Mensa is an international, non-political organisation founded in Britain in 1946, which has more than 100,000 members in more than forty countries. Membership is open to anyone who can demonstrate an IQ in the top two per cent of the population, measured by a recognised or approved IQ testing process, usually through Cattell’s Culture Fair IQ Test (Mensa UK, 2010).
This study is primarily concerned with self-estimated intelligence (SEI) which is a topic of considerable current interest (Freund and Kasten, 2011 and Kaufman, 2012). The studies are now international ranging from Austria (Stieger et al., 2010) to Spain (Perez, Gonzalez, & Beltran, 2010) and Russia (Furnham & Shagabutdinova, 2012) and have been extended to issues like self-rated attention and concentration (Mengelkamp & Jager, 2007).
1.1. Domain-Masculine Intelligence type (DMIQ)
Over thirty studies that used the ‘multiple’ self-estimated intelligences model (e.g. Furnham, 2000, Furnham and Bunclark, 2006, Furnham et al., 1999, Furnham and Gasson, 1998, Furnham and Mkhize, 2003 and Rammstedt and Rammsayer, 2002a) have found that gender differences were strongest on the mathematical/logical and spatial intelligences, followed by overall (‘g) and verbal intelligences, with males significantly overestimating and females significantly underestimating their abilities. This consistent gender difference has been referred to as the Hubris-Humility Effect (HHE).
A meta-analytical study investigating the magnitude of gender differences in mathematical/logical, spatial, overall and verbal self-assessed intelligences (Szymanowicz & Furnham, 2011), found that the biggest weighted mean effect sizes were for mathematical/logical, (d = .44), followed by spatial (d = .43), overall (d = .37) and verbal (d = .07) intelligence, with males providing higher estimates in all but verbal intelligence. Mathematical, spatial and verbal intelligences were the best predictors of self-estimated overall intelligence as demonstrated through numerous multiple regression analyses (e.g. Furnham, 2001). This finding led Furnham (2000) to conclude that gender differences in SEI reflect laymen’s view of intelligence, i.e. an amalgamation of verbal, mathematical and spatial intelligences. Furnham (2000) proposed that people view intelligence as ‘male-normative’, since mathematical/logical and spatial intelligences are areas where males are believed to excel.
This particular claim is explored in this study with the introduction of the ‘Domain-Masculine Intelligence’ (DMIQ), a composite of mathematical/logical and spatial intelligences. This study sets to investigate whether gender differences in the numerical-spatial factor of SEI will be confirmed among Mensa UK members who have an interest in intelligence and possibly know how they scored on a test that made them eligible for membership. Given the similarities between gifted and normal populations however and the demonstrated ‘humility’ among gifted females (e.g., Roznowski, Reith, & Hong, 2000), it is predicted that HHE will prevail on DMIQ (H1).
1.2. Knowledge about intelligence
Mensa UK keeps its members abreast about diverse findings and developments in the intelligence research. Equally, it seems natural for intellectually gifted individuals to be more aware of their abilities and have a thorough understanding of expert and laymen views of intelligence. Likewise, previous research has shown that cultures do not differ much in their understanding and Beliefs about Intelligence (e.g., Swami et al., 2008). This claim will be tested with the highly intelligent sample, using a questionnaire based on experts’ opinions about intelligence, but in regards to gender differences. This was the result of academic psychologists’ responses to the Bell Curve controversy where 50 international experts agreed 50 “facts” about intelligence ( Gottfredson, 1997). It was assumed that Mensa members would endorse the views of the experts but it was predicted that no significant gender differences will be observed in Beliefs about Intelligence among British Mensa members (H2).
1.3. Gender identity
Various other studies have looked at whether it is gender or gender role that is most clearly responsible for differences in SEI (Furnham et al., 1999, Rammstedt and Rammsayer, 2002a and Szymanowicz and Furnham, under review). The results suggest that gender role/orientation is less related to SEI than biological sex but that masculinity tends to be associated with higher estimates. Gender identity variables are reintroduced to ascertain whether the previous findings about the observed relationship with DMIQ with normal populations will be replicated in the intellectually gifted sample. Thus, a positive relationship between masculinity and DMIQ is expected to be observed (H3).
The relationship between gender, gender role/identity variables, Beliefs about Intelligence and DMIQ will also be explored. Based on the literature about the role of age in SEI (Rammstedt & Rammsayer, 2002b) age is also included in the analysis to establish whether the previously observed age-DMIQ relationship will be replicated in this sample. Thus it is predicted that gender, age and Beliefs about Intelligence will be correlated with DMIQ (H4). In accordance with reported findings (e.g., Roznowski et al., 2000 and Shea et al., 2001) gender is expected to be the best predictor of DMIQ over and above gender identity variables and Beliefs about Intelligence (H5).
