From Lagos to Cape Town, Santiago to Seoul, people want to be cool. “Cool” is a word we hear everywhere – in music, in fashion, on social media. We use it to describe certain types of people. But what ...

Across the world, the idea of being “cool” may sound like a fleeting label, but a large global study shows that it’s something deeper—and surprisingly consistent. From Australia to Nigeria, people ...

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 ...

People spend a lot of time, money, and energy trying to be “cool.” Research has found that it's associated with being admired, friendly, and attractive, but mixed on whether it is linked to emotional ...

On a special episode (first released on August 27, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: Is coolness just a vibe—or something deeper? A new global study spanning 12 countries finds surprising common traits ...

A new study published in June 2025 has quantified “cool.” The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, isolated six specific traits exhibited by people that contribute to others’ ...

People deemed “cool” boast six surprisingly similar personality traits across cultures, according to a new study that hints at the role played by broadcast media in standardising the meaning of the ...