Video summary
Recent psychological research involving over 5,000 participants across twelve diverse countries has redefined the concept of coolness, moving away from traditional notions of emotional restraint and composure toward a specific set of six traits: extroversion, hedonism, power, adventurousness, openness, and autonomy. The study revealed that while early definitions viewed cool people as calm and unbothered, modern consensus identifies them as outgoing individuals who seek pleasure, take risks, embrace new experiences, possess charisma or influence, and act independently of social norms. This shift suggests that coolness is no longer just about being aloof but rather about a dynamic psychological profile where individuals are willing to break conventions and do things their own way, distinguishing them from "good" people who tend to be conforming, warm, secure, and predictable. The distinction between being cool and being good highlights why society often struggles with the allure of unpredictability versus reliability. While goodness is associated with traits like conscientiousness and agreeableness that foster trust in a cozy environment, coolness thrives on autonomy and the ability to enact one's will against external pressures. The transcript illustrates this through examples such as Denzel Washington avoiding social media platforms like Instagram to maintain an aura of mystery, or how bands like Sleep Token are admired for breaking conventions rather than adhering to industry standards. Furthermore, the concept of rarity plays a crucial role; just as a cheeseburger is local but a steak might be exotic elsewhere, true coolness often relies on being scarce and difficult to access, which explains why figures who become ubiquitous or overly available tend to lose their status in the eyes of observers. Marketing strategies have historically attempted to popularize counterculture movements like hipster fashion by making them accessible, yet this very act can destroy an item's "cool" factor through overexposure. The discussion cites George Heaton's Owners Club clothing line and Burberry as prime examples where specific designs became so widespread that they lost their edge, prompting brands to discontinue popular items or limit availability to preserve exclusivity. This phenomenon mirrors the tragic trajectory of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, who inadvertently contributed to a mainstream culture that eventually diluted the very underground ethos they championed. The core lesson here is that coolness functions as an adaptive social marker for innovation and boldness, but it requires maintaining a level of scarcity; once something becomes too common or easily attainable, its status diminishes rapidly. Authenticity emerges as another critical pillar in understanding modern coolness, with research indicating that attempting to project this image often backfires by causing individuals to lose credibility among peers. The transcript draws parallels between wealth accumulation and social perception: society respects self-made millionaires who appear to have earned their success through hard work, whereas those perceived as trying too hard or lacking genuine status are viewed negatively. Similarly, people admire authentic creators because they signal that the individual is ahead of the curve rather than merely following trends. However, authenticity alone is insufficient without a baseline level of social standing; individuals may be genuinely unique but fail to command respect if they lack the influence or resources that allow their originality to shine. Ultimately, being cool requires balancing these six psychological traits with genuine self-expression, ensuring one does not become cringe-worthy by forcing an identity rather than embracing who they truly are.
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What's your best sort of working model
of cool and how it works?
>> So, the actionable thing about cool is
like not talking.
>> Seriously,
some of the coolest guys in Austin
actually
>> don't talk.
>> You and I are patently uncool
>> because of how much we speak, right?
>> Yeah, that's true.
>> That's it. I mean, that's that's it. We
could go down everything, but it's like
I talk too much. I think too much. You
hear me on this podcast? I'm just
babbling. Not cool. It's not cool. So, I
just I don't try to be cool, you know?
It's the same thing like I'm in music. I
cannot If I try to be cool, I might be
cringe, you know? If I try to be
something I'm not. I can't I can't I got
to just be my authentic self. I got to
talk. I got to worry about things. That
is very insightful. So, there was a
study done very recently. It came out
about a month ago about what makes
someone cool. So, I'm going to take you
through it and you can jump in whenever
you're ready.
>> Uh, early writing on coolness described
it as emotional restraint, being calm,
composed, and unbothered. This view,
rooted in the metaphor of temperature
and emotion, saw coolness, right?
Coolness as a sign of self-control and
mastery. Nice framing, right? Not bad.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh, they did a study of more than 5,000
people in 12 countries. Each participant
was asked to evaluate nonf famous people
that they considered cool, not cool, and
good or not good and rate them on 15
values and personality traits,
extraversion, autonomy, warmth,
conscientiousness, stuff like that.
Across the 12 countries, so huge range
of cultures, different people's cool
gets described in really similar ways.
And you're talking like Africa, Western
countries, eastern countries. And what
it suggests is that the meaning of cool
has changed. And it's a way to identify
and label people with a specific
psychological profile, right? Because if
it wasn't, they wouldn't converge on
what cool means based on here are a
bunch of different psychological
profiles. So cool people are outgoing
and social, so extroverted. They seek
pleasure and enjoyment, so they're
hedonistic. They take risks and try new
things. So they're adventurous. They are
curious and open to new experiences.
Open. And they have influence or
charisma. Powerful. And perhaps most of
all, they do things their own way.
Autonomous. So extroversion, hedonism,
power, adventurousness, openness, and
autonomy. Those six things, right?
>> Does that comport
>> to a certain extent?
>> Iversion, hedonism, power,
adventurousness, openness, autonomy.
>> Do you and I talk about this? I think
rare just being scarce
>> if you're too available. I mean, this
was uh I saw a really awesome clip from
one of the guys from Suicide Boys,
awesome rap group, and he was saying,
you know, we we couldn't tell anyone in
our hometown that we were good. They saw
us buying menthols at the, you know, the
QuickMart on a Wednesday. So, we
couldn't be like, "Dude, listen to our
music. I swear it's good." They're like,
"Yeah, whatever, dude. [ __ ] off." You
know, but to people in Russia, we were
the suicide boys. We were cool as [ __ ]
You know, it's uh your uh a cheeseburger
in your hometown and you're a steak
elsewhere type of thing. That is a level
of cool and it's like rarity. Something
we don't see. Aloofness.
>> Yes. Aloofness. So, this is why you see
like how come Denzel Washington doesn't
have an Instagram?
>> Because if he did, it would only detract
from his cool.
So, you know, this is where like
somebody at your status like might start
playing with cool, meaning aloofness and
all that. The problem is if it's not who
you are as a person.
>> Mhm.
>> Like we said,
>> I'm getting to that. I'm getting to that
that thing that you said before about
authenticity. That bit's in here, too.
But I do think you're right. I think
that um
>> we talk too much, dude. aloofness,
distance. It allows people to sort of
suck in speculation and the speculation
is cool. Sleep token president.
President's an even better example.
>> Yeah. Well, how I mean, dude, let's take
it even more Americana here. The new
chick at your school, the new chick
shows up at your school. She's hot.
She's cool. She's different. She's new.
>> You then by like second semester, you're
just like, "Yeah, oh, that's Sarah."
Yeah.
>> [ __ ]
>> Yeah.
>> Boring. Uh, okay. So this is I said
before that there was a difference
between cool and good, right? So they're
asking cool, not cool, good, not good.
And it's interesting because you'd
think, okay, are cool people good? Like
intuitively you think no, but why?
What's the difference between somebody
who is cool and somebody who's good? So
cool people were more likely to be
described as extroverted, hedonistic,
powerful, adventurous, open, and
autonomous. So I think just to break
that down, extroverted, outgoing, very
good. Hedonistic, like yeah, I can see
that too. like sort of short-term
pleasures, powerful. Yeah, you need to
have that in order to be able to sort of
enact your influence. Adventurous. Yep.
Also true. Open. Adventurous and open.
Very much so. Like doing new things,
trying new things, being creative, and
autonomous, doing things their own way.
So, I think that makes sense. Good
people, on the other hand, were more
often described as conforming,
traditional, secure, warm, agreeable,
universalistic, conscientious, and calm.
So this is like a a cozy, reliable
uh relatively uh predictable um but
hardworking person. And I think one of
the reasons that good and cool are
different for apart from the fact that
there's only like a tiny little bit of
crossover kind of in autonomous
conscientious area.
>> Uh is that the problem with cool people
is they're unpredictable.
>> They're unpredictable because they're so
extroverted, adventurous and open and
autonomous. Yeah, they do their own
thing. Yeah.
>> How the [ __ ] are you going to be able to
predict what they're going to do next?
This is exactly why Sleep Token breaks
convention when it comes to and why
they're cool. They're cool because they
do seem to be doing things their own
way.
>> Well, this is this is marketing. And
this is the you know cultural industrial
process through all of it is how can we
make how can we popularize cool because
like essentially again we say like cool
is underground different
>> rare scarce. Okay. So how do we make
that popular? Cuz that's just like the
opposite. They did this with um like the
hippie movement in the 60s. They did
this with
I mean essentially if you think of
Nirvana like Kirk Cobain
to a certain extent that's why he killed
himself was because like it he was
incredibly depressed about what Nirvana
became. It became the exact thing that
they didn't want it to be. Um
and like that's it's a counterculture
basically popularizing a counterculture
which could be counterculture is usually
pretty cool. Well, you had a good
example of this represent George
Heaton's clothing company.
>> Uh, the owners club, which is that
little thing, left breast, and then the
big back print was becoming so
ubiquitous and so worn across the UK
that it was maybe going to go the way of
Burberry. You know, that Burberry was
worn by Chavs in the UK. Did you know
this? No, I didn't.
>> You know what Burberry? It's got it's
kind of like a cross-hatch pattern with
a sort of beige background. Um, I don't
know why. I have no idea why, but for
most of sort of the 2000s to the early
2010s,
Burberry was worn by Chavs in the UK and
it was kind of a status symbol presume.
I don't know where the [ __ ] it came from
because when you actually think about
the positioning of Burberry, it's like a
classic British brand. It's trench
coats, high collar trench coats. It's
very formal. But anyway, they they
caught on to it and and and ran with it.
Um, I think you have seen the same to a
degree with Stone Island, except for the
fact that Stone Island is actually made
for football hooligans, right? It's like
padded jackets and sort of um crew neck
uh jumpers and stuff that kind of fits
the aesthetic a bit more. Burberry was a
bit more interesting. Anyway, uh
represent owners club. And I said this
to George. I was like, "Mate, I'm I see
a lot of people wearing owners club.
Like, hooray for your bottom line, but
are you concerned about overexposure?"
and he said, "Yeah, we're killing the
range. You can no longer buy it starting
in whatever month." He's like, "It's
it's gone. It you it's gonna we're going
to do it because there is such a thing
as too much exposure if you want to be
cool." And I think it's interesting what
what you've added in here because I do
think that that that's a dimension
that's missing when it comes to cool.
How
extroverted, honistic, powerful,
adventurous, open, and autonomous.
>> Yeah.
>> Aloof for that. But a good question
would be why
would you rather have a cool friend or a
good friend? I would much sooner have a
good friend. Okay. So why is it
>> that regularly we choose to sort of push
to one side unless we're very mindful,
right? If we're a little bit more
juvenile or immature, we push to one
side things that are good in place of
things that are cool. Like what's the
allure? And there's a an interesting
insight here that says coolness and
goodness are related, but they're not
the same thing. Your grandma might be a
really good person, but that doesn't
necessarily make her cool. The
distinction matters because it helps
explain why we admire people for
different reasons. One attribute, only
one attribute, which is being capable,
right? So power on one and I think
conscientiousness on the other was seen
as equally cool and good. And I think
that the interesting thing about being
capable is that if you're unable to be
capable, you can't enact your will into
the world. How can you be cool if you're
at the mercy of the world? And how can
you be good if you can't push back
against the world? So I was like, huh,
okay, that's pretty interesting. And uh
the final bit that loops to what you
said, if you want to be cool,
authenticity matters. Previous research
shows that trying to be cool usually
doesn't work. uh are trying to be cool
usually doesn't work and can cause
someone to lose status in the eyes of
others. With wealth, people tend to
respect it more if they believe that
someone worked hard to earn it. So, you
can think silver spoon versus self-made
millionaire.
>> Coolness works differently. If people
think you're trying to be cool, you lose
credibility.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> That's because coolness is about
autonomy, originality, and being
unconcerned with fitting in. And the
fact that so many cultures agree on what
makes someone cool suggests that
coolness may serve some sort of shared
social function. So it's kind of
adaptive in a way, right? The
evolutionary build side of this. The
traits that make people cool may make
them more likely to try new things,
innovate new styles and fashions, and
influence others. These individuals
often push boundaries, introduce new
ideas in fashion, art, politics, or
technology. They inspire others and help
shape what's seen as modern, desirable,
or forward thinking. Coolness in this
sense might function as a kind of
cultural status marker, a reward for
being bold, open-minded, and innovative.
It's not just about surface style. It's
about signaling that you're actually
ahead of the curve and that other people
should pay attention. But the um
authenticity thing is a big part. And I
thought that was so funny. We love
people that are self-made millionaires,
hate people that are trying to be cool.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
Authenticity is a wild one, isn't it?
Because it's like you need status to
show off that your authentic self is
worthwhile looking at. At least like in
content creation or or whatever.
>> Like somebody's authentic self like no
one could care about seeing it.
>> There's lots of people that are
authentic but don't have any status so
they're not respected for their
authenticity.
>> Right. It's one you know it's a it is a
amalgamation of a bunch of things as
well.
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