1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:02,680 Speaker 1: I get a team. Welcome to another installment of the 2 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 1: You Project. Craig Anthony Harper reporting in for duty for 3 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:09,799 Speaker 1: the two thousandth and something time. That's a lot. I 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: should have a break, I might have my first beer. 5 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: Who knows joining me on the show today is a newbie, 6 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: brand newb fresh. He's fresh and he looks fresh. I 7 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 1: was just saying to him, I saw him seven ye well, 8 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: I saw him doing it. I didn't see him seven 9 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: years ago. I saw him very recently doing a Ted 10 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: talk seven years ago, and I think he looks younger 11 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: seven years later. So I don't know what that's about. 12 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: We might find out. But Professor Caleb Warren joins us, Hime, mate, 13 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 1: how are you? 14 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 2: I'm great, Thanks for having me today. 15 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,160 Speaker 1: What's the Benjamin Button thing you got going on? What's 16 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: that about? 17 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 2: I don't know. I think it's a faulty zoom filter. 18 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: He going, all right, Hey, can you give my listeners 19 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: a snapshot of rather than me read some bio that 20 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: I ripped off the interwebs, could you tell us a 21 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: bit about you, you and your research and your background. 22 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 2: Sure. 23 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,759 Speaker 3: So, I am a professor of marketing at the University 24 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 3: of Arizona. 25 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 2: I was started studying. 26 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 3: I studied consumer psychology, which is a sub field of 27 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 3: marketing for my PhD. And during that time I was 28 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 3: really interested and since that time, I've been interested in 29 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 3: this couple questions, including largely what makes things cool and 30 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 3: what makes things funny? So these are my two main 31 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 3: areas of research. More recently, as I've started mentoring students, 32 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 3: I've branched out into a lot of different areas in 33 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 3: the marketing and psychology spaces that are questions more driven 34 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 3: by them and their interests. So a number of projects 35 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 3: on emotions, nostalgia, anxiety, more recently on AI. So yeah, 36 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 3: that's that's that's a brief version. 37 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: I guess that's an emergent area of analysis. Like II, 38 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: not from the point of technology, but from the point 39 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: of psychology. How we interface and interact and connect and 40 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: dare I say, build relationships with and fall in love 41 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: with fall in love with? Oh my god? 42 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 3: If you're interested in that, I'll hook you up with 43 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 3: my PhD student who's leading all those projects and he's 44 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 3: he's fantastic. Wow, I'd love to be a good he'd 45 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 3: be a good conversation. 46 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's it's kind of. It's really interesting. I know, 47 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: even with my just general chats with chat GPT five 48 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: point two or whatever it is, at the moment, it 49 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: talks like me. It it talks Hey, Craig, what's up, 50 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: says Hey Craig, what's up, and it'll swear like unprompted 51 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: by me, it'll swear it'll say, oh, that's fucked up. 52 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,239 Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, I don't know that your program to 53 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: say this, but. 54 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 2: It's like it just, you know, probably programmed to mirror 55 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 2: you to some extent. 56 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: You know, and I yes, if you've got shitty self 57 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: esteem and you're a bit lonely, or you feel a 58 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: bit isolated or disconnected, and you know, this thing kind 59 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: of reinforces what you want or need reinforced, or it 60 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: speaks in inverted commas in a way that makes you 61 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: feel something positive even though you obviously know it's it's 62 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: a it's an AI, it's I guess it's understandable. No 63 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: exactly exactly. So what's so? I'm obviously every problem everybody 64 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: probably hits you up about the coolness thing. I'm interested 65 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: in that, but I feel like you've probably spoken to 66 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: death about that, right. 67 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 3: I'm I think there's still a lot more to talk about. 68 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 3: But I'm happy to talk about any any topic that 69 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 3: I'm informed on. And if you want to ask about 70 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 3: something I don't know much about, I'll say I don't 71 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 3: know much about and then bullshit a little. 72 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: All right, well, perfect, all right. Well we'll start with 73 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: a thing that you've spoken the most about, because I 74 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: haven't and my audience hasn't heard it, I guess, or 75 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: most of them. Man, So is there a definitive kind 76 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: of explanation for coolness, because, as you kind of were 77 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 1: inferring in your ted talk, my cool could be your 78 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: cringe or vice versa, or the thing that you desire 79 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: is the thing that I fucking hate, or the thing 80 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: that's socially acceptable could be socially repellent in another group. 81 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 2: Well, that that can happen. 82 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,000 Speaker 3: But what I found, the more recent research that I 83 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 3: did was looking at the personality, traits and characteristics of 84 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 3: cool people around the world. We got data from twelve 85 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,359 Speaker 3: different countries thirteen regions of both Hong Kong and mainland China, 86 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 3: and the surprising finding for me was we found the 87 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 3: same types of people are cool everywhere. So even though 88 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 3: the details might differ like the specific product or a 89 00:04:55,560 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 3: musician or person that change people think is cool might 90 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:04,160 Speaker 3: be different than people in Turkey. What we see is 91 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 3: if you abstract up a level, like what personality do 92 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 3: these people have? 93 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 2: These cool people have, it's the same everywhere. 94 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 3: And what we found is that and what we're looking 95 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 3: at is both cool. How is cool different from not cool? 96 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,040 Speaker 3: And how is cool different from good? So it's not 97 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 3: just purely positive. And we saw the same six characteristics 98 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:29,600 Speaker 3: in cool people around the world, being adventurous, open, and autonomous. 99 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 2: So these three kind of fit together. 100 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,239 Speaker 3: People who go their own way, they try new things, 101 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 3: they're open to new ideas and experiences. They're not they're 102 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 3: not doing things just for rewards. They're doing them out 103 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,359 Speaker 3: of and sort of this ctrinsic motivation. And then the 104 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 3: other three characteristics we found are that they're extroverted, they're hedonistic, 105 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 3: so they pursue immediate pleasure rather than long term, long 106 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 3: term payouts. 107 00:05:57,960 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 2: And they're powerful. 108 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:03,599 Speaker 3: And so there are a lot of other traits that 109 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 3: are positive, but they're not they're not distinctly cool. So 110 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:14,279 Speaker 3: being agreeable, being conscientious, being warm, being calm, which is 111 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 3: sometimes associated with being cool, is actually seen more as 112 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 3: a good trait than a cool trait, and being traditional, secure, conforming. 113 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 3: These things are are not cool, but they are good. 114 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: What about attractiveness. 115 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 3: We didn't measure that, but I'm guessing so that's a 116 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 3: very positive trait. So there's two possibilities. It could be 117 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 3: equally cool and good, so capable. One trait we have 118 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 3: we found is it's cool, but it's also good and 119 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 3: it's both things in equal measure, so it could be 120 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 3: that or it could be more cool than good. We 121 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 3: could we had to limit what we could measure, and 122 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 3: so we basically took We took two established scales. There's 123 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 3: the Big five personality traits, which is why you heard 124 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 3: about being extroverted. One are the other ones, so extroversion, openness, 125 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 3: neuroticism come as the opposite of neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. 126 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 3: So those are the Big five, and then the other 127 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 3: ten are from a scale developed by a scholar named 128 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 3: Schwartz that looks at sort of universal values that's been 129 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 3: studied across cultures too. So we kind of flip these 130 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 3: scales rather than have people measure, rather than measuring these 131 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:32,679 Speaker 3: things about themselves, like I'm extroverted versus introverted. We had 132 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 3: we had people measure another person, either a person that 133 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 3: they thought was cool or a person they thought was 134 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 3: not cool, or a person they thought was good or 135 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 3: a person they thought was not good. And then we 136 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 3: could look at the differences between cool people and the 137 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 3: other types of people. 138 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: And do marketing people, branding people try to consciously operationalize 139 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: cool for commercial I'm guessing that. 140 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,920 Speaker 3: I do, yes, and they, I mean they used to 141 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:07,840 Speaker 3: pay consultants a lot of money for that. 142 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 2: Like these cool hunters. 143 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 1: Oh, the cool hunters. What do you do a cool hunter? 144 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: What does that well sit down? Brian? 145 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 2: I'm not sure. They probably go by different names now. 146 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, But one point of this research is a lot 147 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 3: of the people in the sort of cool hunting industry, 148 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 3: at least when it started, would say, oh, cool is mysterious. 149 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 2: You know what, you know what when you see it, but. 150 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 3: Only cool people know it, and so you can't even 151 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 3: try to you can't even try. 152 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 2: You just need to trust cool people. 153 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,559 Speaker 3: So they're kind of saying like, this is our turf, 154 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 3: no one else can understand it. And what I'm trying 155 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 3: to do with my research is show like this is 156 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 3: something that anybody can understand and study with the right 157 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 3: methods or the right tools, And largely the way to 158 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 3: do it is just by measuring what people think is cool, 159 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 3: because it doesn't matter how the dictionary, it doesn't matter 160 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,200 Speaker 3: how I or anyone else defines what cool is. 161 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,079 Speaker 2: What matters is what people, if. 162 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 3: You're talking of marketing, the market or consumers perceive to 163 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 3: be cool. And if people agree that, you know, I 164 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 3: don't know the weekend is cool, then he's cool. 165 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 2: People don't think the weekend's cool, then he's not. 166 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 3: And where it gets complicated is that if you take 167 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 3: a look at different market segments, some of them think 168 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 3: the weekend is cool and some don't. 169 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: And what's hilarious right now is half my audience to like, 170 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,520 Speaker 1: what do you mean the weekend? Do you mean Saturday 171 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: and Sunday? 172 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 2: That it worked for either. 173 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: Is a is there a kind of a scale of 174 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: cool where too much cool becomes off putting? Or like 175 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: is there a metric around it where we go we 176 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: want them to be cool, but we don't want them 177 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: to be intimidating because people will disconnect, not connect, or 178 00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: not really identify. 179 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 2: I have it seen. 180 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 3: I haven't seen anyone who's suffered or any brand that 181 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:08,440 Speaker 3: suffered from being seen as too cool. 182 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:09,680 Speaker 2: Now there are. 183 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 3: Situations where we don't want cool brands or cool people. 184 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 3: I don't want my parents to be cool. I want 185 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,239 Speaker 3: them to be good people. I want them to be reliable, 186 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:27,959 Speaker 3: I want them to care. But I don't think that's 187 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 3: an issue of being too cool. I mean, I think 188 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 3: that could be an issue of lacking things that are 189 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 3: not cool that are valued more. 190 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:42,679 Speaker 1: Yes, if you had to give me cool in the 191 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: context that we're talking about, if you had to give 192 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: me a synonym for cool, what would it be. 193 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 2: That's hard. 194 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 3: There's always synonyms that in slang especially, but those go 195 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 3: in and out of fashion all the time. So if 196 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,560 Speaker 3: you go to the look back sick yeah, hip in 197 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:08,920 Speaker 3: the fifties, Yes, sick more recently, rad in the eighties, 198 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 3: which that one's come back a little. 199 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 2: Bit fire and for your time, bro groovy groovy Yeah, 200 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,800 Speaker 2: that one's probably from the sixties too. Yeah. 201 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 3: So there's different synonyms that pop up, and they go 202 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 3: in and out of fashion. The reason I think studying 203 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 3: cool is important, the reason I think it's not just 204 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 3: another word without that doesn't represent a bigger and more 205 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,120 Speaker 3: important concept is people have been using this word fairly 206 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:40,680 Speaker 3: consistently since at least the nineteen fifties. Yes, and now 207 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 3: they use this word without translating it all around the world, 208 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:46,319 Speaker 3: which is how we did these studies. We would translate 209 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 3: all the other words in our surveys and we wouldn't 210 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 3: translate the word cool, because whether the participant was in 211 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 3: Nigeria or South Korea, or Australia or Germany or Spain, 212 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 3: they all knew what cool meant. And also it as 213 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 3: the same types of people. 214 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, what do we do we know? And by 215 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 1: way I mean you? Of course I don't. Do we 216 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: know the etymology of the term in this conceptual kind 217 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: of framework, like where did the when did we first 218 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: start using it? From? Where did it come? 219 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 3: I shouldn't know this better than I do. I've read 220 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 3: this multiple times, but I don't. 221 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 2: I don't remember. I don't remember about what I wrote. 222 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 3: There's a there's a debate about it, and some have 223 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 3: argued that this idea of kool came over from West 224 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 3: Africa on the slave ships as this sort of underground 225 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:46,760 Speaker 3: language and emotional expression that slaves did to sort of 226 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 3: hide to speak to one another while hiding meaning from 227 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:51,720 Speaker 3: their masters. 228 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 2: I think I'm not sure how much evidence there is 229 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 2: for this. 230 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 3: I think what what is fairly uncontroversial is that people 231 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:06,440 Speaker 3: in sort of these jazz subcultures, jazz and bohemian subcultures 232 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 3: in the forties and fifties started using the word regularly, 233 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 3: and it's and to mean something similar to the way 234 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 3: we've used the word since. And it might have come 235 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 3: from this idea of emotional restraint, like the opposite of hot. 236 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 2: Although all the data I. 237 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 3: Have gathered about the way this word is used now 238 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 3: is it does not mean that. I have a lot 239 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 3: of data showing that people who are emotionally expressive are 240 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 3: seen as being more cool than those who are inexpressive. 241 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:42,200 Speaker 3: So cool, if it ever meant this no longer does. 242 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,959 Speaker 1: When I first started, like week one of my PhDa, 243 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: my pH day is on metaperception, you know, the way 244 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: that other people perceive and experience us, right, So it's 245 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 1: kind of under the umbrella of self awareness, social awareness, 246 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:02,920 Speaker 1: situational awareness, so that stuff. And I remember thinking, I 247 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 1: wonder when the first kind of the first things were 248 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: written about self awareness, like what's the early research, right, 249 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:12,559 Speaker 1: And I went, it's probably like one hundred years ago, 250 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties or thirties, because psychology as a field 251 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:18,680 Speaker 1: is not that old as we have it now, right, 252 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: even though it's kind of been around. 253 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 2: The philosophers who talked about it. 254 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, well be for it. I think Socrates said to 255 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: know thyself as the beginning of wisdom, right, And I'm like, oh, 256 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 1: well that was twenty three hundred years ago or something, 257 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: And I went, so, I'm not doing anything new. I'm 258 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: not asking any new questions. Well, a couple of new questions, 259 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: but yeah, I wonder how long people have been Like 260 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: when you opened the door on researching this, did you 261 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: just go into an academic search engine and go research 262 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 1: on cool and nothing came up? 263 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 3: There wasn't very much, which is so rare as I'm 264 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:03,160 Speaker 3: sure you know, when I first started studying this, I 265 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 3: could probably say that I had read everything that had 266 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 3: been written on the topic, at least by scholars, yes, 267 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 3: which you know, in what area can you possibly say? 268 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 3: I can't say that anymore because there's been a lot 269 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 3: more research the last ten to fifteen years. But you know, 270 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 3: to understand this, I wasn't looking mostly at research on coolness. 271 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 3: I was looking instead at research on like social status 272 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 3: and autonomy, and on social perception and impressions and stat 273 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 3: and sort of how social influence or these other these 274 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 3: other topics that were related to it, to try to understand, 275 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 3: you know, what is this what is this phenomenon that 276 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 3: I see that seems to be driving a lot of 277 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 3: the behavior out there. There was an Onion article published 278 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:58,480 Speaker 3: right around when I was finishing my PhD that said 279 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 3: something like consumers spend thirty trillion dollars each year. Report 280 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 3: says consumers spend thirty trillion dollars each year trying to 281 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 3: be cool. Yeah, yeah, this is a satire newspaper, but 282 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 3: it is you know, that's something that taps into a 283 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 3: truth that most of us feel. But then the question 284 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 3: is like, well, what is this thing that's cool? How 285 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 3: do things become cool? And so that's what that's what 286 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 3: I've been working on the last it's been twenty years now. 287 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: Like for almost everything in psychology, there's a style, right, 288 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: So I developed a style for matter accuracy and behavior 289 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: emotional cognitive. It's kind of full dominds ten different kind 290 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: of criteria blah blah blah, and everything seems to be 291 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: on a scale. Is there a coolness style? Can we 292 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: measure it? 293 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 3: There are there are, no There are many coolness scales, 294 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 3: one that I contributed myself. Honestly though, I think one 295 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 3: of the best, the probably the most powerful way to 296 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 3: measure it is just how cool is this person? 297 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 2: Brand? 298 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,800 Speaker 3: Thingten like from uncool to cool on a single item 299 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:11,240 Speaker 3: scale that works pretty well. For there are scales developed 300 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:15,399 Speaker 3: specifically to measure cool technologies. There are scales to measure 301 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 3: cool fashions. I worked on a scale to measure cool brands. Really, 302 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:22,960 Speaker 3: what we're if you just want to measure whether the 303 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,159 Speaker 3: brand is cool, the one item thing works better. But 304 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 3: what we were looking at there is what are the 305 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:31,359 Speaker 3: characteristics of cool brands? And so we identified we identified 306 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 3: ten different characteristics are I don't want to call them subdimensions, 307 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 3: but they're kind of cool. Brands have more of these 308 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 3: characteristics than not cool brands, and increasing any of these 309 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:45,639 Speaker 3: characteristics tends to make their brand cooler. 310 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:47,879 Speaker 2: Do you want to hear what those are? Or is 311 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 2: that two in the week? 312 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: Yeah? No, definitely, definitely. I want I want to know 313 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,679 Speaker 1: to think, well, yeah, let's start with that. Tell me, so, 314 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 1: what are the cool brands? 315 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 2: So? For cool the characteristics of cool brands. 316 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 3: Now, I will say one thing is that when we 317 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:05,600 Speaker 3: were doing this, we weren't specifically distinguishing cool from favorable 318 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 3: or good. So a lot of these it's not clear 319 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:12,720 Speaker 3: to what extent this makes brands distinctly cool rather than 320 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:13,400 Speaker 3: just positive. 321 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:14,360 Speaker 2: I'm not sure. 322 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 3: With that said, the characteristics we came up with were 323 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 3: being extraordinary, which just seems to me just like straight positive, 324 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:25,920 Speaker 3: high status, esthetically appealing. 325 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 2: So there's the attractiveness you mentioned before. 326 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 3: Rebellious, original, authentic, subcultural, end popular. Now this is because 327 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 3: cool has a life cycle, and I think this is 328 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,640 Speaker 3: tapping into two different times in the life cycle. Cool 329 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,159 Speaker 3: brands start to start off as subcultural and end up 330 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:56,359 Speaker 3: becoming popular and finally iconic and energetic. So like high energy, enthusiastic, 331 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:03,400 Speaker 3: exciting might fit there. Yes, and so with I'll also 332 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 3: say one more thing about rebellion, which is like that 333 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 3: can go too far. I've found that in my other 334 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 3: research is I don't think you can be too cool, 335 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 3: but you can definitely be too rebellious to be cool, 336 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:17,160 Speaker 3: especially if people don't think if people don't think they're rebellion. 337 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 3: So like to take to take an example, you know. 338 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:21,400 Speaker 2: Someone who. 339 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 3: Jeffrey Epstein, you know, a child molester, child pornographer, is 340 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 3: very rebellious, but they're not going to seem cool. And 341 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 3: it can even be more mundane, like someone who just 342 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 3: sort of, I don't know, spits on a car on 343 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 3: the street probably wouldn't seem cool because the rebellion and 344 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:43,200 Speaker 3: really the autonomy, which is sort of the higher level 345 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:45,720 Speaker 3: factor I think is driving a lot of coolness needs 346 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:49,399 Speaker 3: to seem appropriate, and that it offers sort of a 347 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:53,359 Speaker 3: different way that people could behave and might want others 348 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:53,919 Speaker 3: to behave. 349 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I remember. I'm going to be a little 350 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:02,200 Speaker 1: vague on this, but did you read Blake by Malcolm. 351 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 2: Gladwell, yes, but not recently. 352 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, sign with me. But I remember him talking about 353 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: this story of I think hush puppies were like in 354 00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: the sixties and seventies, you know those shoes He. 355 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 2: Talks about that. 356 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 3: He talks about that in his New Yorker article The 357 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,679 Speaker 3: Cool Hunt, which he wrote nineteen ninety seven. That's the 358 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:24,879 Speaker 3: first thing I found written about coolness. 359 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Well, do you want to tell my listeners 360 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:29,359 Speaker 1: that story because I'll probably fuck it up? So you 361 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: feel oh, all right? 362 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 2: Well, so in the Cool Hunt. 363 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,239 Speaker 3: Gladwell was looking at this practice of cool hunting and 364 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 3: he found these sort of consultants who were pretty young 365 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 3: at the time, twenties maybe young thirties in New York 366 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,880 Speaker 3: City in the mid nineties, and they were tracking trends 367 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 3: and one trend they were tracking was hush puppies were 368 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,160 Speaker 3: so I think this type of shoe that had gone 369 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 3: out of fashion a while ago and had come back 370 00:20:55,680 --> 00:21:00,479 Speaker 3: into fashion because it was being worn by cool people 371 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 3: in New York. So these would probably be like early hipsters, 372 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 3: back before hipsters were everywhere, and this is the nineties. 373 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:12,919 Speaker 3: And he told the story about how these brands that 374 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 3: went from being unfashionable to being one of the hottest 375 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 3: trends on the market because cool people were adopting it. 376 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:24,199 Speaker 3: And Gladwell's initial theory of coolness is it's just this 377 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,080 Speaker 3: meaning transfer thing. So brands become cool because cool people 378 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 3: use them, and then other people get the brand because 379 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 3: they want to be cool themselves, and so the cool 380 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:36,120 Speaker 3: transfers from the brand to the people initially, but then 381 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 3: the really cool people who started the trend don't want 382 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 3: to be associated with all the normies who've tried since 383 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 3: adopted a brand like Hushpuppies, and so they move on 384 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,359 Speaker 3: to the next thing, and the next thing they're wearing 385 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 3: like Babe or Supreme or something that becomes that becomes 386 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 3: too popular to be cool, and so they move on 387 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 3: to something else. 388 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: I reckonomize the epitome of something that just objectively who's objective, right, 389 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: but seemingly objectively who was not an objective thing? Exactly right? 390 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: And obviously everything I say is a subjective interpretation, right, 391 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: but seemingly to a lot of people, the least cool 392 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: shoes in the world are or were Crocs, but they're 393 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:26,360 Speaker 1: even still like I see the kids out in them now, teenagers, 394 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,600 Speaker 1: young people or people in their early twenties. I don't 395 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: know about in the States, but in Australia they still 396 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,440 Speaker 1: get a good run, like super popular. I'm like, how 397 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 1: on earth is that ugly ass looking piece of footwear 398 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:40,480 Speaker 1: so popular? 399 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 2: Well, I'm not sure how cool it is even if 400 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:43,920 Speaker 2: it's popular. 401 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:49,440 Speaker 3: I mean it's functional, especially if you're in and out 402 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:51,520 Speaker 3: of the water or. 403 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 2: That's on temperature. Cool for that too easy to clean. 404 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 3: I mean, I think, you know, I think there we 405 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 3: don't study this, we don't measure this. Explicitly, but I'm 406 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 3: pretty sure there's a I mean, this is true for 407 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 3: most status products. There's a negative correlation between how functional 408 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 3: it is and how good it is at signaling coolness 409 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 3: or other forms of status, because the less functional something is, 410 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 3: the harder it is for many people to adopt, and 411 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 3: of too many people adopt something, it no longer signals 412 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:26,400 Speaker 3: status or coolness. 413 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 2: If we're talking about coolness specifically. 414 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:34,399 Speaker 1: The video that I saw you on earlier, which was 415 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 1: seven years ago, you were talking, you were talking about 416 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: similar things. I wonder how like, I'm thinking about twenty 417 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: and eighteen now, and while there was online shopping, it 418 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: was pretty it was in its infancy compared to where 419 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 1: we're at now, and I suspect most people in twenty 420 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:54,440 Speaker 1: eighteen went to stores and bought the things that were 421 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:59,120 Speaker 1: going to buy most people. That's definitely changing. Has that 422 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: impacted coolness or perception of coolness, Like the fact that 423 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:06,960 Speaker 1: we now do so much stuff online and it's becoming, 424 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:09,840 Speaker 1: you know, to the point now where there are retail 425 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: businesses in Australia that only operate online now that used 426 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: to have bricks and mortar shop fronts. 427 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 3: I don't know, I haven't thought about that. I think 428 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 3: the way you're going to need to signal cool is 429 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 3: going to change. Obviously it's going to depend less on 430 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:31,480 Speaker 3: the in person experience, but it might depend more on 431 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:34,639 Speaker 3: the signs on your website. It might depend less on 432 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,400 Speaker 3: the product itself and more on who's endorsing it. Especially 433 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,719 Speaker 3: if your main marketing strategy is social media, or if 434 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 3: you're trying to get you know, you're using lots of 435 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,879 Speaker 3: influencer marketing that type of thing, then it's really going 436 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:51,160 Speaker 3: to depend more on the coolness of whoever's promoting your 437 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,679 Speaker 3: stuff rather than the stuff itself or what's in the store. 438 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:58,360 Speaker 1: What's the least I mean, again, this is just an opinion, 439 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:02,720 Speaker 1: but it's also research, I guess, but the least cool, 440 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:07,119 Speaker 1: or the least functional, or the least what's what? Am 441 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:11,800 Speaker 1: I saying? The worst product that you've seen that's really cool? 442 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 1: Like where you like? That just doesn't from a functional 443 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,879 Speaker 1: point of view or doing what it's intended point of view, 444 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,360 Speaker 1: it really doesn't make sense. But nonetheless people love it. 445 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:24,560 Speaker 1: It's perceived as cool. Is there anything that springs to mind? 446 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, nothing springs to mind. 447 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 3: A lot of times, it helps to have some something 448 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 3: of tangible value so that people can attribute. People don't 449 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,000 Speaker 3: want to seem like they're doing something just because they 450 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 3: want to be cool, and so it helps to have 451 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 3: something else to attribute why you're buying it, for the 452 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 3: reason you're buying it. For instance, look at like expensive 453 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:55,040 Speaker 3: designer genes. Most people. 454 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 2: I remember my. 455 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 3: Sister when she was a teenager, she's some grown out 456 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 3: of the stage, would insist on getting like two hundred 457 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 3: dollars jeans or one hundred dollars designer genes, and it 458 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:10,720 Speaker 3: was clearly a status thing. They were cool in her 459 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,119 Speaker 3: high school and she wanted that, but it was she 460 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:16,880 Speaker 3: would say, it's because they fit better, they've hit better, 461 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 3: and then you know they had some like stretching material 462 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 3: that so the value came from being cool, but having 463 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:29,159 Speaker 3: this extra function let her talk about it and claim 464 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 3: that it was that was the reason she was buying 465 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:33,040 Speaker 3: this product. 466 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 2: Which so there are I'm sure there are. 467 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:41,679 Speaker 3: Examples of brands and products that are cool without the function, 468 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:48,720 Speaker 3: But I think what's more common is something is cool 469 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 3: and there is something something functional or some of something 470 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:57,880 Speaker 3: else that's causing value that helps people sort of justify 471 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,479 Speaker 3: whatever it is they're doing, not in terms of seeking 472 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:02,400 Speaker 3: coolness or just seeking status. 473 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:07,199 Speaker 1: I feel like nobody that I'm well, most of the 474 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,280 Speaker 1: people that I work in the fitness industry, a bit 475 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: corporate space, a lot and a lot of corporate speaking. 476 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: And I guess no companies and no brands want to 477 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: be less cool, and no people want to be less cool. 478 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 1: Although for some people, of course it's not really a 479 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:29,679 Speaker 1: thing and it's not a consideration, but can people I 480 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,119 Speaker 1: feel like people who want to become like, trying to 481 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 1: be cool is the uncoolest thing. Is there a clunky 482 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,119 Speaker 1: a way that's less clunky or less awkward, or less 483 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:46,320 Speaker 1: socially repellent where people can actually become cooler. It's like 484 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:51,160 Speaker 1: trying to impress people is wildly unimpressive, because it's pretty obvious. 485 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:56,200 Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, Well, to be cool, you need to seem autonomous, 486 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 3: meaning like you need to seem like whatever it is 487 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:01,080 Speaker 3: you're doing, you're doing that out of an intrinsic interest. 488 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 3: And usually it helps to be doing something different than 489 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:05,360 Speaker 3: what others are doing. 490 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:06,080 Speaker 1: Yea. 491 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 2: And so if you are. 492 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 3: If people think you're doing something just to be cool, 493 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 3: that undermines the coolness of it. I ran some experiments 494 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,040 Speaker 3: with my brother who's also a marketing professor, Nathan Warren 495 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:24,640 Speaker 3: at the Buy Norwegian School of Management. And this here 496 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,159 Speaker 3: we looked at we were comparing coolness to wealth, a 497 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:32,200 Speaker 3: sort of two different status systems. You can have status 498 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,399 Speaker 3: by becoming wealthy, you can have status by being cool. 499 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 3: And we were comparing people who are wealthy because they 500 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 3: worked hard and tried versus wealthy without trying, without working 501 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 3: hard for it, and people who are cool because they 502 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 3: worked hard and tried to be cool. And people are 503 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 3: cool without effort effortlessly yes, and so we get this 504 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 3: nice crossover. And we're looking at how much people are 505 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,239 Speaker 3: respected or looked up to, basically how much status they 506 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:56,760 Speaker 3: get for it. 507 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 2: And with wealth, people get more status. 508 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 3: They're more respected when they are wealthy through effort because 509 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 3: they try. But with coolness it flips so you're less 510 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 3: you're less respected, you're less looked up to, you have 511 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 3: less status if you're cool because you're trying to be cool. 512 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 3: And part of that is because people don't think you 513 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 3: are as cool. 514 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 1: It's when when students enroll in your program, what's their 515 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 1: motivation is it? Is it because it's part of their 516 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: marketing degree or their psychology degree, So it's just a 517 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: component or are they compelled to understand the field or 518 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:39,480 Speaker 1: understand that kind of construct. 519 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 3: Well, I don't have very many students who are studying coolness. 520 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 2: So that's kind of that's my thing. 521 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 3: I'd love to take on a PhD student who wants 522 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 3: to study this topic, but so far they've been largely 523 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,840 Speaker 3: focusing on other things. So the students I teach are 524 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 3: if they join PhD programs for what variety reasons, and 525 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 3: then the other programs I teach, it's probably they're not 526 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 3: at all interested in research because these are NBA programs 527 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,880 Speaker 3: or master's programs or undergraduate programs in marketing. 528 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: All right, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. 529 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: I've been chicily doing something and this is purely just 530 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: an exercise and fun. I'm going to give you ten 531 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:23,880 Speaker 1: famous people and you're going to tell me cool or not? Ready? 532 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 2: Oh boy? All right? 533 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: Okay? Donald Trump. 534 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:33,360 Speaker 3: Republicans think he's cool, but no one else does. Elon 535 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 3: musk Oh, So he's an interesting one because I think he, 536 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 3: more than most people, really really wants to be cool. 537 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: Clues motherfucker. 538 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 3: Ever, and he he's and it's become so obvious and 539 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 3: that he's basically if you ask me this five years ago, yeah, 540 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,360 Speaker 3: I think people would have said, yeah, he's he's very cool, 541 00:30:58,360 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 3: because he is. 542 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 2: He is kind of rebellious, he doesn't follow the rules. 543 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 3: He's been really innovative, you know, bringing Tesla back and 544 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:11,680 Speaker 3: starting these companies, But over especially the last couple of years, 545 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,520 Speaker 3: like he's just sort of like he's sucked up to 546 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:20,360 Speaker 3: the president's He basically took over Twitter and kicked everybody 547 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:25,680 Speaker 3: he disagreed with off and like became like arguably he's 548 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 3: started sympathizing with Nazis. I mean, it's what he's done lately. 549 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 3: And then and then he split with Trump. So even 550 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 3: the Republicans who maybe thought he was cool while he 551 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:39,360 Speaker 3: was running Doge don't anymore either. So I think right 552 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:41,880 Speaker 3: now there's a very few people. It's an empirical question 553 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 3: we need to ask. My guests would be Elon Musk 554 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 3: would probably score one of the lowest of all the 555 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 3: people you could get on the coolness scale, after being 556 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,240 Speaker 3: one of the highest five years ago. I bet he 557 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 3: has the biggest change of anyone in the world over 558 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 3: the last five years. 559 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:04,160 Speaker 1: Number three on my list is Francis good Luck answering that. 560 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 3: I mean, if your references other popes, I would say 561 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:08,600 Speaker 3: pretty cool. 562 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:09,320 Speaker 1: Yea. 563 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 3: He broke from a lot of the tradition. He modernized 564 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:19,040 Speaker 3: some of the practices. I so it's always like what 565 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,959 Speaker 3: are you what are you comparing this person to? And 566 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,840 Speaker 3: if your reference group is other popes, I bet he's 567 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,320 Speaker 3: going to score about as high as you get if 568 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 3: you did a if you did a pool measuring like 569 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 3: how cool are all the popes? I guess is Pope 570 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:38,880 Speaker 3: Francis would appear towards the top. Yeah, But if you 571 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 3: compare them to like rock stars, who knows, like that's yeah, 572 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 3: that's not really, that's not really, that's hard hard to do, 573 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:47,680 Speaker 3: all right. 574 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: I don't even know if you're not. I'm sure you do. 575 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:55,800 Speaker 3: But Cristiano Ronaldo, Yeah, I think there's a lot of 576 00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:58,719 Speaker 3: people who think he's cool. He's the highest paid influencer 577 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 3: in the world at least a time. Sometimes it goes 578 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:03,960 Speaker 3: back and forth between him and like a gener or someone. 579 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 3: But there's definitely a lot of people who think he's cool. 580 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:13,080 Speaker 3: I'm not one of them, but plenty of people think 581 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 3: he's cool. 582 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: That's interesting. Tyler Swift. 583 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:25,960 Speaker 3: Taylor Swift is incredibly popular, and because there's this really 584 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 3: close association with positivity and coolness, and so she would 585 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:33,360 Speaker 3: probably score if you just ask people straight up how 586 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 3: cool is Taylor Swift, she'd score very high. 587 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:38,840 Speaker 2: But there's because she's so popular. 588 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:40,640 Speaker 3: There's a lot of people who don't think she's cool 589 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,760 Speaker 3: in part because she's so popular, And even the people 590 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,440 Speaker 3: who like her, if you force them to sort of 591 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,800 Speaker 3: distinguish cool from just good or positive, I bet she'd 592 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:51,520 Speaker 3: fall more on the positive side. 593 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:52,880 Speaker 2: Yeah. 594 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:56,120 Speaker 3: A lot of her traits and the reasons that I 595 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 3: think she connects so well with her audience and with 596 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 3: so many people, are that she has this very sort 597 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:05,200 Speaker 3: of good girl image in that she seems very caring 598 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:09,440 Speaker 3: and thoughtful and you know, emotion like emotionally present. And 599 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:17,720 Speaker 3: so I suspect she's she's very positive on coolness, it's 600 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,240 Speaker 3: somewhere in the middle, less cool than she has positive, 601 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 3: But I mean, she's she's sold a ton of albums, 602 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,359 Speaker 3: she's changed up her sound a few times, she is 603 00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 3: she doesn't appear to just be trying. 604 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:30,440 Speaker 2: I don't know. 605 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:32,399 Speaker 3: Some people think she's probably just trying to make money 606 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 3: at all costs. 607 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 2: Others don't. 608 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,880 Speaker 3: I don't know, I think I think probably she'd be 609 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:38,280 Speaker 3: more favorable than cool. 610 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,600 Speaker 1: All right, I'm only going to do one more. Maybe 611 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:45,439 Speaker 1: the highest profile female in the world for the last 612 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:49,080 Speaker 1: thirty years, who do you reckon? I'm going to say, 613 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:50,920 Speaker 1: not the Queen. 614 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 2: Not Queen bay Beyonce. 615 00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:57,960 Speaker 1: I was going to say, I was going to say Oprah. 616 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:02,879 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, My guess is Oprah would score pretty low 617 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 3: on coolness and very favorable. 618 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: Very very popular, very loved, but. 619 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,440 Speaker 3: Normal, even more even more than Taylor Swift. She I 620 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 3: think represents the mainstream. 621 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,239 Speaker 1: Yes, So this is a. 622 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,040 Speaker 3: Phenomenon about branding, Like brands often want to be cool, 623 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 3: and it's helpful for brands that aren't known or are 624 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:23,680 Speaker 3: very small and want. 625 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 2: To become market leaders. 626 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:27,160 Speaker 3: But once a brand's a market leader, it's better off 627 00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 3: to stop trying to be cool and offering value a 628 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 3: different way. And to me, Oprah is that like she 629 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:36,360 Speaker 3: she she might have been cool initially, like there weren't 630 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:41,399 Speaker 3: too many black women with you know, daytime television shows, 631 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 3: for any television show, and so at that time she 632 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:46,600 Speaker 3: might have been cool. But now she's become the norm. 633 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,399 Speaker 3: She's gone from sort of cool, niche cool to mass 634 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:54,439 Speaker 3: school to just popular, and she no longer seems cool, 635 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:56,880 Speaker 3: but it doesn't matter because people like her and they 636 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 3: look up to her and they follow her, and she 637 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 3: she is the new norm. Some about being cool is 638 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:05,640 Speaker 3: about moving the norm forward or changing or being different 639 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:08,799 Speaker 3: than it, and Oprah's not that anymore. But she's kind 640 00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:12,279 Speaker 3: of the She's kind of the example of what of 641 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:15,400 Speaker 3: sort of if you're if you're want to be cool 642 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:19,719 Speaker 3: for the market benefits. Oprah is an example of the 643 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:23,919 Speaker 3: type of thing that to aspire to where maybe you're 644 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 3: cool at first, but you become you become valued for 645 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:30,680 Speaker 3: other reasons, and you can remain a market leader because 646 00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:33,439 Speaker 3: of that. It's hard to remain a market leader only 647 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,880 Speaker 3: by being cool, because once you become too popular, a 648 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 3: lot of the people will not think you're cool anymore. 649 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:43,880 Speaker 1: Is there a speaking purely from a product or a 650 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:51,080 Speaker 1: brand perspective, is there a relationship between coolness and trustworthiness? 651 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,080 Speaker 1: Like do I want my product? Do I want to 652 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:57,000 Speaker 1: be trusted or do I want to be cool? Or 653 00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: do they coexist? All? 654 00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 2: Right? So there's going to be both. 655 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,759 Speaker 3: Are going to be correlated with just general attitude or 656 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:07,439 Speaker 3: how positive see people see the brand? Well, there might 657 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:09,400 Speaker 3: be if you just were to measure the two, they 658 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:10,880 Speaker 3: might be positively correlated. 659 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:11,600 Speaker 2: But many I. 660 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,480 Speaker 3: Think some of the actions you could take as a 661 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 3: brand would be more likely to lead to coolness and 662 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:19,200 Speaker 3: hurt trustworthiness or vice versa. 663 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:20,799 Speaker 2: For example, doing things that. 664 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:26,000 Speaker 3: Are edgy or controversial might help a brand be cool 665 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:27,520 Speaker 3: but make it less trustworthy. 666 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:30,960 Speaker 1: I don't know if I should bring I don't know 667 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,920 Speaker 1: if I should bring this up. Sorry, prof but it 668 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:38,080 Speaker 1: didn't make a big splash here, but but I think 669 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:44,319 Speaker 1: it did in the States. Is it Dylan mulvainy? Is 670 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:48,760 Speaker 1: it that that? Uh, that influencer who did the bud 671 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 1: Light commercials? Was it? And I think they had this 672 00:37:56,400 --> 00:38:01,560 Speaker 1: whole kind of I don't know, you'll you'll know they 673 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 1: did this. They did this whole campaign for bud Light, 674 00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:08,640 Speaker 1: and it kind of blew up. I think I think 675 00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:10,279 Speaker 1: they thought it was going to be cool and hit 676 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:14,319 Speaker 1: an amazing and well received, and it just wasn't well. 677 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,920 Speaker 2: I think they misread the room, they misread their audience. 678 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:22,800 Speaker 3: So correct me if I'm wrong with Dylan Malvine is 679 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:24,680 Speaker 3: a transgender influencer. 680 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:27,600 Speaker 1: I think so, yeah, yeah, Okay. 681 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,880 Speaker 3: So I think what happened was that bud Light hired 682 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:35,160 Speaker 3: this transgender influencer, and this is probably during the Biden 683 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:37,120 Speaker 3: administration when. 684 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,360 Speaker 1: It was probably two years ago maybe yeah. 685 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:42,520 Speaker 3: Okay, it was before sort of all this anti woke 686 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:46,880 Speaker 3: backlash that accompanied President Trump into power for the second time, 687 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,239 Speaker 3: back when, back when brands were really trying to be 688 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:57,719 Speaker 3: inclusive and embraced DEI. So bud Light hires this transgender influencer, 689 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:02,840 Speaker 3: and their audience it's doesn't like it, to say the least, 690 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,480 Speaker 3: and you know, it just doesn't fit their brand, where 691 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:15,640 Speaker 3: like their brand is where Budweiser succeeded with their marketing 692 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:17,880 Speaker 3: is by taking the opposite approach. So I don't know 693 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:20,240 Speaker 3: if you remember that or if these were even in Australia, 694 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,840 Speaker 3: but they had these dilly dilly ads where this is 695 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,840 Speaker 3: probably in the late teens. So all these people are 696 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:30,680 Speaker 3: going to the King and Queen and bringing bud Light 697 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:34,479 Speaker 3: as a tribute and they go dilly dilly, dilly dilly. 698 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,640 Speaker 3: It's a silly thing, they'll say, but basically everybody's happy 699 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:39,520 Speaker 3: to have bud Light. And then this hipsterish guy comes 700 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:41,840 Speaker 3: in and brings a honey mead. 701 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,359 Speaker 2: That he's that he's been really interested in lately. 702 00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:47,879 Speaker 3: So this is this is like the cool people who 703 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:51,160 Speaker 3: you know, the cool people, not bud Light's audience. It's 704 00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:54,600 Speaker 3: making fun of everybody in like Williamsburg, New York, and 705 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:59,360 Speaker 3: Silver Lake, Los Angeles, and sort of who are you 706 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:04,000 Speaker 3: know drink drink these micro brews and seek out seek 707 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:06,839 Speaker 3: out more interesting varieties. You know, they're not the people 708 00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,799 Speaker 3: who like turn their nose up at a bud light. 709 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:12,040 Speaker 2: And so this person. 710 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:14,960 Speaker 3: Brings the honeyeat mead and the king sentences them to 711 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:19,160 Speaker 3: the pit of misery, and everybody watching it sort of 712 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:21,439 Speaker 3: feels like they're part of the party. They're part of 713 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 3: this normal group who you know drink bud light and 714 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:29,200 Speaker 3: that's you know, that's normal. It's not about it's not 715 00:40:29,239 --> 00:40:31,839 Speaker 3: about being cool. It's just about fitting with the group, 716 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:35,080 Speaker 3: doing what you like, not being snobby about it. And 717 00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:40,120 Speaker 3: that's the type of marketing that works far better for 718 00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:43,640 Speaker 3: bud Light because that appeals to their audience. 719 00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:46,880 Speaker 2: Who you know, are you know? 720 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 3: There might be I don't know, And I think especially 721 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,080 Speaker 3: a couple of years ago there this audience was getting 722 00:40:55,080 --> 00:41:00,160 Speaker 3: a little bit fed up with all of the I 723 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:04,520 Speaker 3: would call it like DEI overreach, you know, I don't 724 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,680 Speaker 3: know I'm not. I'm not part of this subculture of 725 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:10,120 Speaker 3: like I would say the average bud Light drinker, and 726 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:15,279 Speaker 3: I don't want to but from what I understand, like 727 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:20,799 Speaker 3: most people are not like racist or transphobic, at least 728 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:26,600 Speaker 3: not consciously. But they were very tired of they felt 729 00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:30,359 Speaker 3: like being a man and being white were seen as 730 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:31,319 Speaker 3: inherently bad. 731 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:32,719 Speaker 1: Uh. 732 00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:37,640 Speaker 3: And they were tired of brands like Going Bending going 733 00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:41,719 Speaker 3: out of their way to appease this crowd that was 734 00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:45,600 Speaker 3: constantly no, we need more representation from minorities, from voices 735 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:51,040 Speaker 3: that aren't heard when you know it wasn't it wasn't 736 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:55,960 Speaker 3: called for now, I like, this is, there's, there's, there's. 737 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:59,640 Speaker 3: This is a difficult issue and it's hard for brands 738 00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,239 Speaker 3: to have gate this. But I think but Light in 739 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:04,560 Speaker 3: this situation didn't do what its audience wanted. 740 00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:08,359 Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the other things that you're interested in 741 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:11,080 Speaker 1: and I'm interested in but not particularly good at, is 742 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:14,200 Speaker 1: you're interested in humor and what's funny and what makes 743 00:42:14,239 --> 00:42:17,960 Speaker 1: people laugh. And I guess what gets people's attention in 744 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:23,359 Speaker 1: that way? Is there a correlation between coolness and being funny? 745 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:27,920 Speaker 3: So the commonality is that both involve doing something different 746 00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:28,439 Speaker 3: than the norm. 747 00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:30,959 Speaker 2: Yeah, so. 748 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:35,480 Speaker 3: If you're just going to do what's conventional or what's 749 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:39,360 Speaker 3: what other people are doing, or what's expected in a situation, 750 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:43,800 Speaker 3: it's unlikely to be cool or funny. They differ though, 751 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:48,880 Speaker 3: in I think the valance of the divergence from the 752 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:51,800 Speaker 3: norm of how it's different with coolness, people's tend to 753 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:53,120 Speaker 3: see it as a positive difference. 754 00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:54,120 Speaker 2: So you know, you're. 755 00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:57,799 Speaker 3: Wearing this, you're wearing this hat, and nobody's wearing a 756 00:42:57,840 --> 00:42:59,359 Speaker 3: hat like that, but it looks really good. 757 00:42:59,440 --> 00:42:59,960 Speaker 2: That's cool. 758 00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:03,760 Speaker 3: Whereas if you wear i don't know, like a giant 759 00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:08,360 Speaker 3: duck on your head, that's also unusual. But there people 760 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:13,080 Speaker 3: will think that doesn't look good, that's funny. So I 761 00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:17,799 Speaker 3: started studying humor. Let me get you the short version, 762 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:19,120 Speaker 3: and then if you want to get along with it. 763 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:21,719 Speaker 3: So the short version is we argue that things are 764 00:43:21,719 --> 00:43:24,799 Speaker 3: funny when there's a violation. So something that threatens your 765 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,080 Speaker 3: perception of how the world should be, but at the 766 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:29,759 Speaker 3: same time you think it's benign, you're okay with it. 767 00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:33,000 Speaker 3: So people shouldn't wear a duck for a hat, but 768 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:36,719 Speaker 3: you know that's not really causing any harm, and you know, 769 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,800 Speaker 3: so like there's it's a violation and it's benign. 770 00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:45,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm thinking about in terms of comics that are 771 00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:50,560 Speaker 1: I think, and this is purely my perspective. Like, someone 772 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:54,319 Speaker 1: likes Chappelle, I think is cool and funny. Someone liked 773 00:43:54,360 --> 00:44:00,560 Speaker 1: Bill Burr. Bill Burr not cool at all and funny. Okay, well, 774 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:04,920 Speaker 1: both world renowned comics, and one seems too. And again, 775 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,160 Speaker 1: probably a lot of people look at Chappelle and think 776 00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:10,160 Speaker 1: he's not dive Schapelle. I think he's kind of cool. 777 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,520 Speaker 1: I think he's got this energy about him that's you know, yeah. 778 00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:15,879 Speaker 3: I think the comics who are seen as cool are 779 00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:22,080 Speaker 3: more likely to be pushing for meaningful change in society. 780 00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:26,120 Speaker 3: So Lenny Bruce is a go to here, and he 781 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:29,759 Speaker 3: was really pushing against overly restrictive norms, against profanity and 782 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:33,520 Speaker 3: against other things back in the early sixties, and so 783 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,200 Speaker 3: he was able to make jokes about that, but the 784 00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:39,880 Speaker 3: change he was pushing for seemed like real and valuable, 785 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:40,560 Speaker 3: so he seemed cool. 786 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:42,040 Speaker 2: And Chappelle was doing the same thing. 787 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:46,120 Speaker 3: I think, for especially early on, many of his sketches 788 00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:50,600 Speaker 3: were I think really a knockout racism and trying to 789 00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:56,920 Speaker 3: push push against racism, and so I think he worked, 790 00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,399 Speaker 3: So I think he seems cool in part because of that. 791 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:05,480 Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about as we wind up, 792 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:09,520 Speaker 1: tell me a little bit about your research into humor, 793 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:14,200 Speaker 1: and like how do you do that research, and and 794 00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,720 Speaker 1: like what have you discovered? How do you quantify and measure? 795 00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:22,440 Speaker 1: And I don't know, analyze humor in that sense. 796 00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:26,799 Speaker 3: I started around I started a year or two after 797 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:29,560 Speaker 3: I started researching coolness, and it was actually a much 798 00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:32,680 Speaker 3: faster moving research dream because it's in some ways it's 799 00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:36,320 Speaker 3: easier to measure. You can just ask people is this funny? 800 00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:39,960 Speaker 3: Are you amused? You can like videotape them and see 801 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:43,080 Speaker 3: if they're laughing. So these are the signs that someone 802 00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:47,000 Speaker 3: thinks something's funny, that they're experiencing humor. And most of 803 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:48,719 Speaker 3: our early work was looking at what is it that 804 00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:49,720 Speaker 3: makes something funny? 805 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:51,839 Speaker 2: The more recent work and. 806 00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:53,319 Speaker 3: Even early on, we were looking at, well, what are 807 00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:54,520 Speaker 3: the consequences of humor? 808 00:45:54,719 --> 00:45:56,200 Speaker 2: Because I'm in marketing, I was looking at. 809 00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:59,560 Speaker 3: Humor and advertising some stuff with humor in like public 810 00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:05,880 Speaker 3: relations and humor in goal pursuit for customers. But my 811 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:08,680 Speaker 3: favorite part of this work is the theory that we 812 00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:11,680 Speaker 3: built the benign violation theory that have already described, and 813 00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:13,759 Speaker 3: so what we do is we would we would just 814 00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:15,840 Speaker 3: try to come up We try to manipulate things like 815 00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:18,960 Speaker 3: is there a violation, yes or no? Does this seem wrong? 816 00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:21,239 Speaker 3: And are people likely to see it as okay? When 817 00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:24,759 Speaker 3: do people see it as okay? And this whole line 818 00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:30,080 Speaker 3: of work started because I was reading moral psychology literature 819 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,319 Speaker 3: and my co author and founder of this theory with me, 820 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:37,879 Speaker 3: Peter McGraw, he was doing research on taboo trade offs, 821 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:41,520 Speaker 3: which is similar when people think like you are using 822 00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:45,560 Speaker 3: using and when churches with outsourced prayer to India or 823 00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:49,480 Speaker 3: raffle off ahammer suv to recruit new members. So like 824 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:54,760 Speaker 3: some sacred entity is engaging in a profane act marketing activity, 825 00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:57,480 Speaker 3: and people say, I think that's wrong. But as he's 826 00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:00,360 Speaker 3: presenting this, his audience members were laughing. And I was 827 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,360 Speaker 3: reading Jonathan Heights work on moral psychology, and he'd be 828 00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:08,879 Speaker 3: describing this guy that has buys a chicken at the marketplace, 829 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:11,520 Speaker 3: then has sex with the chicken, and then cooks the 830 00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:14,319 Speaker 3: chicken and eats it, and he asks people is this wrong? 831 00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:17,120 Speaker 3: And people say yes, and he asks is this disgusting? 832 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:19,000 Speaker 3: And they say yes, And he asked, or you know, 833 00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:20,839 Speaker 3: he asked, why is this wrong? And they don't give 834 00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,040 Speaker 3: a real answer. They say, oh, it's disgusting. They can't 835 00:47:23,080 --> 00:47:25,160 Speaker 3: come up with So he was looking at this moral 836 00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:28,640 Speaker 3: happy get the term he used like moral dumbfounding, that 837 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:32,600 Speaker 3: was his term. But I was reading these in a 838 00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:37,000 Speaker 3: psychology journal as like a twenty five year old graduate student, 839 00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:39,000 Speaker 3: thinking this is hilarious that they would. 840 00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:39,759 Speaker 2: Print something like this. 841 00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:43,000 Speaker 3: Yes, so why is it funny even though I think 842 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:46,200 Speaker 3: it's wrong? And so then we started to do things 843 00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:49,160 Speaker 3: like push around whether people would be more likely to 844 00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:52,040 Speaker 3: see something that seems wrong, like a guy having sex 845 00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:56,480 Speaker 3: with a chicken as more or less okay. And one 846 00:47:56,520 --> 00:47:59,720 Speaker 3: thing that makes it seem okay is if it's psychologically 847 00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:03,760 Speaker 3: dist so if it's not real, if it's somebody else 848 00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:07,279 Speaker 3: that you don't care about rather than you, if it 849 00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:09,960 Speaker 3: happened a long time ago. So war stories are often 850 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:13,040 Speaker 3: funny years after the fact, but they sucked during the time. 851 00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:17,200 Speaker 3: All of these forms of distance, so distance reduces threat, 852 00:48:18,160 --> 00:48:20,719 Speaker 3: and so it can make a violation easier to see 853 00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:24,400 Speaker 3: as benign. And so we have these We took Jonathan 854 00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:27,000 Speaker 3: Hights scenarios like this guy having sex with a chicken, 855 00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:31,080 Speaker 3: these other weird sexual acts. We created other moral violations, 856 00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:34,440 Speaker 3: like the mother at a wedding swiping all the tips 857 00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:38,360 Speaker 3: from the tip jar of the servers. We took stuff 858 00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:40,880 Speaker 3: from Peter's work on taboo trade offs, a church raffling 859 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:43,680 Speaker 3: Offahamer suv and we can make all these things seem 860 00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:47,000 Speaker 3: more or less funny by making by making the violation 861 00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:49,400 Speaker 3: seem more or less benign. So that's how we started 862 00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:53,040 Speaker 3: this research, and we've tested We've tested the idea in 863 00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:56,120 Speaker 3: a few different ways. In one project, we compared it 864 00:48:56,200 --> 00:49:00,560 Speaker 3: with incongruity theory, which is not very clearly the but 865 00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:02,880 Speaker 3: we basically we try to look at here are the 866 00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:05,640 Speaker 3: four different ways people have defined in congruity, and none 867 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:09,319 Speaker 3: of them can explain humor as well as this these 868 00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:12,360 Speaker 3: twin judgments of it's wrong and it's okay. 869 00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:17,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that, it's so interesting and last one, 870 00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:19,520 Speaker 1: so what's got your attention now? What are you going 871 00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:22,719 Speaker 1: to be opening the door on in the next year 872 00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:23,080 Speaker 1: or two? 873 00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:28,480 Speaker 3: Well, I mentioned earlier, I have a graduate student who's 874 00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:31,440 Speaker 3: doing these I think really interesting projects on the psychology 875 00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:34,520 Speaker 3: of AHI, how consumers and managers interact with it. 876 00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:37,840 Speaker 2: So that there's some work there. 877 00:49:38,760 --> 00:49:41,280 Speaker 3: I have another project I'm excited about it on sports 878 00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:46,680 Speaker 3: gambling or gambling on any entertainment. And the fun finding 879 00:49:46,719 --> 00:49:49,120 Speaker 3: there is like the people are fans. The people are 880 00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:53,200 Speaker 3: most interested in the sport, enjoy watching it less when 881 00:49:53,239 --> 00:49:54,759 Speaker 3: they're betting, which. 882 00:49:54,640 --> 00:49:57,359 Speaker 1: That's not surprising, I guess it. 883 00:49:57,320 --> 00:49:58,960 Speaker 2: The non fans. The non fans like it more. 884 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:02,600 Speaker 3: Here's why I think it's import is all these leagues 885 00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:08,759 Speaker 3: and everyone sort of justifying this legalization of gambling, even 886 00:50:08,760 --> 00:50:12,120 Speaker 3: though it leads to more debt, more addiction. There's a 887 00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,320 Speaker 3: new study that shows that there's more violent crime where 888 00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:20,600 Speaker 3: supports gambling is legal when there are games. So it's 889 00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:22,719 Speaker 3: all justified as like, well, people have a right to 890 00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:25,000 Speaker 3: pursue whatever it is that is that makes them happy, 891 00:50:25,320 --> 00:50:27,480 Speaker 3: and you know, we shouldn't be a nanny state that 892 00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:29,520 Speaker 3: tell them what they can do and what they can't do. 893 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:31,800 Speaker 2: They're willing to welcome to take their own risks. 894 00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:34,319 Speaker 3: But what's interesting here is the fans actually, so it's 895 00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:39,400 Speaker 3: the supposed trade off between enjoyment and long term risks, 896 00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:41,640 Speaker 3: and so we're showing this for the fans, there's. 897 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:42,359 Speaker 2: Not even that trade off. 898 00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:46,680 Speaker 3: It's a lose lose, so I'm hoping it will offer 899 00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:49,480 Speaker 3: a little bit of well, and we haven't even submitted 900 00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:53,080 Speaker 3: this yet, so I probably shouldn't be saying so much 901 00:50:53,120 --> 00:50:57,399 Speaker 3: about it, but I think that I'm hoping it will 902 00:50:57,480 --> 00:51:04,440 Speaker 3: help those who see value in maybe slowing the deregulation 903 00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:09,439 Speaker 3: and proliferation of gambling everywhere. It might maybe maybe give 904 00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:15,120 Speaker 3: them a rock for the slingshot they have in their 905 00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:18,840 Speaker 3: David Births Goliath attempt to slow legalize gambling. 906 00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:24,440 Speaker 1: Gambling, especially on the sports is massive in Australia, huge. 907 00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:27,000 Speaker 3: Yes, and in the United States it is too, and 908 00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:31,239 Speaker 3: it's all like in the last five years. 909 00:51:30,719 --> 00:51:34,120 Speaker 1: It's huge. Hi, Kylo, But I really appreciate you chatting 910 00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,239 Speaker 1: with me. Yeah, it's been so nice to have you 911 00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:40,640 Speaker 1: on the You Project. We'll say goodbye officially now before 912 00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:43,400 Speaker 1: we do, where do you want my audience to find you? 913 00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:45,040 Speaker 1: Or is there any do you want to direct them 914 00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:48,520 Speaker 1: towards a website or a book or anything, or some 915 00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:49,640 Speaker 1: social media or. 916 00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:52,040 Speaker 2: Well. 917 00:51:52,040 --> 00:51:56,200 Speaker 3: I have a website through the university, hopefully be working 918 00:51:56,239 --> 00:51:58,640 Speaker 3: on a book over the next year, but nothing out yet, 919 00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:01,040 Speaker 3: So keep an eye on a book on coolness and 920 00:52:01,239 --> 00:52:02,239 Speaker 3: maybe a year or two. 921 00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:06,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll get you back. I will say goodbye here 922 00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:09,239 Speaker 1: but for now. Thanks so much, Kyler, but appreciate you. Tom. 923 00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:11,600 Speaker 3: Thanks thanks for having me on. Good luck wrapping up 924 00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:12,200 Speaker 3: your dissertation. 925 00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:13,480 Speaker 1: Thanks buddy,