‘Cool’ people tend to have these six things in common, study finds

An international team of researchers may have just cracked the code for what makes someone “cool.”
The researchers found that, compared with people considered to be “good” or “favorable,” those considered “cool” are perceived to be more extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous.

“The most surprising thing was seeing that the same attributes emerge in every country,” said Todd Pezzuti, an associate professor of marketing at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile who was a co-lead researcher on the study.

“Regardless of whether it’s China or Korea or Chile or the US, people like people who are pushing boundaries and sparking change,” he said. “So I would say that coolness really represents something more fundamental than the actual label of coolness.”

‘Cool’ isn’t the same as ‘good’

The researchers – from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, the University of Arizona and the University of Georgia – conducted experiments from 2018 to 2022 with nearly 6,000 people across a dozen countries: Australia, Chile, China, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United States.

Musk is “undeniably powerful” and autonomous, he said, and appears to be extroverted due to his presence on social media platforms and in the media.

“I hear that he’s timid, maybe more timid than he seems, but from an outsider, he seems very extroverted. He’s entertaining. He’s on podcasts and always in front of cameras,” Pezzuti explained.