The findings suggest that there are six specific features that Great people (Bacanes, Cheveres or Guay) They usually have in common.
Is there a secret ingredient that explains why people as different as David Bowie, Samuel L. Jackson And Charli XCX seem so safe and, well, so cool?
A new study suggests that there are six specific features that these people usually have in common: People cool —What in Spanish it can be translated as great, chévere, cool, chida, bacán – is largely perceived as Extrover, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous.
The study, which was published on Monday in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, surveyed almost 6000 participants from 12 countries around the world. Your beliefs about what it is cool They were similar regardless of where the participants lived in the study and regardless of age differences, income level, education or sex.
“What left me hallucinated was the fact that the result was practically the same everywhere,” said Caleb Warren, one of the authors of the study and professor of the Faculty of Administration Eller of the University of Arizona, who has been investigating two decades investigating Psychology of the consumer.
In the study, each participant had to recognize the word “cool” in English, without translation, suggesting that they were already familiar – or perhaps even idolized – the notions of what cool of the wealthy western countries, such as the United States.
In that sense, the study offers a window to the spread of cultural beliefs from one group of people to another, said Joseph Henrich, anthropologist and professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard, who did not participate in the study.
“Worldwide, American success has resulted in the dissemination of musical styles and an immense amount of cultural content, including, the concept of what cool“Henrich said.
It cool It is not a very studied topic. Previous investigations have discovered that it is usually considered as positive: who is cool It is also nice, competent, modern and attractive. But Warren and his colleagues wanted to know what makes a person clearly cool And not just “good.”
So the researchers asked the participants to think of specific people: one that was coolanother that was not, another that was good and another that was not. Then they asked the participants to evaluate each person responding to questionnaires that collectively measure 15 different attributes.
Although people cool And good had coincident features, compared to their counterparts cool, The good were perceived as more conformist, traditional, safe, warm, pleasant, universalists (the degree to which a person sees everyone already as equally or equally worthy of attention and respect), conscientious and quiet.
Who was perceived as capable was considered equally cool and well?
A limitation of the study was that it was automatically excluded to those who did not know the word “cool.” Consequently, the data cannot determine the frequency with which the word is used in different countries, or if in certain cultures the being cool leads to a higher social status in relation to others. In addition, although the study included very diverse age participants, the population was mostly young: the average age of each region was, in general, 30 years or less.
Other studies have shown that there are important cultural differences that can affect the features we value.
“Factors such as aggressiveness make us have a higher status in some western cultures and, simultaneously, they give us less status in the East,” said Mitch Prinstein, head of psychology of the psychology of the American Psychology Associationwho has written two books on popularity, which can be a consequence of being cool.
Research on cool They suggest that the desire to be is especially strong during adolescence, and influences not only what people buy or who admires, but also how they speak and what it does to have fun.
But what culture in general considers cool It may not be the same as what you personally think is cool. That’s why Warren and his colleagues asked each participant to think about the people he considered cool in front of the good ones. Interestingly, in general, the types of features that are usually associated with being friendly or being helpful were more often perceived as good than cool.
So is it what cool A feature that is worth pursuing?
In this regard, Warren said: “I have serious doubts.”
Being cool which implies assuming risks and being socially early during adolescence can offer popularity during youth, but a study published in 2014 discovered that many adolescents who behaved in this way would have problems later, at 20 years, with alcohol, drugs and relationships. “They do more extreme things to try to look cool”Said one of the researchers to New York Times.
For the popular boys of the school, “status is domination, visibility, attention,” said Prinstein. But, he added, what contributes to long -term success is how much people like it.
“Even the boy less cool It will probably do well if you have at least one intimate friend, ”he added.
Maybe being cool “Above everything in the derogatory form” too much cool For school ” – not what it seems.