my own hard work, after all.


While I can (sort of) understand wanting an IQ number, knowing the number really doesn't change anything about an adult's life circumstances. In children, there is a very fundamental reason to know; that being that gifted children are almost inherently asynchronous in development. Presumably this is not really true for most adults over the age of about 26.

My IQ really doesn't define me, and in some ways, being fully aware of possessing a number over 150 makes life harder, not easier. Why? Because it invites me to limit "intellectual peers" in an inherently artificial (and unhealthy) manner.

Some average people have things to teach me about being a better person, or a happier, more fulfilled one. I have certainly learned patience and compassion from those whose processing speeds are slower than mine. I don't pick potential friends by what their IQ's are-- because it's inherently not a very sensible thing to do. (I say that from the perspective of being 45 years old, however.) When you've seen one gifted person, you've seen ONE, basically, and that is also true for ALL people.

My spouse's IQ value is lower than mine. Significantly so, in fact-- about 10 points on averaging multiple measurements. The reality, however, is that he is far more 'mathy' than I am and probably has a faster processing speed numerically, but my spatial skills and raw problem-solving ability exceed his. On the old S-B, that latter ability led to my higher scores. The day-to-day reality is that it isn't of much practical significance. I know these things to be true because I've spent two decades with him. I'm so lucky that my score didn't intimidate him or make him feel insecure!! And, no, while both eligible, neither of us has ever belonged to MENSA. We met in graduate school. Which is sort of like MENSA for more pragmatically-motivated gifted people, frankly.

We are adults. Learning as adults is frequently about desire for self-improvement/enrichment far more than it is about ability or grouping with age-mates. My husband and I are both curious and like learning and pursuing our passions (which are varied and esoteric). That trait is something we have in common. The same might be said of a friend with an IQ of 115, though, if that person is also curious and shares some of my interests, and might be untrue of someone with an IQ of 150 who happens to (in my estimation) be an arrogant, closed-minded jerk.

IQ is quite a crude tool for understanding likely differences in necessary educational environments in children. I'm not convinced that the information has much meaning for adults. It does have the potential to create barriers for us psychologically, however, and that is why I'd urge some introspection about the 'why' of such a desire.

Why not proceed on the basis that your suspicions about yourself are true and pursue life on those terms? Why not begin living as though that number were what you think that it SHOULD be? What could be wrong about that?

I hope that you don't find this offensive; it isn't that I'm saying that you are not correct in your personal insight into your previous underachievement. I'm just saying that there may be a dark side to actually knowing, and I'm not really seeing what the benefits would be.

If you have never had a chance to do so, you might consider reading about Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration. I suspect that you may be a relatively young adult (?), and if so, it is entirely possible that what you're experiencing is perfectly normal in that context.

erm, I read the "get a girlfriend" part as something like "I have my own reasons for wanting to know, but I don't wanna tell you what they are, so don't ask."

Which seems fair to me.

I have reasons for wanting to know about myself, but they're bad ones, so I'm not telling about them either. No matter how much I tell myself they're bad, I still wanna know... so maybe if I were a little more mature I'd go get tested

OP's questions at the end are aufully good questions, though I think the second one is probably "no"?

"surrounded" doesn't mean the same as "surrounded exclusively" --adding an element to diversity doesn't damage diversity. Jus' sayin'

I'm a bit curious why the dominant opinion (I've seen roughtly this question here and elsewhere before) seems to be "don't do it, it's not worth knowing?" There's a lot of things I'm curious about that aren't worth knowing, but the questions kinda burn my brain until I go looking. Why is this particular question so charged that it's worth saying "don't do it?" Eh, Eh, Eh?

Shutting up now, sorry for the boat rocking

-Mich

Yes, I wasn't presuming to feel entitled to any answers to the questions that I posed. Not at all-- only that the OP should probably ask them of himself.


Ahhhh...

while I am also curious, I've learned the hard way that seeking data which is "maybe useless/not useful/ambiguous" presents problems of its own. Is it accurate? What does it mean? Is there any HARM in having the information? This is the same argument against full-body, 'just because' MRI's and CT scans, expense aside. If you learn something that you can't DO anything about, or maybe something that you can do something about but probably shouldn't...

make sense?

So. IQ and adults. In adults, largely, IQ has nothing to do with destiny. Motivation and persistence have MUCH more to do with success than IQ does.




If you're happy, successful in a competitive field/endeavor and consider yourself "capable and intelligent" then what good would it do to discover that your IQ is actually only 105?

On the other hand, if you're lonely and living in your parents' basement delivering pizzas as a high-school dropout, what good does it do you to learn that your IQ is 165?

It just gives you a reason for self-doubt in the first instance, and maybe arrogance/guilt/shame in the second. It's not really very useful in either case, and the number (whatever it is) can't be used to fire the first person any more than it can be used to secure admission to an Ivy League school in the second.

As adults, we largely are what we make of ourselves and our potential. The arguments in favor of IQ testing mostly apply to children.

Bottom line-- this is something for which there is no "un-do" switch. Once you know-- you know. That's why it seems to me to be a good idea to make sure that it's really what you want/need to do.

So true. (SO true, lol!)

For the most part, it's just a number.

For myself, however, it proved valuable because it gave me insight in to why I've always been "different." I've always been more sensitive, more reactive, more obsessive, more idealistic, more easily distracted, more intense, etc etc etc etc (did I mention etc? ;-) You guys all know.

Even though I knew I was clever, I wasn't educated in some of the behavioural differences that can go along with this. My friends all handled me with kid gloves, telling me I should "get help." I was made to believe there was something wrong with me, and I was plagued by the fact that no one understood me.

I was in my late 20's when I did the testing, and it helped to give me an idea of how differently I was wired. Not "wrong," just different, and to what degree.

It was almost like... a diagnosis, of sorts, and things started to make more sense for me. I started being a little kinder to myself.

(LOL oh and I was SO MAD that I scored below 160... so funny). Ah, I was young and silly.

Now I don't really care because as HowlerKarma says, it's what you DO with what you have that counts. Still, testing (as an adult) really helped me.

If all you want is to apply for Mensa, old scores or the Mensa test are easy and inexpensive options.

If you are looking for a better understanding of yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, and whether your underachievement was related to a learning disability or other issue, an assessment can give you much more than a full-scale IQ score. A cognitive assessment can give you a breakdown of your performance on various subtests, and a skilled psychologist can work with you to interpret the results in a meaningful way.

I have had an assessment as an adult, and it was a valuable experience that gave me new insights.

Howler, I'm not sure why you seem to be focused on possible harm from testing. Testing is just information. Harm may come from how we interpret it, but in my opinion helpful insight is more likely... indeed if we are so invested in a particular score that this knowledge would be harmful to the self, it might be a really good idea to examine our beliefs about IQ.

I agree. Much more useful to have a cognitive assessment.

(Hi Cathy!)

I don't think that I'm really focusing on probable harm-- just noting that it's not entirely without risk.

The underlying reasons for seeking the information are pretty important in determining risk vs. benefit.

A belief in underachievement suggests to me that the OP may be vulnerable to attaching a lot of self-worth to the single value from a "true" test to determine IQ. I think that you're correct that it may be more insightful to seek a more complete kind of picture when something like significant underachievement is suspected.

Hi, Howler

To the OP: Consider looking for a professional who offers therapeutic assessment to explore your underachievement. It's true that your responses are affected by your emotions and inhibitions, but if you let go of wanting to know your "real IQ" (there is no such thing... your IQ is not tattooed on your brain somewhere), the fact that *you* are part of your performance can actually provide a way to investigate *you*. And that's what you say you feel driven to do....

Sending encouragement

Hi OP,

I haven't been tested and have lived most of my adult life to date having no idea that I was any different to anyone else. I just found myself extremely frustrated with the world. The birth of my daughter, who is PG by IQ score and achievement, and the subsequent discovery that this was not unusual in my family made me realize that there are different ways of thinking and that I do actually think differently to many. Finding peers for my daughter put me in contact with a lot of gifted adults, all of whom - as someone else pointed out in an earlier post above - are individuals with incredibly diverse interests. Many of whom I have NOTHING in common with. Many of whom I adore.

In my own case I have a strong belief that if you had given me an IQ test before I had had my daughter I would not have scored as highly as I would now. Not because of an increase in ability, simply because of mindset. A traumatic upbringing and a complete conviction that I was not good enough meant that as soon as I had to actually think I figured whatever it was was too hard and so I just wouldn't try. Now I know that if I actually give it some thought - even for a moment - lots of things I previously dismissed as 'too hard' are actually very easy. So from my own experience I can see how IQ scores can move up and down depending on how you're feeling about your own capabilities.

In terms of meeting a girlfriend, well, I can only suggest getting out in the world. You connect with people or you don't - I ended up meeting my very smart husband through a temping job in a call centre early in our careers. We both now earn 6 figures. So don't discount anything.

Finally, being smart doesn't really mean much without kindness, authenticity and hard work - a small majority of the very gifted people I know don't score highly on these measures - I suspect because they've invested so much in being smart. What I have learnt? Be genuine, don't place too much stock in being smart as a measure of your value, work hard and make an effort to put yourself in places you think you'll find interesting - that will stand you in good stead.

I'm in favor of getting data.
I missed qualifying for Mensa by 1 point on their test. I had what I'm calling "chemo brain" during it and I had a hard time thinking near the end of it (my processing speed has been slow since I had chemo at 16 and I've suffered from "brain fog" for a long time from it. I recently discovered chemo brain is a known long-term side effect.)

Even though I missed by a point, it validated my feelings that I probably could have benefited from being in a gifted program as a child. Missing by one point didn't really matter... I just wanted to know where I was at.

Even though 130ish is supposedly in the socially optimal range... I still feel like it helps explain why my childhood was so difficult. It also gave me some more confidence in my abilities in face of all the underachieving I've done in my life.

I know now that even on the days when I want to cry because my brain seems to be working so slowly - I am still functioning at a pretty high level. I don't need to feel so desperate about it. I can just accept my slow days and work with what I've got.

I sort of question this assumption as well, honestly. I can't see as how being in about 2% of the general population would put one in a spot where s/he is similar enough intellectually to be socially optimal. I guess that it depends on where one lives. As an undergrad at Berkeley, I do think that I fit fine b/c the population as a whole was skewed toward brighter than average. When I've lived in areas where the general population is statistically fairly normal, I've found that 98 percentile people or those who are somewhat higher, but not necessarily PG are still a bit atypical and I wouldn't call it socially optimal.

IMHO, if the only factor we're taking into account is IQ score, socially optimal would be more like 110-115: bright enough to seem smart, but not so much so as to appear strangely different. This, again is assuming that one lives in a statistically average location.

If you want to get into Mensa in the U.S., just take the GMAT if you're good at those kinds of tests. They will take the top 5%.

I can't help you with the underachievement thingy.

I would caution you against putting all your eggs in this particular basket.

I learned my IQ at age 17. In some ways it made validated and made sense of a lot of frustrations/impatience I had when trying to interact with other people. On the other hand, it also left me feeling more isolated and alone. Being "off the charts" can feel very very lonely.

I agree with others that counseling isn't a bad idea. It might help to sort through exactly what you are looking for and why.

Nothing wrong with wanting to get your IQ tested. I love data, I totally get it. But it is unlikely to solve any problems you have and may even present some unexpected new ones.

Best wishes, whatever you decide!