It's Cool to Be Warm

Being distant and aloof, and having the ability to bang on the jukebox to get it going used to be what it took to be cool. But maybe not anymore:

It's no longer cool to be cool. Now it's more about being warm. Such is the perplexing conclusion reached by two University of B.C. graduate students in the psychology department who set out to determine what constitutes coolness in 2006.

They found that contrary to what most parents might guess -- even fear -- is that qualities such as friendliness, egalitarianism, fairness, honesty, passion, even niceness, are considered cool according to the prevailing tastes of today.

"Parents will be relieved to know that the popular understanding of cool suggests a Hallmark greeting card more than a gangster orgy," said researcher Ian Hansen.

Well, maybe if you like Hallmark cards.

Now, the demographic sample (twentysomething Canadians) might not be entirely representative of the rest of the world as regards what's cool; even so it's nice to know that one segment of society has a reasonably grounded idea of what "cool" is. But will it last? Some things that are cool endure, but most of it changes quickly -- i.e., roughly the time it takes to cycle through teens and twentysomethings. We'll have to see.

Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry

This entry has 8 comments: (Add your own)

#8 Comment from kriss8tergal
1/7/08 8:46 PM | Permalink

i kinda no how ya feel............
#7 Comment from plittle
5/13/06 7:24 PM | Permalink

Hockey, when played properly, is a polite game.
-Paul
http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/
#6 Comment from lurkynat
5/13/06 6:15 PM | Permalink

lolololol!:)
nat
#5 Comment from dpoem
5/13/06 5:38 PM | Permalink

Canadians are really nice and polite. It makes me wonder where the hell hockey came from.

-Dan
http://journals.aol.com/dpoem/TheWisdomofaDistractedMind/
#4 Comment from lurkynat
5/13/06 5:33 PM | Permalink

Ah! (eyeing Paul) did he pay you?
lol yuppers theyare nice! let's keep Paul
nat

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It's Cool to Be Warm