Pixabay Images

Pixabay Images

Cool is a target that’s constantly shifting. It’s an attitude, a term of approval, and today, as much as any of these things, it’s a game of superficially rebellious status-chasing, centered on consumerism.

Cool turns out to be a strange kind of economic value that our brains see in products that enhance our social image. It’s a powerful quality: “This abstract good—social approval, reputation, esteem, or status—plays a central role in our motivation and behavior, and it is the currency that drives much of our economy and our consumption.”

– Marc Bain

Source: The Neuroscience of ‘Cool