Wondering if you're cool? 6 personality traits decide it

An international group of psychologists has determined that six personality traits make us cool, regardless of the society or culture we live in. They write about this in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

The study involved almost 6,000 people from South Africa, Australia, Chile, China, Spain, India, South Korea, Mexico, Germany, Nigeria, Turkey and the USA. It was conducted by specialists from three universities: Universidad Adolfo Ibanez in Chile, the University of Arizona and the University of Georgia in the USA.

They concluded that the six universal character traits that make a person cool are extraversion, hedonism, assertiveness, lack of fear of risk, and independence and openness.

- What is most surprising is that these traits occur in every country - says one of the main authors of the study , Professor Todd Pezzuti from Universidad Adolfo Ibanez . - In China, South Korea, Chile and the US, people like people who are willing to go beyond accepted boundaries and are promoters of change.

According to the specialist, this means that being cool is a richer concept than its common understanding would indicate. People who are nice, cool, admirable or easygoing are usually described as cool. The term can also refer to what is fashionable, attractive or interesting.

Participants were asked to define who they thought was cool using the Five-Factor Personality Model (the so-called Big Five) and the Portrait Values ​​Questionnaire (PVQ). The first includes five main traits that allow you to define someone's personality: extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, and agreeableness and conscientiousness. The PVQ allows you to determine what values ​​a person values ​​in order to better understand their motivations and preferences.

According to Professor Pezzuti , you can't learn to be cool. "We're born with these traits," he says in an interview for CNN. He adds that five of these traits are personality traits that are generally permanent throughout our lives.

Co-author of the study , Professor Caleb Warren of the University of Arizona, points out that the terms cool and good are not always the same. He admits that you can be both, but that is not the rule.

- Being cool means being liked and admired, which, yes, can be associated with a good person - he says in a press release. - However, people described as cool often have other traits, for example they are hedonistic and aggressive, and these are not associated with being a good person in a moral sense.

The study’s authors admit that not all cultures value being cool, which doesn’t mean that such people don’t exist. It’s just that in some societies, these people aren’t in the limelight.

An example of a cool person is Elon Musk , believes Professor Pezzuti. In his opinion, he is undeniably enterprising, independent and extroverted, although the socialist admits that he is also a controversial personality.