What is the essence of cool? A global study narrows it down to 6 key traits

Sheena Goodyear · CBC Radio

· Posted: Jul 03, 2025 6:29 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Cool is cool, nary substance wherever you are successful the world.

That's the decision of a caller survey that surveyed astir 6,000 radical successful 13 antithetic countries astir what makes a idiosyncratic cool, and recovered the answers to beryllium amazingly universal.

"We wanted to [look at] the deeper characteristics associated with chill people. How bash those alteration crossed cultures?" Caleb Warren, an subordinate prof of selling astatine the University of Arizona, told As It Happens big Nil Köksal.

"We recovered that, largely, they don't."

The study, published successful the Journal of Experimental Psychology identifies six perceived traits associated with chill people: extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, unfastened and autonomous.

And "perceived" is the cardinal connection here.

"Cool is an content we person of others," Warren said. "And I think, similar different impressions, we signifier these astir instantaneously."

The quality betwixt 'cool' and 'good'

The researchers surveyed 5,943 radical online betwixt 2018 and 2022 successful the United States, Australia, Chile, China, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey. 

They asked each subordinate to deliberation of 4 circumstantial people: idiosyncratic cool, idiosyncratic not cool, idiosyncratic good, and idiosyncratic not good. They past had the participants capable retired questionnaires evaluating the property traits of those people.

"The question we wanted to inquire successful this probe is: Is chill the aforesaid oregon conscionable different mode of saying you similar someone, oregon you deliberation they're good?" Warren said. "And truthful what we tried to bash is separate chill radical from bully people."

They recovered determination is, indeed, immoderate overlap betwixt the 2 — but besides immoderate precise large differences.  

Broadly, the authors say, bully radical were described arsenic much agreeable, conforming, traditional, secure, warm, conscientious and calm.

"Its not that being atrocious volition marque idiosyncratic cool," Warren said. "I deliberation being antithetic oregon chiseled oregon counter-normative is … what ends up making radical cool."

'One of the astir important American taste exports'

Rebellion is and ever has been at the precise bosom of cool, says writer and prof Joel Dinerstein.

"Contemporary chill owes everything to rebel counter-cultural movements, from Black jazz musicians to the [Beat Generation] to the punks," helium told CBC successful an email. 

Dinerstein has been teaching a people called "The History of Cool" for astir 20 years at Tulane University successful New Orleans. He's besides the writer of The Origins of Cool and curated the National Portrait Gallery exhibit American Cool.

He traces the origins of chill to the post-Second World War jazz scene, erstwhile Black musicians began "defying racism done language, style, and a nonchalant (cool) demeanour." In fact, helium says, it was U.S. jazz saxophonist Lester Young who coined the modern usage of the word. 

Despite cool's distinctly American origins, Dinerstein wasn't astatine each amazed by the study's decision that chill is simply a cosmopolitan concept. 

"Cool has been a planetary conception for much than a half-century," helium said. "It is 1 of the astir important American taste exports, on with the nation's euphony and sports."

Even the connection "cool" has go cosmopolitan crossed antithetic languages, Warren said.

"In our survey, we asked radical astir the connection chill without trying to construe it," helium said. "And truthful some the connection and meaning person dispersed astir the world, with the meaning mostly intact."

Is capitalism ruining cool?

But arsenic coolness spreads, does it suffer its edge? 

The study's authors accidental that implicit the years, coolness has strayed from its counterculture origins and morphed into thing "more mainstream" and "commercially friendly," with large brands similar Pepsi and Nike turning it into a commodity. 

But Dinerstein isn't excessively worried.

"I don't deliberation firm interests ever genuinely specify chill arsenic overmuch arsenic they, oregon the media, oregon definite lazy writers think," helium said.

Francis McAndrew — a societal scientist astatine Knox College and Illinois who has written astir the conception of coolness —agrees.

"I don't deliberation that popular civilization and advertizing are creating the representation of what it means to beryllium chill arsenic overmuch arsenic they are relentlessly reminding america astir it to merchantability america stuff," helium said.

Ultimately, Warren says the worth of coolness lies successful its powerfulness to change the presumption quo by raising the societal presumption of radical who "are capable to determination a civilization guardant by innovating oregon coming up with caller ideas."

It's also, helium says, not easy manufactured. In a abstracted probe task he's moving on, he's recovered that radical who actively effort beryllium chill are usually perceived arsenic little cool.

"I deliberation it's imaginable to go cool, but you request to beryllium careful," helium said. "If you travel crossed arsenic trying to beryllium cool, that's not going to work."