I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Once you hit about a 20 point IQ gap, meaningful communication starts to completely break down.
It's not that the lower IQ person is "stupid" (although that can be the case) or the higher one is arrogant, it's that you're literally operating on different systems.
A 20 point difference (roughly 1.3 standard deviations) means:
Vocabulary and abstraction levels diverge sharply. What feels like crystal clear logic to one side sounds like vague, pretentious word salad to the other. Jokes land flat. Metaphors get taken literally.
Complex cause and effect chains get simplified into "this good, that bad."
Different time horizons and pattern recognition play a part as well. One person thinks in months or years and sees systems, the other is locked into days or immediate rewards. Trying to explain second order effects feels like speaking another language.
A person who is stuck with first order thinking, cannot conceive of the second or third. To them, it feels like they are listening to someone desperately attempt to explain the concept of the infinite.
Also, processing speed and working memory gaps. The higher IQ person is already three steps ahead, getting impatient. The lower IQ person feels talked down to or overwhelmed.
Both walk away frustrated.
Both have wasted each other’s time.
English
