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News24
37 minutes ago
- News24
UK's Starmer backs finance minister after tears in parliament
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CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
The 6 traits that make someone cool, according to a new study
FacebookTweetLink An international team of researchers may have just cracked the code for what makes someone 'cool.' And no matter where you live, the personality traits that make someone 'cool' appear to be consistent across countries, according to the study, published this week in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. The researchers found that, compared with people considered to be 'good' or 'favorable,' those considered 'cool' are perceived to be more extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous. 'The most surprising thing was seeing that the same attributes emerge in every country,' said Todd Pezzuti, an associate professor of marketing at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile who was a co-lead researcher on the study. 'Regardless of whether it's China or Korea or Chile or the US, people like people who are pushing boundaries and sparking change,' he said. 'So I would say that coolness really represents something more fundamental than the actual label of coolness.' The researchers – from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, the University of Arizona and the University of Georgia – conducted experiments from 2018 to 2022 with nearly 6,000 people across a dozen countries: Australia, Chile, China, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United States. The participants were asked to think of a person in their lives whom they perceive to be 'cool,' 'uncool,' 'good' or 'not good.' They were then asked to rate that person's personality using two scales: the Big Five Personality scale, a widely used scientific model that helps describe personality traits, and the Portrait Values Questionnaire, intended to measure an individual's basic values. The study participants consistently associated being calm, conscientious, universalistic, agreeable, warm, secure, traditional and conforming with being a good person, more than with being a cool person. Being capable was considered to be both 'cool' and 'good' but not distinctly either. But the formula for being 'cool' was having the six character traits – more extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous – no matter the person's age, gender or education level. Pezzuti doesn't think these 'cool' traits are something that can be taught. 'We're born with those attributes,' he said. 'Five of those attributes are personality traits, and personality traits tend to be fairly stable.' The research showed that cool people and good people aren't the same, but there may be some overlapping traits, said co-lead researcher Caleb Warren, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Arizona. 'To be seen as cool, someone usually needs to be somewhat likable or admirable, which makes them similar to good people,' Warren said in a news release. 'However, cool people often have other traits that aren't necessarily considered 'good' in a moral sense, like being hedonistic and powerful.' A limitation of the research was that only people who understood what 'cool' means were included in the study. Pezzuti said it would be interesting – but difficult – to determine whether the findings would be similar among more traditional cultures or remote groups of people who may be less familiar with the term. 'We don't know what we would find in supertraditional cultures like hunting-and-gathering tribes or sustenance farming groups,' Pezzuti said. 'One thing we would propose is that in those cultures, 'cool' people don't have as important of a role because innovation, or cultural innovation, isn't as important in those cultures,' he said. 'So I would say that cool people are probably present in those cultures, but their role isn't as big, and they're probably not as admired as they are in other cultures.' When asked to think of a public figure or celebrity who embodies 'coolness' based on his research, Pezzuti immediately said Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. 'He's a controversial figure, but someone who comes to my mind is Elon Musk,' Pezzuti said, adding that he checks all the boxes of the six attributes identified in the study. Musk is 'undeniably powerful' and autonomous, he said, and appears to be extroverted due to his presence on social media platforms and in the media. 'I hear that he's timid, maybe more timid than he seems, but from an outsider, he seems very extroverted. He's entertaining. He's on podcasts and always in front of cameras,' Pezzuti explained. Some of Musk's behavior also appears to be hedonistic, he said. 'He smoked marijuana on the most popular podcast in the world, 'The Joe Rogan Experience.'' And Pezzuti added that Musk's ideas about colonizing Mars show him to be open and adventurous. The new paper is one of the few empirical studies that examines what exactly makes people 'cool,' said Jonah Berger, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. 'While people have long wondered (and theorized) about what makes people cool, there hasn't been a lot of actual empirical research on the topic, so it's great to see work exploring this space,' Berger, who was not involved in the new paper, wrote in an email. 'While coolness might seem like something you are born with, there are certainly steps people can take to try and move in that direction,' he said. 'Given how many people want to be cool, and how much money is spent with that goal in mind, it certainly seems worth studying.' Future research in this space could evaluate coolness in tandem with goodness and badness rather than in isolation from it, said Jon Freeman, an associate professor of psychology at Columbia University. 'In real life, coolness can be a positive quality but can also have a negative connotation in certain social contexts. It may be valuable for future work to examine the differences between good coolness and bad coolness, and this study's approach offers a great foundation,' Freeman, who also was not involved in the new study, wrote in an email. 'From a scientific standpoint, cool would seem far more a product of inference and social construction than genetics, although low-level temperament informed by genetics could feed into ongoing personality construction,' he said. ''Cool' is deeply ingrained in our social vocabulary because it serves as a shorthand for complex inferences. It encapsulates signals of status, affiliation, and identity in ways that are instantaneous yet deeply stereotyped. From a scientific perspective, studying coolness is important precisely because it reveals how rapid, schematic trait inferences influence behavior and social dynamics, especially in the age of social media and influencer culture.'
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
This Fourth Of July, Let's Not Forget The Significance Of 1775
American colonists and British soldiers exchange fire at the Battle of Lexington, the first skirmish ... More int the US War of Independence. Next year will mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is a significant milestone for the nation. Still, the build-up to next year's celebration may already be overshadowing a year just as important in the history of the United States as 1776, namely 1775. That isn't to say that we're ignoring some noteworthy events, as last month's massive, and arguably underwhelming, military parade in Washington, D.C., was held to mark the 250th birthday of the United States Army, which was founded as the Continental Army in June 1775. It was just one of several such commemorations that have garnered regional attention, such as this past April's celebration marking the 250th anniversaries of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, followed by the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Battle of Bunker Hill. This fall will also mark the milestone anniversary of the Noble Train of Artillery, in which Colonel Henry Knox—namesake for Fort Knox—brought the captured cannons from Ticonderoga to Boston using boats, ox-drawn sledges, and simple pure determination. "We place too much attention on 1776 in the way we commemorate the American Revolution. At the end of the day, Americans won their independence because they won the war and triumphed at the peace negotiations that followed – not because of what they declared in 1776," acknowledges Dr. Benjamin Carp, professor of history at the City University of New York. For those in New England, these and other deeds aren't forgotten, but perhaps more attention could be paid on the national level, said Dr. Robert J. Allison, professor of history at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. "There is sometimes the joke that the revolution happened here in New England and then the Continental Congress went to Philadelphia to fill out the paperwork," Allison explained. Yet, the year 1775 has been getting significantly less attention than the recent performance by English rockers The 1975 at the Glastonbury festival! "Americans are already focused on 2026, America's semiquincentennial," added Dr. Joanne B. Freeman, professor of history and American studies at Yale University. "But the events of 1775 have much to tell us about 250 years ago this year. That year, British colonists were stunned to learn that their own army—British regulars—had fired on British subjects at Lexington and Concord, killing their own people." More Than A Single Day The significance of July 4, 1776, also can't be overstated, even as the Continental Congress voted in favor of declaring independence from Great Britain two days earlier. Yet, there is less emphasis on how it got there. "One thing about 1775 is that very few Americans were thinking in the concept of independence," said Matthew Skic, director of collections and exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution. "That changed rapidly between the summer of 1775 and 1776. One of the major events that happened is when King George III of the United Kingdom declared it an act of open rebellion." That called for the full might of the British Empire to suppress it, an action that resulted in many Americans seeing the king turn his back on the people. "Until that point, the fight was about restoring the rights and liberties as citizens in the British Empire," Skic continued. "America was trying to prove that its long list of grievances justified its bid for independence, and they wanted to undermine the British war effort and secure foreign aid," said Carp. "Beyond that, much of the American public was already convinced, and they needed to remain inspired enough to support the army in the field." What Happened In New England Didn't Stay In New England It is also important while New England, notably Boston, is often regarded as the birthplace of the Revolution, the events there helped unite the independence movement throughout the colonies. "We can see that in 1775, many Americans did not want to fight and hoped to live peacefully with their neighbors. But the blood spilled at Lexington and Concord put into motion events that would lead to armed conflict," said Dr. Franklin D. Rausch, professor of history at Lander University in South Carolina. "The establishment of the Provincial Congress, a challenge to the royal governor, here in South Carolina, would increasingly force people to choose sides," Rausch explained. And as armed camps grew, so did the need for weapons and ammunition. That was as true in the southern colonies as it was up north. "It was a struggle over such supplies that led to the bloodless seizure of Fort Charlotte by Whig forces in July 1775," suggested Raucsh. "And a similarly bloodless seizure of powder and destruction of lead destined for the Cherokee by King's Friends, led eventually to the first bloodletting in the south — the 1775 November Siege of Savages' Old Fields." Only a handful of people were killed, and the battle ended in a draw; yet, the Snow Campaign and the suppression of Loyalists soon followed. It would be the first great divide, even as the country had yet to come into existence. Like the bloody American Civil War eight decades later, it pitted neighbor against neighbor. "They would rise again in mass in 1780 with the British seizure of Charleston," said Raucsh. "Hardened and angered by years of suffering, many Loyalists would seek vengeance, making for a very bloody civil war in the backcountry. 1775 helped set the stage for the violence that was yet to come, while also reminding us that many Americans hoped to work peacefully and look to their families before the crisis drove them to arms." In addition, 1775 was also the year that American soldiers put literal books on the ground on foreign land, with the invasion of Canada. That and other campaigns could be described as best left forgotten, which could also explain why the year doesn't always get acknowledged as much as it should. Carp noted that the colonies almost "lost the war during the disastrous campaigns of New York and New Jersey later that year, not to mention the failure of the Canadian expedition earlier in the year." The Seeds Of International Recognition Although France wouldn't recognize the United States as an independent nation until February 6, 1778, the seeds of that recognition were already planted in 1775. "France was already being seen as a potential ally," said Skic. "There was already support in 1775 to send envoys to Spain and France, and that desire for international support was what helped prompt the eventual declaration of independence." Building To Next Year The goal for the rest of 2025 should be to commemorate the lead-up to the 250th anniversary, while not overlooking its significance every year. The American Revolution isn't something that should only be noted on major milestones or when Mel Gibson stars in a big-budget film about it. "We launched Revolution 250 to get excited about this," said Dr. Allison, noting the consortium of organizations that are working together to commemorate the anniversaries. "This is about getting young people interested, and those born after 2000 or 2010 will hopefully be around to see the tercentennial," he added. "But we should always be commemorating these events every year, not just these milestone years. It is important to get the story right and to get people excited about the story." That may be truer today than it was in 1876, a year that would go on to see a disputed election, or 1976, when the country was still divided over the recently concluded Vietnam War. "1776 deserves its prize place in our national narrative," said Freeman. "But when considering the Revolution and nationhood, don't forget the threats and violence and thinking and planning that led to that dire step. Crises of the past have much to say to us today."
