In rule-based economies, people use language to establish social dominance (pen is mightier than the sword, tongue sharper than any rapier), which to a large degree reflects upon intelligence and education. The "original" English cultures believed that so much that they use the same word for those who can't talk and those who can't think.

When someone from these values looks upon a LawlessnessAndEconomics relationship-based economy and see its attendant reticent populace, they can often mistake the lack of vocalized thought for rampant shallowness. Especially when coupled with the conspicuous consumption of overpriced goods.

However, given that a culture has blocked the use of language to establish ranking by intelligence, we would expect intelligence signalling to occur via other difficult-to-fake means: music (ktv singing), attending difficult to get into schools, conspicuous consumption (which implies high income implies high intelligence), others?

Ultimately, some people will fall into this blink^{malcolm gladwell}-trap of seeing the other-cultured people as stupid. Because they have few or none of the intelligence signals in common, both think the other is stupid. Which yields the coup de grace that neither realizes that this relationship goes both ways.