Is there a secret formula that helps explain why people as different as David BowieSamuel L. Jackson and Charli XCX They seem so confident and so cool?
A new study suggests that There are six specific traits that these individuals tend to have in common: Cool people are largely perceived as:
The study, recently published in the journal Journal of Experimental Psychology, surveyed nearly 6,000 participants from 12 countries around the world. Their beliefs about what is “cool” were similar regardless of where they lived. and despite differences in age, income level, education or gender.
“What surprised me was the fact that the result was practically the same everywhere”says Caleb Warren, one of the study’s authors and a professor at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, who has researched consumer psychology for two decades.
In the studio, each participant had to recognize the word “cool” in English, without translation, suggesting that they were already familiar with the notions of “cool” from rich Western countries like the United States.
In that sense, study offers a window into the spread of cultural beliefs from one group of people to anothersays Joseph Henrich, an anthropologist and professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard, who was not involved in the study.
“On a global level, American success has led to the spread of musical styles and an immense amount of cultural contentincluding, apparently, the concept of cool,” says Henrich.
Being cool is not a very studied topic. Previous research have shown that being cool is often seen as a positive thing: these people are also friendly, competent, fashion-forward and attractive. But Warren and her colleagues wanted to know what makes a person distinctly “cool” rather than simply “good.”
So the researchers They asked participants to think of specific people: one who was great, one who wasn’t, one who was good, and one who wasn’t.. They were then asked to evaluate each person by answering questionnaires that collectively measured 15 different attributes.
While cool and good people had overlapping traits, Compared to their cool counterparts, good people were perceived as more conformist, traditional, secure, warm, pleasant, universalistic (the degree to which a person sees everyone and everything as equal or equally worthy of care and respect), conscious and calm.
Those who were perceived as capable were equally considered great and good.
A limitation of the study was that those who did not know the word “cool” were automatically excluded. Therefore, the data cannot determine how frequently the word is used in different countries or whether, in certain cultures, being “cool” carries a higher social status than in others. Besides, While the study included participants of a wide range of ages, the population skewed toward young people: The average age in each region was generally 30 years or younger.
Other studies have shown that there are important cultural differences that can affect the traits we value.
“Factors like aggression give us a higher status in some Western cultures and, at the same time, give us a lower status in the East,” warns Mitch Prinstein, chief psychologist at the American Psychological Association, who has written two books on the notion of gaining popularity, which can be a consequence of being cool.
Research on cool suggests that the desire to be one is particularly strong during adolescence and influences not only what people buy or who you admire, but also in how you talk and what you do for fun.
But what the general culture considers cool might not be the same as what you personally think is cool. So Warren and her colleagues asked each participant to think about the people they considered great versus the people they considered good. Interestingly, in general, traits typically associated with kindness or helpfulness were more often perceived as good than great.
So, is being cool a trait worth cultivating?
In this regard, Warren states: “I have serious doubts.”
Being cool, which involves taking risks and being socially precocious during adolescence, can generate popularity during youth, but a study published in 2014 revealed that many adolescents Those who behaved this way would have problems later, in their 20s, with alcohol, drugs, and relationships.. “They do more extreme things to try to look cool,” one of the researchers told The New York Times.
“For the popular kids at school, status is dominance, visibility, and attention.”Prinstein explains. But, he adds, it’s popularity that contributes to long-term success.
“Even the least cool kid will probably do well if he has at least one close friend,” he adds.
Maybe being cool—particularly the dismissive “I’m too cool for school” variety—isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
By Christina Caron.
