The Italian Platform for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Margherita Lang, Michael Matta, Clara Michelotti, Emanuela Brusadelli, Serena Volpe
Intelligence assessment of members of Mensa Italia - The High I.Q. Society: A preliminary study on giftedness using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV
Keywords: Intellectual Giftedness; Mensa Italia; WAIS-IV; CHC Theory of Human Intelligence; Adulthood.
The current study aims first, to compare mean performance data of intellectually gifted individuals on the WAIS-IV with a matched comparison group; second, to revalidate the CHC five-factor structure of the WAIS-IV within this special group. 157 Italian Mensa members (125 males) were administered the full battery (i.e., both 10 standard and 5 supplementary subtests). The individuals were aged 18-60 years and had a mean age of 33.97 years (SD = 10.22). Results showed that i) Mensa members' IQ mean was approximately in the gifted range; moreover, they had the highest performances in visual perceptual reasoning, while they were relatively weak on processing speed; ii) CHC factor structure suggested by Pezzuti et al. (2017) was confirmed; Perceptual Reasoning Index grouped two different broad abilities, i.e. Fluid Reasoning (with Arithmetic loaded on it stronger than on Short Term Memory) and Visual Processing.