Scientists reveal strict criteria that make someone a “badass.”

You think you’re a badass? Science might tell you otherwise.

A new study, published as a pre-print paper on PsyArXiv and not yet peer-reviewed, has revealed the strict criteria that make a person a badass.

Over 2,000 people took part in questionnaires asking what they thought of what it meant to be a badass, allowing researchers to add to the dictionary definition.

The study, conducted by Breanna K. Nguyen, a cognitive scientist at Yale University, and Michael Prinzing, a psychologist at Baylor University, presented respondents with scenarios about fictional characters to rate perceived levels of malevolence.

Scientists have found that people use two different sets of criteria to attribute “crispness” – one concrete and one abstract.

A badass has either an “external toughness,” an “internal toughness,” or both.

“External toughness” is more superficial and consists of physical strength, a “formidable presence,” or both, while “inner toughness” consists of moral resilience, strength of character, and courage. Inner toughness also included resisting social pressure, doing the right thing and taking on difficult challenges.

Those who do not have the external, superficial characteristics can still “embody the deeper essence of evil” with the internal characteristics.

Adjectives used to describe a tough guy included “no fear,” “tough,” “true,” “good,” “confident,” “brave,” “ready,” “independent,” “positive.” and “capable.”

The dictionary definition of “badass” has a negative but also good connotation, which supports the researchers’ idea that “badassery” is a “deeply enigmatic concept.”

For example, Dictionary.com defines badass as “a bad or easily frightening person” as well as “someone or something you admire or find impressive.”

Now researchers can expand the definition as it comes to mean more over time than it originally did.

“Thus, the original meaning could be very negative, but the broader meaning could also include certain positive qualities,” the authors write in the article.

They added: “Completely different types of people, from peaceful advocates to fierce warriors, can all be considered badass.”

According to the newspaper, examples of tough guys include Genghis Khan, Mike Tyson, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai and Navy SEALs.

“While a warrior like Genghis is a paradigm of external toughness, Malala is a paradigm of this more abstract internal toughness,” the paper says.