How cool is this?
December 22nd 2009 20:09
Adam Ferrier has a bright future in his chosen field of consumer psychology, whatever that is.
Ferrier, whom we should call Dr Ferrier because he has just completed a PhD at the University of Western Sydney, chose as his thesis subject something far more cool than the usual. His study was: what makes people cool.
He gets your attention immediately by starting with a few things which do not make you cool: an iMac, a pair of Ray-Bans and a flash car.
Oh, wait, the consumer psychology bit is starting to make sense.
Dr Ferrier, who studied the traits of cool people to determine what makes people cool, decided that it is intangible attributes rather than expensive accessories which create the elusive aura coolness.
He distilled his findings into five factors that determine how cool an individual is: self-belief and confidence; defying convention; understated achievement; caring for others; and connectivity.
"The good news is that anyone can become cool," he said. ``It's a bit of myth that you can't become cool — you can. But you're certainly not going to get cool through consumption."
Now that you know the secret, however, there is bad news — a self-awareness of how cool you are won't make you any cooler.
``The other myth is that if you know you are not cool, that somehow makes you cool,'' Dr Ferrier said. ``Just by knowing that you're not cool doesn't change anything.''
The cool doctor has created a Facebook application which measures coolness at apps.facebook.com/dr_cool
Ferrier, whom we should call Dr Ferrier because he has just completed a PhD at the University of Western Sydney, chose as his thesis subject something far more cool than the usual. His study was: what makes people cool.
He gets your attention immediately by starting with a few things which do not make you cool: an iMac, a pair of Ray-Bans and a flash car.
Oh, wait, the consumer psychology bit is starting to make sense.
Dr Ferrier, who studied the traits of cool people to determine what makes people cool, decided that it is intangible attributes rather than expensive accessories which create the elusive aura coolness.
He distilled his findings into five factors that determine how cool an individual is: self-belief and confidence; defying convention; understated achievement; caring for others; and connectivity.
"The good news is that anyone can become cool," he said. ``It's a bit of myth that you can't become cool — you can. But you're certainly not going to get cool through consumption."
Now that you know the secret, however, there is bad news — a self-awareness of how cool you are won't make you any cooler.
``The other myth is that if you know you are not cool, that somehow makes you cool,'' Dr Ferrier said. ``Just by knowing that you're not cool doesn't change anything.''
The cool doctor has created a Facebook application which measures coolness at apps.facebook.com/dr_cool
Source: mX; image: davidoff
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