What Makes a Person "Cool"

"Respondents were randomly assigned to one of four conditions and instructed to name a non-famous person who is either cool, not cool, good, or not good. The participants were then asked to assess this person's values and personality, using the Portrait Values Questionnaire and a measure of the Big Five Personality Traits. There were 15 different traits to evaluate in total. From there, the research team crunched the numbers."

"These questions were at the center of a recent study led by Dr. Todd Pezzuti of the Universidad Adolfo Ibañez in Chile and his collaborators. To pursue this investigation, which was conducted over five years, he and his team recruited a large sample of nearly 6,000 participants in 13 regions: Australia, Chile, China (Mainland and Hong Kong), Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, and the United States."

Researchers recruited nearly 6,000 participants across 13 regions over five years. Respondents named a non-famous person who was cool, not cool, good, or not good and rated that person's values and personality using the Portrait Values Questionnaire and Big Five measures across 15 traits. Analysis showed overlap between cool and good but revealed distinct trait profiles. Extraversion, hedonism, power, adventurousness, openness, and autonomy predicted coolness. Calmness, conscientiousness, universalism, agreeableness, warmth, security, traditionalism, and conformity predicted goodness. Capability was associated with both coolness and goodness.

Read at Psychology Today