The Science of Cool: The Six Attitudes That Make You Irresistible (Anywhere in the World)

There's one thing everyone in the world seems to agree on. It doesn't matter if they live in Nigeria, Chile, or Spain. It doesn't matter if they're male or female, or 25 or 60. If you asked all these people what it means to be cool , the vast majority would answer the same: extroverted and hedonistic; powerful and adventurous; open and autonomous. This is, at least, what a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology suggests. It surveyed nearly 6,000 people from 12 countries and found that these six attitudes form a universal pattern around the idea of cool, repeating themselves in a surprisingly stable way across all the cultures analyzed . This shows that the idea has crystallized globally.

Todd Pezzuti is an associate professor of marketing at the Adolfo Ibáñez University School of Business (Chile). He holds a PhD in Management from the University of California, and one of his obsessions is studying how social influence can shape collective thinking . That's why he was interested in deciphering the global understanding of genius, cool, and coolness . "Some people say that being cool comes from confidence and competence, while others associate it with rebellion," explains the expert. He adds: "Others argue that the term has been so diluted that it's now just a synonym for being nice . We wanted to go beyond opinions and get real answers."

The desire to be cool , Pezzuti proposes, has an enormous impact on individuals and society. But why think this idea could be anything more than a construct of marketing, Hollywood cinema, or capitalism? The author has an answer: “We believe that cool people serve a specific function in groups and societies: they challenge boundaries and help bring about cultural change.”

Elena Daprá, a psychologist at the Official College of Psychology of Madrid, did not participate in the study, but agrees with the authors' argument. " Cool is not just a trend or an aesthetic phenomenon, but a universal psychosocial category that identifies people capable of inspiring, seducing, or leading emotionally without being bound by established rules." From a psychological perspective, she adds, it could be said that "these qualities activate evolutionary mechanisms related to social attraction, group differentiation, and the ability to generate desire and identification in others."

Despite this universality, the authors expected the concept to vary from country to country. The data—always capricious—surprised them, and there were far more similarities than differences. The selection of the 13 countries (including Spain) was partly for convenience and partly for theoretical diversity, Pezzuti notes. “We deliberately included countries like Turkey, Nigeria, and South Korea to capture a broader range of cultural perspectives ,” he explains.

In all cases, the researchers asked participants to think of four specific people: one who was cool, and one who wasn't; one who was good, and one who wasn't. The volunteers then answered a series of questionnaires measuring 15 different attributes. Thus, "good people" were collectively associated with ideas such as conformity, tradition, warmth, and tranquility. Cool people were associated with a very typical rebelliousness that, interestingly, has its origins in jazz culture more than 70 years ago.

A journey to the origins of 'cool'

1940s in the United States. Musician and saxophonist Lester Young takes the stage with a serious face hidden beneath sunglasses. It seems like a simple gesture: not smiling and covering his eyes in front of his audience. But he's challenging the racial norms of his time. This is how cool is born.

“If we think about African-American jazz musicians in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s, they played a fundamental role in defining the original meaning of cool ,” Pezzuti notes. For many of these artists, being cool was a form of silent resistance, the researcher explains, an emotionally controlled and confident attitude in the face of racism and exclusion. Musicians like Young, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk were distinguished by their detached confidence, independence, and artistic integrity. “Being cool wasn't loud or flashy. It was discreet, defiant, and dignified,” the author asserts.

Over time, this idea of cool —based on autonomy, nonconformity, and cultural innovation—has expanded and become commercialized. It was first adopted by subcultures like punk and hip hop, and later by brands, mass media, and finally, social media algorithms like TikTok. “The interesting thing is that even before the internet, there were already globally recognized cool figures: from James Dean to Muhammad Ali, from Frida Kahlo to David Bowie,” Daprá reflects. The difference is that now, visibility and virality accelerate the homogenization of this aspirational ideal, and everyone wants to be like everyone else.

Globalization has acted as a loudspeaker and stabilizer for the concept of cool on a global scale. “While the study shows that shared patterns of cool already exist, what social media, brands, and pop culture have done is consolidate and amplify these ideals in every corner of the planet,” the psychologist adds. In other words, today's hyperconnectivity hasn't created cool , but it has managed to unify its symbols, aesthetics, and narratives, making it more recognizable, desired, and stable everywhere. “From a psychological perspective, we understand that this responds to a very deep human desire: to feel free, admired, and emotionally influential within the group,” Daprá adds.

What probably does change from Madrid to, say, Mumbai, is how those traits are expressed. In one place, a person might seem cool backpacking through Europe, while in another, someone might express that same adventurous attitude by starting a startup or taking up a bold new hobby. “The behavior may look different, but the underlying traits are the same,” Pezzuti concludes.