Whether you’re in San Francisco, Santiago, Sydney or Seoul, one thing is universal: People want to be seen as cool. But what does “cool” mean? And does it differ from country to country?
My colleagues Todd Pezzuti, Jinjie Chen and I attempted to answer these questions in a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. We asked nearly 6,000 people, ages 17 to 75, across 12 countries to describe what makes someone cool (or uncool).
Each respondent rated either a person they considered cool or a person they didn’t across 15 personality traits: agreeable, conscientious, extroverted, open, calm, adventurous, autonomous, capable, conforming, hedonistic, powerful, secure, traditional, universalistic and warm.
In every country, despite cultural and geographic differences, six traits characterized cool people.
Most people follow the rules and strive to do what is expected. But cool people do things their own way.
