But why does “cool” just seem instantly familiar even when it transcends geographies, cultural boundaries and generations?
Psychology is of the view that it is not about any single hairstyle, soundtrack, or brand of confidence but it is more about a common manner in which people interpret social cues. Finding that there is a striking consistency to how participants in a dozen countries defined cool was in a large cross-cultural project published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. The study was based on experiments that were conducted between 2018 and 2022 and included almost 6,000 participants, who were asked to consider a person they knew, who either was or was not “cool”, “uncool”, “good”, or “not good”, and rate this individual using a set of established personality and values scales.
In environments as diverse as Australia, Nigeria, South Korea and Turkey, “coolness” concentrated on the same six perceived characteristics, extraverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open, and autonomous. One of the co-lead researchers Todd Pezzuti expressed the surprise of that trend: The most surprising was the fact that the same attributes are found in all countries.
This uniformity can be attributed to why coolness diffuses so fast. The characteristics are portablable: they can be read in a hallway, on a mini-screen, or in an overcrowded place. Extraversion signals approachability and social energy; autonomy signals that one is not dependent on the expectations of the local setting; openness and adventurousness are indicators that one is ready to do what others have not done so far. In this case, power operates not as authoritative power but as perceived influence, that is, as the process of making things move, the process of establishing a pace, or a decision and making other people abide by it. Even hedonism, which is often regarded as a morally problematic category, expresses appetite and intensity, which may seem like fearlessness since it is assessed as managed, not disorderly.
Cool is also a quick way to go as it is not equal to the term “good.” The same studies concluded that “good” was more inclined towards a distinct group of impressions that are calm, conscientious, agreeable, warm, secure, traditional, and conforming, qualities that are indicative of safety and reliability and not novelty. One of the co-lead researchers, Caleb Warren, concluded this overlap and this tension: To be perceived as cool, someone must be at least a little likeable or admirable, which makes them like good people. Nevertheless, cool people usually possess other characteristics that do not necessarily qualify as good in a moral way, such as being hedonistic and strong.
That difference is important since it explains what individuals are, in fact, rewarding when they reward coolness. The word cool sends a useful message in a fast-changing environment, with tastes, technology, and norms rapidly changing, “that this individual can help negotiate change.” The release of the American Psychological Association states that with the spread of entertainment and fashion industries globally, the definition of cool has solidified on the same list of values and qualities worldwide. That is to say, culture does not export aesthetics as such, but exports a template of how effective individuality looks like.
The data has limits built into it. The study was limited to those who are conversant with the slang meaning of the word cool, and most of the work was done online, which limits what can be asserted regarding communities that are not so exposed to the word or the internet culture. Despite this fact, the results provide a practical rationale of the speed of cool: once societies develop a large number of societies that independently learn about treating the same personality cues as something that signifies status and cultural momentum, cool becomes easy to perceive, and even easier to emulate.
