What makes someone cool? Arizona researcher has the answers

Most people know “cool” when we see it, but actually defining coolness is a bit trickier. But what makes someone cool? A University of Arizona researcher has the answers

New research from Caleb Warren, professor in the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management who holds the Robert A. Eckert Endowed Chair in Marketing, explores the psychology of cool and sheds some light on how people across cultures define cool.

Warren and his co-authors – Todd Pezzuti with Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile and Jinjie Chen with the University of Georgia – surveyed more than 5,000 people in 12 countries. Each participant was asked to evaluate non-famous people that they considered cool, not cool, good or not good and rate them on 15 values and personality traits such as extroversion, autono