Coolness: An Empirical Investigation
Abstract
Some people are routinely described as “cool,” but it is unknown whether this descriptor conveys trait-like information beyond mere likability or popularity. This is the first systematic quantitative investigation of coolness from a trait perspective. Three studies of North Americans (N = 918) converged to identify personality markers for coolness. Study 1 participants described coolness largely by referring to socially desirable attributes (e.g., social, popular, talented). Study 2 provided further evidence of the relationship between coolness and social desirability, yet also identified systematic discrepancies between valuations of coolness and social desirability. Factor analyses (Studies 2 and 3) indicated that coolness was primarily conceptualized in terms of active, status-promoting, socially desirable characteristics (“Cachet coolness”), though a second orthogonal factor (“Contrarian coolness”) portrayed cool as rebellious, rough, and emotionally controlled. Study 3, which examined peer valuations of coolness, showed considerable overlap with abstract evaluations of the construct. We conclude that coolness is reducible to two conceptually coherent and distinct personality orientations: one outward focused and attuned to external valuations, the other more independent, rebellious, and countercultural. These results have implications for both basic and applied research and theory in personality and social psychology.
References
1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211. doi 10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
(1937). Personality: A psychological perspective. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
(1996). Self-image, the smoker stereotype and cigarette smoking: Developmental patterns from fifth through eighth grade. Journal of Adolescence, 19, 163–177. doi 10.1006/jado.1996.0016
(2004). How “cool” is heroin injection at the Kenya coast. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 11, 67–77. doi 10.1080/0968763031000140192
(2010). Consuming cool: Behind the unemotional mask. In , Research in consumers behavior, (Vol. 12, pp. 183–208). Bingley, UK: Emerald.
(1974). A contrast of the personality structure of college students found in the questionnaire medium by items as compared to parcels. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 125, 219–224.
(2005). Personality development: Stability and change. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 453–484. doi 10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141913
(1995). What is cool?: Understanding Black manhood in America. New York: Crown Publishers.
(1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52, 281–302. doi 10.1037/h0040957
(1998). Masculine styles of self-presentation in the classroom: Perceptions of Joe Cool. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 13, 281–294.
(1994). Cool: The signs and meanings of adolescence. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
(2006). Exposure to scientific theories affects women’s math performance. Science, 314, 435. doi 10.1126/science.113110
(2011). Genetic essentialism: On the deceptive determinism of DNA. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 800–818. doi 10.1037/a0021860
(1996). Step by step: Developing respectful and effective ways of working with young men to reduce violence. In C. McLean M. Carey C. White, Eds., Men’s ways of being (pp. 91–115). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
(1965). Caprice: The cool rebellion. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 10, 165–169.
(1996). On being cool and collected: Mood regulation in anticipation of social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 757–766. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.70.4.757
(1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behaviour: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
(1997). The conquest of cool: Business culture, counterculture, and the rise of hip consumerism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
(2004). The African Americanization of menthol cigarette use in the United States. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 6(S1), S55–S65.
(1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48, 26–34. doi 10.1037//0003-066X.48.1.26
(2001). Social competence and substance use among rural youth: Mediating role of social benefit expectancies of use. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 30, 485–498. doi 10.1023/A:1010449300990
(2004). The rebel sell: Why the culture can’t be jammed. Toronto, ON: Harper Collins.
(2001). Bullying and bullies in Greek elementary schools: Pupils’ attitudes and teachers’/parents’ awareness. Educational Review, 53, 19–26. doi 10.1080/00131910120033619
(1983). Funk & Wagnalls standard desk dictionary (5th ed.). New York: Lippincott & Crowell.
(1999). Culture jam: The uncooling of America. New York: Harper Collins.
(1992). Cool pose: The dilemmas of black manhood in America. Toronto, ON: Maxwell Macmillan Canada.
(2001). Self-presentational determinants of health risk behavior among college freshmen. Psychology and Health, 16, 17–27. doi 10.1080/08870440108405487
(2000). Mucking around in class, giving crap, and acting cool: Adolescent boys enacting masculinities at school. Canadian Journal of Education, 25, 102–112. doi 10.2307/1585744
(2002). An analysis of the concept of cool and its marketing implications. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 1, 311–322.
(2005). Personality at work: Raising awareness and correcting misconceptions. Human Performance, 18, 389–404. doi 10.1207/s15327043hup1804_5
(1999). Unraveling underachievement among African American boys from an identification with academics perspective. Journal of Negro Education, 68, 555–565. doi 10.2307/2668154
(2002). Performing coolness: Smoking refusal and adolescent identities. Health Education Research, 17, 167–179. doi 10.1093/her/17.2.167
(2000). Cool rules: Anatomy of an attitude. London, UK: Reaktion.
(2003). The do re mi’s of everyday life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1236–1256. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1236
(2000). Heterogeneity of popular boys: Antisocial and prosocial configurations. Developmental Psychology, 36, 14–24. doi 10.1037//0012-1649.36.1.14
(2003). Coolhunting, account planning and the ancient cool of Aristotle. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 21, 453–461.
(2003). Being inconsistent about consistency: When coefficient α does and doesn’t matter. Journal of Personality Assessment, 80, 217–222. doi 10.1207/S15327752JPA8003_0
(1962). The analysis of self-descriptions by members of delinquent gangs. Sociological Quarterly, 3, 331–356. doi 10.1111/j.1533–8525.1962.tb01569.x
(2002). “French is the language of love and stuff”: Student perceptions of issues related to motivation in learning a foreign language. British Educational Research Journal, 28, 503–528. doi 10.1080/0141192022000005805
(