I was recently reading some YouTube comments on a video about two men arguing with a salesperson. The first man was very aggressive in his speech and body language. The second man’s body language was more relaxed.
The first man was talking at the salesman while the second one was talking with the salesman.
A few commenters noted something along the lines of:
“The man in the pink shirt (2nd man) handled the situation well. He’s very cool.”
That got me thinking:
“What makes a person cool?”
While handling difficult situations well is definitely part of being cool, I was sure there was more to it.
Coolness can be subjective
There are people and traits you may consider cool, but I may not.
I’m more interested in the traits that are universally considered cool.
Coolness mostly comes down to high status. Coolness is not an individual but a social concept. You can’t call yourself cool if nobody appreciates your coolness.
Coolness inspires admiration and intimidation in others.
‘High status’ can mean different things at different life stages and to different people, but some things are universally thought of as high status.
For example, successful and good-looking people are considered high status. The same was true when you were in school, and the same is true when you’re an adult.
Popular, powerful, and charismatic people are also high-status and, therefore, cool.
For the purpose of this test, I’ve focused on personality tests that make someone universally cool. Success, fashion, and looks can get subjective. So I’m leaving those out.
Taking the ‘Am I cool?’ Test
This test consists of 25 items on a 5-point scale ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. The accuracy of the test depends on how honestly you answer each item.
Your results are confidential and only displayed to you.