What makes someone cool: could that formula really have been cracked at last?

It has puzzled philosophers, scholars and those aspiring to be cool for generations: what makes someone cool?

- Chloe Mac Donnell

Now it appears that the alchemical code has finally been cracked.

There are six specific attributes needed to be cool, according to a study published this week by the American Psychological Association. It found that cool people were generally perceived to be extrovert, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous in a survey of 6,000 people from 12 countries including the United States, Australia and South Africa.

So what does a cool person make of it? Chris Black, the co-host of the podcast How Long Gone (cool) and the founder of Done to Death Projects, a brand consultancy with clients including the clothiers Stüssy (also very cool), said while the traits were "relatively accurate" for him, cool was something that could not be easily outlined. "The 'je ne sais quoi' of the whole thing has always been what I associate with cool," he said.

Does Black like being described as cool? "It's become a pretty general word," he said. "I don't think it has the sort of gravitas that it once had. There are things I don't embody that I think make people cool. So it's tough to think of yourself as it, no matter how much you want it."