cool kid syndrome

A set of traits often displayed by those who consider themselves cool kids. These are a group of people who tend to depend on external validation and place significant emphasis on how they are seen, due to an insufficient amount of unconditional love they are presently receiving or have received in the past (e.g. as a child). The latter creates difficulty for them to self-validate and triggers the development of narcissism as one of the possible coping mechanisms. However, such narcissism is usually non-invasive and limited in extent, and does not necessarily imply grandiosity, excessive need for admiration, or inability to empathize in the personality disorder sense. People who consider themselves cool kids experience a constant need to reinforce their ego, and achieve this by engaging in activities they consider cool, associating themselves with others who consider themselves cool, and differentiating and distancing themselves from the rest of the people around them. As a way to maintain this order, they may also be either single or in relationships that tend to stress sex at the cost of intimacy.

The cool kid syndrome is when people start acting differently when in large social settings, suppressing all desires that may make them seem goofy or unattractive.

i.e. The guy who never participates in class and sits in the back smirking.