According to a Canadian study on coolness, friendliness is the new cool. Researchers found that personality traits that have been traditionally associated with being cool—like detachment, irony and rebelliousness—have mostly been superseded by friendlyness, fairness and thoughtfulness.
Parents will be relieved to know that the popular understanding of cool suggests a Hallmark greeting card more than a gangster orgy.
The study was motivated by the purest scientific ideals of enquiry:
The study was born as a result of a disagreement over the coolness of actor Steve Buscemi, best known for his part as Mr Pink in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. [Researcher Ian] Hansen thought he was cool because he defied the mainstream, while [other researcher] Dar Nimrod said he was too wimpy and unattractive.
Now it just remains for us to decide if we can rely on Canadians to tell us what’s cool.