how to research superior intellgence in grad school

[erg923]

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A friend of mine in my program is very interested in individuals (adults primarily) with superior intelligence. He is specifically interested in how intelligence is correlated with several factors including religious beliefs, career productivity, and overall psychological adjustment/adaptability. There are several assessment and neuropsych people at our program, but no one doing anything with superior intelligence. This is a rare research area in clincial programs especially I would think? He is working with a neuropsych person now, but the research is not grant funded and students can explore various areas using this person's accumalated archival data sets. I have told them this population is difficult to get access to, just because of the statistics involved in the base rate occurrence of superior intelligence.

I am looking for 2 things.
1.) researchers in this area and how they access this population. The only thing I can think of is contacting the local MESA chapter...lol 2.) And probably more importantly, how might he adjust this interest into a more viable research line in grad school? For example, I have suggested utilizing several archival databases our professors have and plucking out the ones with high intelligence and going form there. Alternatively, I have suggested augmenting the question to a more clinically focused topic, such as high intelligence and age of onset and type of dementias, etc. Those are just off the top of my head, haven't really thought them through yet. Any ideas on how to augment this interest in superior intelligence to something thats actually doable? On a personal note, what questions would you have for this population?

 

[Thrak]

MENSA is a good start. The Triple Nine Society may also be a good place to look (as you would guess, you have to be in the top 0.1% to get in).

Small sample sizes may be a problem though.